How you can follow 200+ blog feeds successfully, everyday!

In the past, and every other day, I’d have this thing or the other and ultimately forget or will not be able to find the time I need to check the feeds of the blogs that I follow. Although I don’t follow many feeds by e-mail, with my Feed Reader(Google Reader), and my Following list(explained later) I pretty much follow 200+ blog feeds everyday. And by follow, I mean reading every single RELEVANT and IMPORTANT post that I come across. So this post is about “How I manage to follow 200+ blog feeds successfully, everyday!”

Letting my feed reader do most of the tracking for me.

Well, out of the 200+ I follow, 120+ are in my Feed Reader. I use Google Reader and I really hate to see a gazillion posts piled up at the end of everyday from blogs that have high posting frequencies. For an instance, Lifehacker. So, I use Google Reader to subscribe to blogs that have relatively low posting frequencies. Blogs with a frequency of about 1-2 posts per day or lower and a few very well-written blogs with slightly higher posting frequencies like 2-3 posts per day. Otherwise, seeing 400+ posts everyday, really de-moralizes me to read what I need to know.

Also, I use Google Reader to track only blogs that are really relevant to what I need to know. Nope, I don’t mean only about blogging. But rather I follow a lot of great entrepreneurial, business management, HR management and a couple of personal blogs as well. This way, I have a sense of urgency of reading what I like to know and I successfully follow all of my Feed Reader Feeds. Since Google Reader comes first in my daily reading list, finishing it up means I’ve read and finished the most important stuff I need to know on that day.

And that, gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Following the lists.

Earlier I told you that I don’t track blogs like Lifehacker through the feed. Subscribing to Lifehacker clutters up my Misc. category of the Feed Reader very much. So instead, I have three folders in my Firefox bookmarks toolbar.

• Everyday Reads - Lifehacker goes here. Some well-written blogs that just can’t fit in my Feed Reader goes here. So, after I’m done with the Feed Reader, I can follow the list here. And plus, I don’t feel obliged to read the blog if I should miss anything amidst their high posting frequencies. Except for that, large and medium sized blogs, or even well written “just getting started” blogs that are worth a read everyday, goes here.

• Odd/Even day Reads - Much like odd day parking, I follow these blogs once two days. These are above average, well-written and worth commenting blogs I’ve chosen. Although a majority of these blogs are small blogs, I enjoy reading them. Sometimes, the best and the most unique tips come from these. And I genuinely like to help out those blogs by commenting and paying them a visit once in a while. Since I don’t have enough time to read all of them everyday, I’ve split them into two groups, and labeled them to be read once every two days.

• “Read it later” list - If I come across a great post in a blog that I haven’t come across before, and if I don’t have enough time to check on the blog or the post, I save it for later using the “Read it later” plug-in for FireFox by IdeaShower. Of course, I can bookmark it, but the “Read it later” list is a list I follow whenever I have time and I feel like. Great for one time reads and helps me save my bookmarks too!

Having a “follow list” drastically saved my time, un-cluttered my Feed Reader, and made me have the most out of my reading, and the engaged discussions in blogs.

Choosing Carefully on what I “Buy”

I consider subscribing to a blog as buying something. Well, it doesn’t cost me money. But something far more important. Time! So, when I come across a new blog, I carefully see whether it’s something worth subscribing into. I mean, we should have a valid reason as to subscribing to something that requires us to contribute something in back right? For an instance, subscribing to problogger had made me a better blogger. So I know it’s worth the investment.

True, this doesn’t mean anything to a person who subscribed to 1000+ feeds but really hasn’t visited the blog, nor the Feed Reader in a week and a half. But, I’m strongly guessing you aren’t one of them?

Buying something doesn’t stop there. Depending on the time I have, I also sort out my reading lists in the Feed Reader. If I’m really short on time and the post topic doesn’t interests me, I know it’s not worth an immediate read. So I save for later and move on.

Making most of the kill-time

When I get some free time in College or while I’m traveling, my mobile lets me do the feed reading through WAP. It’s really simple when you’ve got Google Reader since through GPRS, you can connect to the Google Reader’s mobile interface. And what’s cooler is it comes with packed functionality. If I can’t finish reading something or if I think I should go home and look deeper, I “star” it. (Add to the list of starred items) And when I come home, I can take care of the “Starred Items”.

Do you utilize any out-of-the-box methods to follow blog feeds? Or, do you simply think my methods are ineffective/effective? I’d love to hear your comments on this.