Blogs provide a great way to stay on top of what’s happening in your field or what interests you. That statement holds true regardless of what position you hold. The problem becomes one of time. You identify more and more good blogs. You then spend more and more time going to each to read new content. Today’s article on “Feedly” is going to give you the relief you need.

What if you could go to one place and see the new posts from all your favorite blogs? What if you could dismiss the posts as you read them and save others to re-read later? It’s not only possible, but it’s free, and it’s easy.

Feedly to the rescue

Start by creating a free account. Go to feedly.com. Click “Get started for free.” You have several ways in which you can create a login. Many people will choose to login with their Google or Facebook account. Clicking “Continue with Feedly” allows you to use your email address and create a unique password.

At this point, you can click on categories under “Explore the Web.” If you already know of blogs you like, enter a URL in the search window. Watch the results. When you see something in the list you like, click the “Follow” button. Feedly will ask you to supply a “Feed name.” That means you are being asked to supply a category. You might enter Education, Technology, Finance, Sports, etc.

Start adding content

Click on any of the categories to see a list of suggestions.

If you already have some specific blogs in mind, click the green “Add Content” button. In the search bar, enter the URL for the site. Or, you can enter a name. In this example, entering my name returned my site.

Clicking on a result gives you more detail about the site. If you like what you see, click “Follow.”

You’ll be asked to put your selection into a “category.”

Feedly will give a suggestion, or you can supply your own.

Continue adding as much content as you like. Over time, you’ll keep returning to that green “Add Content” button as you come across new sites you want to follow.

Your workflow on Feedly

Open Feedly. Click on “Today” in the left sidebar. Start reading your selections.

I like what’s called the “Magazine” view. Select your view by clicking the three horizontal lines in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Once you have read a post, it doesn’t appear again. When you open Feedly, what appears is always fresh content.

But what if you want to re-read an article later? Click the ribbon. It will turn solid green. This article will appear in a section called “Read Later.”

When you are finished with an article, unclick the ribbon. The article will not appear again.

Feedly from your mobile devices

We all have those spare minutes during the day. We find ourselves looking at our phones during those times. But just what are you looking at?

You could be looking at email. Personally, I find I am better able to handle email from my desktop computer. That’s why at the end of the day, my inbox is empty. Other than a quick look to see if there is something critical, reading email is not how I spend those minutes.

You could look at Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. There’s always something new there. But is it content that is of quality? After all, you’re trading your time for the content you’re viewing. Is it worth it?

There’s another way to spend those spare minutes when the tool you have is your phone. Open the Feedly app. It’s a free download from the iTunes Store or Google Play Store. Open the app and begin scrolling through the posts. What’s in the list are all coming from blogs I like. However, every article is not going to be of interest.

My routine is to “swipe right” on any article of interest. It marks the article as “Read Later.”

During spare moments, I work through the “Read Later” articles on my desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. Icons within Feedly let me share interesting content I read on social media. While I am not a fan of multitasking, I find I can read through Feedly and watch TV at the same time.

Abundant information is a blessing of the time in which we live. The ease of being overwhelmed by it is the challenge.  Feedly lets me make decisions about my interests in the front end. It puts the content in one nice, neat place.

Now let’s hear from you. What are some of the blogs you like to read? Leave a comment. Others may want to add them to their Feedly.