RSS feeds and iGoogle have become so important to my work, it’s hard to believe I learned about these tools just a few months ago. Plenty of business people still don’t know what they are or how to use them. More on that later.
I like iGoogle because I get two great tools in one. Or 56 great tools in one. As an RSS feed aggregator, iGoogle gathers updates from all the sites and blogs I consume regularly into one convenient place. Now, instead of constantly checking dozens of bookmarked sites 10 times a day, I can get instant updates from one place 100 times a day. Plus, I get the added benefit of Google search built right in.
I’m subscribed to 56 feeds right now. Yes, that’s a lot. No, I don’t read them all. I skim the headlines. Most days I skip right over the sports feeds. And four or five of the feeds are PRstore feeds, so I just sorta glance at those.
Here are some of my favorites…I hope you’ll discover a new gem here:
Skelliwag
One of the more lucent — and more popular — bloggers on the Web. Skellie is a marketing rockstar out of Melbourne, Australia. Tune in to her stuff and you’ll learn a thing or two about succeeding online.
ProBlogger
Is it safe to call Darren Rowse the godfather of blogging? From his humble roots as a blogging hobbyist, Darren emerged as part of the blogging elite, the cognoscenti, the pioneers. What are you up to now Darren, about a million subscribers? If you want to succeed as a blogger, you better be reading ProBlogger.
Web Ink Now
Nobody puts the
rapidly changing PR landscape in context like David Meerman Scott. When
you get to his blog, check out his free e-Books. I still reference "The
New Rules of PR" on a weekly basis. Web Ink Now is good stuff for any
business that has a story to tell.
Duct Tape Marketing
If PRstore is the A-Team of marketing, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing is surely its McGyver. I don’t know if he can boost your sales with a tube sock, a paper clip and a ball point pen, but John has a knack for making marketing a little less intimidating to small businesses.
Andy Wibbels
Andy just joined the team at Six Apart, the company that brought us TypePad. MarketingSherpa named his BlogWild! the Best Marketing Blog of 2005 and 2006. ‘Nuff said.
Search Engine Guide
About a dozen bloggers offer insights on search engine marketing at Search Engine Guide. I keep coming back to the posts of Stoney deGeyter. He riffs on topics I care about…and I care about them because you care about them. Jennifer Laycock is another great read.
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
A new addition to my favorite feeds, Liz writes Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers)…SOBs, to those in the know. You’ll find real world info from entrepreneurs, marketers, and other down-to-earth bloggers. Success stories, lessons learned, and clever insights…what more could you ask for?
Have any favorites you’d like to share with me? Leave a comment! I’m always looking for great writers.