Adding salesforce.com Blogs to Google Reader

I am a HUGE blogger reader. I read in the neighborhood of 20-30 blogs a day. Most of them have multiple posts. You don't have to spend your entire day reading blogs but instead, read them like you read email. Sometimes quick. Somestimes you dig into them. Sometimes you forward them. Sometimes you flag them for later.

I have found that Google Reader is the best medium for me to keep up with all the blogs I like to read. (Please click here for my favorite salesforce.com Blogs.)

Here are instructions for how to set up your own Google Reader:

Click here and sign up for a new Google account. (If you already have Gmail, PicasaWeb or Google Docs account, you are already set.) Once you have a Google Reader account, you can simply find the RSS Feeds you want to subscribe too and click on the RSS icon.

Login to Google Reader

Once you log in, there is a pretty simple interface, not unlike most webmail applications. There is a folder set on the left, a search area up top and all your feeds displayed in the center. (My screenshot below has been modified to fit this window). Google Reader also has the ability to go offline, so you can read your blogs on an airplane or where ever else you somehow cannot get online.

As an example, let's subscribe to the "Latest AppExchange Postings", which will allow you to see what is uploaded to the AppExchange every day.

Navigate to www.appexchange.com and click on the RSS Icon next to the "Latest Postings"

A page (similar to the screenshot below) will appear. Simply click ADD TO GOOGLE READER to subscribe to this feed

Once you click on the button, the feed will automatically populate the reader

Another GREAT feed to add is the Salesforce.com Blog from CRM Success.

Click here and navigate to Successforce

On the bottom left, look for the RSS Feed Icon. Click on the icon and the feed will be added to Google Reader the same was as shown above

Click ADD TO GOOGLE READER

The Feed will then be added to Google Reader

If you start to add more and more feeds, you may want to "bucket" them into folders, similar to your email. To add a new folder, click on the "FEED SETTINGS" button and click on NEW FOLDER

Name your folder

The feed you were looking at will automatically be added to that folder. To add another feed to the folder, click on the feed link (on the left) then FEED SETTINGS > Click on the Folder to automatically add it.

You may also want to start researching your customers and prospects in the news to stay on top of what is happening with them. If you search your prospects in Google News, you can add any search criteria to Google Reader.

Navigate to http://news.google.com. Enter the search keyword

On the left hand side, you will see links for the RSS Feed

Click on RSS and add the feed to Google Reader

All new feeds will automatically appear in Google Reader like magic!

As I mentioned, I subscribe to roughly 20 Salesforce blogs alone. If you are as interested, click here to start adding your own salesforce.com Blogs to Google Reader. Find the RSS FEED Icon within those sites and add them to Google Reader.

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