There are several ways to follow a blog and different blogs have different ways to follow them. The 3 most common ways are by email, on facebook or in a reader. Let's go over the email way first.
Some blogs have a box on the sidebar that looks like this, but will be smaller to fit the sidebar. Simply enter your email address and press subscribe. Most email subscription sites will then send you a confirmation email. Just click the link they give you and you will start getting an email when a new post is made. If you scroll down you will see this box on the sidebar to the right. If you want to follow this blog by email just enter your email now. Please don't enter your email in the box below since it will not subscribe you to this blog.
I have started following the blogs I really like this way. If you have a blog and don't have a follow by email I suggest you get one, it really does make following blogs easier. Feedburner has a good feed site.
Another way to follow a blog is thru a reader. A reader is a place where all the updates for all the blogs you follow this way can be found. If you have a gmail email then you already have a reader. To see your reader go to the page where you can see your gmail. Along the top of the page will be many choices such as search, images, documents, calendar and more. cCick the word more and a drop down menu will appear. Click reader and your google reader will come up. This shows all of the new posts from the blogs you follow. The only drawback is that you have to remember to check your reader everyday or you might miss a post.
The most popular way to follow a blog thru a reader is thru Google Friend Connect otherwise known as GFC. However blogs that are not made thru blogspot or blogger will not have GFC starting in March. By now most blogs that will be losing GFC do not have it available anymore (I'll cover that in a bit). If the blog is a blogspot blog and you want to follow in a reader find the part on the sidebar that says "Join this site with Google Friend Connect" followed by little face icons under it. Click the Join This Site bar and you are done (it may ask for sign in info if you are not signed into your email). Now the posts from this blog will start showing up on your reader.
If you have an IPad or IPhone there are reader apps that you can get. I use Feedler on my IPad and love it. It's very user friendly and lets you sort thru the posts easily.
The last way to follow a blog is by having the posts show up in your facebook feed. It's thru a site called NetworkedBlogs. There is a little bit of set up the first time you click it so the site knows your facebook info, but it's very simple to follow. Then the blog posts will show up on your facebook page. Again unless you check your facebook very often you will miss some posts, but with some blogs losing GFC this may be the only way to follow. I have started asking bloggers to add a follow by email box for this reason since I don't check my facebook too often.
There you have it, 3 common ways to follow blogs. I know there are other ways out there so if you know of any please let me know.
I use google reader to follow blogs because I don't like my email so clogged up. Google reader is a little more streamlined, since that's what it's made for, following blogs.
ReplyDeleteThe blogs you follow there don't have to be through blogspot, but just need an rss feed, so can be a tumblr, wordpress or whatever else. The most simple way to add them is by opening Google reader, hitting the red 'subscribe' button on the left and pasting/typing the address of the site you want to follow into it. Voila! You are now subscribed.
I like using a reader so if I am away from my computer for a while, out of town, or just busy with life, all the blogs posted while I was away are there waiting for me. I can also see at a glance what new blogs are up and don't have to delete or file them once they are read.