Organizing your Blog Roll on Google Reader: A Tutorial

One of my projects over the break was organizing the billions of blogs that I follow. I thought it would take me a few hours to sort through all of the blogs and delete the ones that were no longer active, but no...it took me a good day and a half.

Hopefully you're not following as many blogs as I am and the process will go quick for you. This quick tutorial will show you how to sort the blogs that you follow into certain categories, or folders, on Google Reader. I've found it much easier to follow all of my absolute favorite blogs by putting them into a certain folder, putting all the "preppy" blogs into another, and so on.

So...let's do this!

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1. Think about all the blogs that you follow and think about categories you would like to separate them in. Write these down: these will be the different folders you create. For example, some of my categories are:
--preppy blogs
--health and beauty blogs
--food and craft blogs
--linkup blogs

2. Go to Google Reader. Whenever you click "Join this site" with Google Friend Connect on a Blogger-hosted blog, it will automatically be added to your Google Reader in a special folder titled "Blogs I'm Following".

3. Click on the gear in the corner, and scroll down to click on Reader Settings. This will bring you to a page of tabs labelled "Preferences", "Subscriptions", "Folders and Tags", etc.

4. Click on the tab marked subscriptions. You will see a list of all the blogs you follow with check boxes to their left, followed by an option to remain them, delete them (the trash can) and a drop down menu.

5. Find a blog that you want to add to a folder. Click "add to a folder", then "new folder". You will get the option to name that folder.

6. Now click the checkboxes of every blog you want to add to that folder. Once you're finished, scroll to the top and click "more actions". The name of the folder you created will appear: click on that to add all the check marked blogs to that folder.

7. Repeat steps 5-7 for every folder you want to create.

You can also go through your blogs and delete the ones that are inactive using the trash can option next to them.

Ta-da! You now have organized your blog roll. In the mood for a new desert recipe? Just click on the folder you created titled "Food Blogs" to get a list of the newest posts from the blogs you put into that category. Want to follow up with your favorite blogs? Just click on that folder to see posts only from the blogs you categorized as such. Believe it or not, this is a huge time saver in the long run.

Anybody else organize their blog roll on Google Reader using folders? Any other blog related tutorials you'd like to see? Let me know in the comments below!

Blog Organization

I wanted to write a post asking how you all keep your blog organized. I just started a new system of planning out my posts that I wanted to share. However, I wanted to know what works best for all of you!

I like planning out my posts in advance because I never know when I'll be busy or not. I try to post everyday (except Saturdays), so I started scheduling posts using a binder that I made.

Ta-da! I filled it with printable, free pages from LivingLocurto.com that help you keep a calendar of your blog posts. The calendar can be found here.

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Here's what one of my (half filled-out) pages looks like:

• As you can see, I write the post topic under the day of the week that I plan to schedule it. I strikethrough it when the post is written and scheduled on Blogger

• I put boxes to check off when I've replied to every comment of that post and when I've visited everyone's blogs back

• The middle box on the right is where I list the "blog hops" I plan to join that week

• Above that is a "to-do" box where I write down if I still have to make any images for a blog post that week

• The bottom righthand box is a place to put ideas for the following week

Does anyone else have a similar system? Do you like planning your posts in advance or do you write them spur of the moment?

New Blog Design/{Free} Blog Button Swap

Hey guys!

I was all set out to do a post about the Emmy nominations (Downton Abbey got a ton of noms, yay!) but then I somehow ended up spending hours working on a new layout for my blog. Oops. So expect things to shift around here and there! I still can't get everything to line up perfectly, ugh.

My unofficial blog mascot, Lucy! 

(Yes, I may or may not have already named the dachshund I'm going to get someday...)

Secondly, anyone up for a blog button swap? I want to eventually get rid of the blog roll on the bottom righthand side of the page and replace it with buttons. You put my button up on your blog, I'll put yours up on mine. That simple! Sorry, I've tried forever to get that nice little HTML code box under my button, and it's never worked. I think my blog is cursed or something.

Comment below and let me know if you want to swap buttons!

Have a good weekend,

Becky

Forming a Directory: Call for Blog Link-Ups!

So I have a problem, fellow bloggers. I really want to participate in blog hops and link ups, but I never seem to get the timing right. I usually write my posts ahead of time, so when I see a post such as "Tuesday Link-Up" in my feed, I already have a post written for that day.

It's very sad. I know.

So here's what I'm proposing. I was already making a list of all the weekly link-ups in Evernote for myself, but I thought, why not share the list with all of my followers?

Here's a list of all the weekly link-ups I've seen. Comment or email me if you host a link-up or participate in a favorite one! I'll add it to the list.
*****************************************************************************

BLOG LINK-UPS
Click on the buttons to go to the link-up pages!

MONDAY

"Mani Monday" by Heather at JustLove.ly



TUESDAY

"Top Five Tuesday" by Rachel at Just Peachy

WEDNESDAY

 

"Oh, How Pinteresting" by Michelle at The Vintage Apple

"What I'm Loving Wednesday" by Jamie at This Kind of Love

"My Life in an Instagram" by Liz at According to L

THURSDAY

"Awkward and Awesome Thursdays" from Sydney at The Daybook

FRIDAY

 

"Book Club Friday" by Heather at Blonde, Undercover Blonde and Katie at The Nerdy Katie

"Friday Favorites" by The Bargain Blonde SATURDAY

 

"Strut Your Stuff" at Six Sisters' Stuff

SUNDAY

 

"Weekend Update" hosted by Sami at Sami's Shenanigans, Leann at Join the Gossip and Dana at five30three

"Sunday Confessions" hosted by Alyx at Every Day is a New Adventure

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BLOG HOPS

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

WEEKEND

______________________________________________________________________________
Thanks everyone! If you want, please share this list with others. Though it's still small, I hope it can help other bloggers out.

*if you don't want me to post about your link-up here either, don't hesitate to email me and let me know!

She's alive!

Hey everyone. We are BACK in business! At the time of writing this, it's a nice day out, I just finished my second to last final and I got my organic chemistry grades back already. Oh happy day :)

Thanks for all of your comments wishing me good luck with finals. I can honestly say these were the most stressful finals I've ever had, but I made it. Well, almost. I just have a pesky calculus test on Saturday (yes, SATURDAY...what's up with that?) and then I'm done. I'm just taking a little breather and enjoying the nice weather.

Also, I can't believe I have 50 followers! Thank you all so much for reading my blog. Your comments make my day! I've gotten so much out of blogging and I really appreciate your support.

In a few days I'll be a college junior. It's such a bittersweet feeling, being halfway done with college, but it's great to see how far I've come in two short years.

I'll be back to my regular posting schedule shortly. See you all then!

--Becky

April Blog Button Swap

Hey guys!

So I've seen a few bloggers do this and I think it's a great idea. Anyone want to have a blog button swap for the month of April? I'll post your button on my blog for the month of April, and you can post mine on yours. This will definitely help all of our blogs get some extra traffic and maybe a few new readers. And my blog needs some bedazzling anyway.

If you're interested, email me at beckygluc@gmail.com and paste the code I provided on the right-hand side of this page onto your blog. Then send me your button so I can put it on my blog!

Here's the tutorial I used on how to make a blog button, because I was pretty clueless on how to do it. My little sister sat down with me for a half an helping me design it on photoshop. I swore to her that the text wasn't centered, so we moved it one pixel at a time. Annoying, yes, but I guess it was sister-sister bonding time, right?

Again, let me know if you're interested, and have a great week!

--Becky

P.S. Miss Southern Prep is having a Lilly Pulitzer giveaway! Check it out!