What’s a RSS Reader?

You’ve seen the squares or cubes (on right) with “RSS” or FEED written beside them on most blogs and even some web sites. You’re probably wondering what it’s all about.

This blog is set up so that whenever I post a new article - it is available to feed readers. A feed reader is nothing more than a program that automatically checks for new articles at blogs or web sites you subscribe to.

A feed reader will check all the blogs you subscribe to every time you open the feed reader. It will grab all the new articles and put them in a neat least, indexed by title - and probably the time they were posted.

Google, of course has a feed reader. I use it daily. Click here to see what it’s all about. Screen shot below.

Now, why would someone want to use a feed reader? Why not just go visit the sites I like to see if there’s new content?

Waste of time.

I am subscribed to about 115 blogs and web sites right now. If, every day I wanted to find out if all 115 had new articles I would have to open that site up in my browser and check. For 115 sites that might take 3 hours, or more if I wanted to copy the article to read later in Word or Notepad.

I don’t want to spend two hours surfing around hunting down new articles, waiting for the sites to load, etc. I want them in one place where I can read them easily. I want to read them ANYTIME I choose, not just when I’m connected to the computer.

Google’s feed reader allows me to do this and save LOTS of time. In fact the few hours I’d spend looking for new content at 115 sites is cut down to just 30 minutes, including reading time for all articles I find interesting. This is an average day.

So, feed readers save LOTS of time and aggravation. Plus, you can read the new articles by your favorite bloggers whether you’re online or offline. You can install “Google Gears” to be able to store the articles on your computer to read whenever you like. You can even go a week or a month without looking at your reader… The google reader will store everything that wasn’t viewed by you at the sites you subscribed to. You can read 2000 articles at one sitting if you wish. If you can.

Once you read the article you can choose to mark it read or unread. You can STAR it. You can add tags to it so you can find it in a search later. You can copy and paste it somewhere. You can send it to friends easily by email. You can notify DIGG.com, TECHNORATI, Del.icio.us, FaceBook, or any of a hundred web 2.0 sites about the article, effectively sharing it with millions of people that may not have seen it.

I use Google reader because I use Google to manage everything I do online. It’s just easier to have one place to do everything. Yahoo has a reader. Reddit has a reader. I’m sure MSN has a reader. I think the Firefox browser even has a built in reader if I’m not mistaken.

Get signed up (free) with a reader, hopefully Google reader - and then come to AimforAwesome.com and click on the RSS FEED link or the cube that you see at the top of the site.

Subscribe to our feed.

Anytime you want you’ll be able to read all the articles I’ve created since last time you looked.

How easy is that?

It’s all free - no money for anything.

Get started today, you’ll thank yourself for saving a lot of time and increasing the amount of great information you’re exposed to.

MOST blogs have feeds. The might say RSS or FEED or Subscribe or ATOM or Reader or something. Usually they are at the top of the blog - though at times at the bottom.

Good luck!

Best of Life!

Vern