Tag: blogging

Trying Out New Feed Readers

If I’m honest I wouldn’t even be blogging if it wasn’t for my good friend Peter taking the time to explain over the phone how to set-up RSS feeds in a Feed Reader – Bloglines. I’ve used Bloglines ever since and have been ever grateful to him as it changed the way I worked and viewed the web.

Some years on Peter started a thread: Moving From Bloglines To Google Reader and I decided this time I’d get with the program and give something else a go. Enter Google Reader and I’m actually impressed. It took a while to get used to and I was tempted to go back to Bloglines but now I’m thinking I may stick with it for a while.

What I like:

  • I could easily import my feeds from Bloglines meaning I didn’t have to start again.
  • The folder system is easier to use than Bloglines so I feel better able to manage all my subscriptions.
  • I like the Ajax interface better than the old antiquated frames of Bloglines.

What I’d like to see:

  • A better way to mark posts read. You can mark a whole feed read but you have to remember to do this. Maybe as I get used to Google Reader this will come more naturally.
  • New posts opening in the same window as the previous post – although I may just not have found this yet.

What I do find interesting is Google Reader makes it much easier for the reader to read in the reader and not visit your blog/website. With Bloglines I always displayed just the summary and clicked onto the site if a post interested me. This has changed the way I think about my own blog and how it is viewed.

Since then the lovely Peter has written an update: List of Popular Feed Readers *sigh*. I really don’t have time to try them all so will rely on feedback and maybe just test a few.

So what Feed Reader are you using? Why?

Blogging is Hard Work

Finally having a blog of my own has made me appreciate even more all the bloggers I have read and enjoyed over the years.

Whilst my blog is relatively new I was introduced to blogging early – having designed Peter Da Vanzo’s SearchEngineBlog.com website. Peter was blogging way back before most and I always looked forward to his daily thoughts and comments. Now I can truly appreciate the effort he put into it. So thank you Peter and all those other bloggers who take the time to write truly great, insightful posts. It’s appreciated.

I’m still settling into my own blogging style and still struggle with what to write at times. If anyone has any suggestions or topics they’d love to hear more about please let me know.

Here We Go

With a little push, ok a damn huge shove (thanks Barry) I’m going live.

To be honest I’m still finding it hard to find my voice and come up with post ideas. My thinking is to focus on web design, usability and marketing as opposed to pure search – there’s enough wonderful search focused bloggers already.

So I’ve decided to ask you what you’d like to read about. Please post any comments or suggestions – heck you’ll be saving my skin.