November 13, 2008

I used to visit my 30 to 40 favorite web sites on a daily basis. This was a very inefficient process. Sometimes I would forget to visit certain sites, and I would miss content. Other times, I would arrive at a site, only to find that nothing has changed.

Every time, I would be bombarded with advertisements.

A few years ago, I started using an RSS aggregator or 'reader'. RSS stands for 'Real Simple Syndication'. Web sites and bloggers can use RSS feeds to publish their content to anyone who wants to subscribe to it. An RSS reader will allow you to subscribe to and read an unlimited number of RSS feeds in one location.

A reader functions much like an email inbox. New content will 'arrive' when it is published. Old content that has been read will either disappear or will change its visual appearance.

Feeds can be grouped into folders or 'tags' so they can be organized to your preference.

RSS feeds exist for everything imaginable: bestseller lists, blog posts, news headlines, shopping discounts, job postings, etc.... As you browse your favorite sites, look for a small orange RSS icon. These icons indicate the existence of a feed. Click the icon to view or subscribe to the feed.

Every day, I first scan through all my feeds and remove the items that don't immediately appeal to me. The remaining items I either read during a second scan, or I save for later. This only takes a few minutes each day. Every few weeks I check which feeds have content that I consistently ignore. I remove them. This is what works for me. Your approach may be different.

The end result: countless hours of saved time.

Dr. North publishes the titles and snippets of his articles in an RSS feed. I suggest you subscribe to the feed as an exercise. Follow these steps:

1. Create an account with one of the many free RSS reader services on the web. I recommend Google Reader. (http://www.google.com/reader)

2. Visit GaryNorth.com and click the orange "RSS" button in the top right corner below the Tip of the Week subscription box.

3. You should be prompted to 'subscribe' to the feed using your reader. If not, you may have to copy the address (http://www.garynorth.com/mysite.xml) and paste it into your reader's subscription box.

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