5 Ways To Save Time With Google Reader

This is a guest post by Natasha Vorompiova.

Do you hire someone to handle your social media or do you just not sleep at night?

The entrepreneur who posed this question was trying to keep things light, but he raised a serious issue about how we can manage our time.

We all know that we need to use social media to successfully market our companies, but where can we find the time to do it when we’re so busy wearing every other hat?

It all comes down to having a basic system for managing the information overload that’s now part of our lives.

I’m talking about all that information that pours into your mail box in the form of newsletters. . .all those highly recommended blogs of “must-follow” experts… all those sites you have to monitor in order to stay abreast of developments within your industry… all the information you need to find in order to get involved in guest blogging.

I’m here to tell you can enjoy your sleep. All you need to do is put Google Reader to work for you.

Google Reader is the perfect tool for collecting this information and keeping it at your fingertips. It’s the best and easiest to use feed reader (“feeds” are regular updates, such as articles, that people post on their websites). Google Reader’s main purpose is to trace, gather and neatly organize online feeds in one place.

5 Benefits of Google Reader

1. Google Reader delivers updates from your favorite websites so that you don’t have to spend time visiting each one of them.

2. It reduces your feeling of being pulled in a gazillion directions because it creates your very own social media hub, which enables you–with just a click of a button–to tweet, share, and comment on posts.

3. You’ll save a lot of time because you’ll no longer need to aimlessly browse the web searching for something interesting to share with the members of your audience.

Now it’ll be easier for you to engage them in the kind of attention-grabbing discussions that are crucial to building up your “know, like, and trust” factor.

4. Google Reader will help establish you as the go-to person when it comes to sharing new advances within your industry.

Sharing interesting and insightful information will make you look generous, informed and helpful. People will come to recognize you as an expert who has her finger on the pulse of her industry, and this, in turn, will increase the chances of them choosing you over everyone else when the time comes to select a service provider.

5. You can create an online fame hub by combining Google Reader with Google Alerts in order to easily collect mentions of you, your business, and your products.

Tracking mentions of you and your business is necessary. Positive comments serve as a confirmation that your hard work is paying off and that your reputation is growing. Use the positive feedback to identify the people who admire your work so that you can cultivate relationships with them. Catch negative news so that you can take the preventive measures before the situation escalates to a crisis.

Creating and Using Your Google Reader Account is Easy

1. Go into in your Gmail account and click on “More” (in the horizontal menu bar) and select “Reader.”

2. Click Reader “Settings” in the drop-down menu under the little gear wheel symbol in the upper right-hand corner.

3. Go to “Goodies.”

4. Select the option “Subscribe” at the bottom of the page and drag the “Subscribe” button to the browser toolbar. This will add the button to your list of bookmarks.

5. Now, whenever you come across a website you want to keep an eye on, just bookmark it by pressing the “Subscribe” button. The site will be added to your Google Reader collection, so you can come back and browse the postings whenever you want.

Action Tips

Now’s the time! Go create your Google Reader account and subscribe to the feed of your five favorite blogs. Then come over to Natasha’s Facebook page to let us know which blogs you picked. We’re curious!

photo credit: idovermani via photo pin cc

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About the Author

Natasha Vorompiova—founder of SystemsRock and creator of Systems Chick—is ready to come to your rescue—as an Advisor, Sidekick, or Personal Superhero. Her unique approach will ensure you have the rock-solid systems for successfully managing and growing your business.

Follow the adventures of the Systems Chick and learn her insider secrets by heading over to www.systemsrock.com.

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