There is a great technology that goes back to the 1990s that has suddenly become much more popular over the last few years. It is called RSS. RSS allows you to “subscribe” to a “feed.” This means that you can tell a website to automatically let you know when new content has been posted to the website. For example, a website can notify you when a new blog entry or new article has been posted. Many websites even have multiple feeds so that you are only notified when there is new content about specific topics. So if you like only one of the writers at a specific newspaper website, you can sometimes subscribe just to that writer’s articles and ignore the rest.
Feed Readers
To subscribe to a website, you need to use what is called a “feed reader.” A feed reader allows you to view all of your subscriptions in one place, which is extremely handy. It is much quicker and easier than visiting each of your favorite websites individually. You can quickly scan through articles from your favorite websites to see if anything interests you. Feed readers are an excellent way to keep up to date on the topics that interest you most, and it doesn’t require annoying e-mail updates that rapidly clog up your inbox.
Two popular choices are Google Reader and My Yahoo! I personally use Google Reader. If you decide to use Google Reader, you will need to set up a free Google account first. Once you have started your new account and logged into Google Reader, there are two easy ways to add a subscription to Google Reader. One way is to add the website URL to the “Add subscription” search box, and if there are any feeds available for that website, Google can usually find it. Then you just click on the “Subscribe” button. Another way to subscribe is to go to the website that you want to subscribe to and click on the orange RSS feed logo (a orange square with a circle and two arcs) or to click on the orange XML logo (if the website offers these choices). Then you choose the feed reader that you want to use.
Google Reader allows you to assign subscriptions to one or more folders or “tags.” For example, I set up a tag called “Comics and Humor” that contains feeds to the Dilbert and Get Fuzzy comic strips. Everyday these comic strips are delivered automatically to my Google Reader, so I can start the day off with a laugh.
What to Expect from This Website
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I’m new to blogging. Also, although I’m fairly computer savvy, I’m by no means a computer expert. At this point, I am basically trying to keep costs low by doing as much of this by myself as possible. This website will continue to evolve as I learn how to improve it. I had been delaying the start of this website because quite frankly there is a lot that I still need to learn. It’s human nature to procrastinate on things that we are not knowledgeable about. However, I’ve learned that one of the most important keys to success is to get yourself to take action, so I decided to just get started and accept the inevitable “learning experiences” that I will encounter.
You should also be aware that I intend to add advertising and affiliate programs to this website. I made this decision in order to be able to continue to provide great free content while getting at least some compensation for my efforts. It eventually may allow me to hire professional consultants to provide a more professional look and improve the usability of the website. It will also encourage me to provide quality content in order to attract a wide and consistent readership.
“Sure. What’s worth doing is worth doing for money. It’s a bad bargain if nobody gains. And if we do this deal, everybody gains.”
- Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street -
I will try to make the ads unobtrusive and will avoid pop up ads, spam, and other annoying marketing tactics. I don’t like such tactics, and I’m sure that you don’t either.
I hope that you will enjoy my blog. If you would like to subscribe to my blog in order to be notified of updates, you can use the buttons in the subscription box prominently displayed on my webpage.
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