This post is going to be a bit technical and might even be intimidating.  Don't let this scare you, no matter how new you are!  Because first I'll tell you about all of the wonderful reasons that you should use this post to your advantage.  Then, I'll explain how to set this little deal up in a very step-by-step method.  If you are an ActiveRain addict and a blog-geek, this is going to make your "experience" so much better.  You'll wonder how you ever got things done before!

If you want to organize your blog reading in the most efficient way possible (and every ActiveRainer should want to do that), than you need this post.  Take 20 minutes to set this up and you will be very happy that you did.

Imagine this:  Picture a window on your computer that stays open throughout the day and it sort of looks like a web browser.  However, this "web browser"-looking thing is actually like your own personal newspaper.  It only contains articles, by authors that only you pick.  You could have something from Rachel Ray in your own "Cooking Blogs" section and you could have something from Karen George in the ActiveRain Blogs section.

Then, everytime one of your authors posts an article, you get a little chime or sound of some sort letting you know that your favorite blog or internet news source has been updated.  Is this neat or what?  You can fill your personal news reader with anything you want.  You can pick this blog and put it right next to the Colorado Real Estate Journal.  It's a tailor-made newspaper each morning and each hour.  You would want to read every section of this newspaper; because you picked the authors.

This special article browser is called an RSS Reader or, sometimes, a "news reader", because it does just that.  It collects all of your favorite blogs and news sources and organizes them into one neat little window.  This means that your Renee Burrows posts will be right alongside the PAC 10 football articles you subscribed to.  Whatever you want!

There are two kinds of RSS Readers (think of them as blog organizers).  There is one type that appears as a web page in your internet browser.  (Also known as web-based RSS reader.)  It's just like any internet page that you'd visit, except all of your favorite blogs and newspapers are collected and posted right there.  You could have the Official ActiveRain Blog right next to the MSNBC "To Catch A Predator Blog."  A website that contains information from your favorite bloggers and authors, updated every hour, and sorted the way you like it.  Beautiful right?

The other kind of RSS reader is the one I was talking about a few paragraphs ago.  It is independent from your web browser, but of course, it does connect to the internet.  These are a little more difficult to get the hang of, but they have nice features.  Like, for example, playing a certain sound when a certain author posts something.  If you are going to choose me, and you want a cool sound every time I post, I think "Mandy" by Manilow would be perfect.

Even though this is a tool that everyone really should be using, I realize that some of you will not be interested in taking the time to learn something new.  I am like that myself.  I resist new technologies.  (Three years ago, I had the best T.V. that money could buy; today, with LCDs going for $1000, my T.V. is essentially worthless.)  However, let me assure you:  This free tool takes 10 minutes to install; and about 10 minutes more to get set up and learn the basics.  In 30 minutes, you'll be a champ.  It's not complex.  It just reads news from the pages that you give it.

You will never miss a post again.

So, if you would like me to post very easy-to-follow instructions about the RSS Readers I wrote about above, please leave a comment.  I will be happy to go into this further, because I think it is an awesome technology.  However, even this article was a lot of work and I don't want to continue if there isn't much interest.

Let me know!  Also, next comes the progress report on the Great Blog Experiment, where I attempted to take 21 web sites that I had never seen and make them move up in the Google rankings.  So if you are not subscribed, the button is in the top right hand corner.