Good morning!
I hope you’re feeling well-rested today! I don’t have to go into work until later this morning, so I jumped at the chance to sleep in a bit.
Once I woke up, I reheated the eggs I prepared last night. As I made dinner yesterday, I thought I had to work the early shift at the gym again today and simultaneously prepared breakfast for myself. After checking my schedule on my phone before bed, I realized my error but took advantage of my prep work this morning and ate the eggs anyway.
Eggs + Shredded cheese + Onion + Spinach
Plus a hot cup of coffee on the side!
I will be heading out the door soon to train a client and tackle my own workout for the day. I’ll see you crazy kids after lunch!
Now for some blog talk…
Switching from Google Reader to Bloglovin’
If you’re a big-time blog reader like me, you’ve likely heard the bad news about Google Reader. (For those of you who may be in the dark about Google Reader, it is a website that allows blog readers to read their favorite blogs in one place.) Google Reader is shutting down on July 1.
I’ve been in denial and have been reading all of my favorite blogs in Google Reader ever since I heard the news, but during the nearly eight hours of flight delays I experienced last week as I traveled to San Francisco, I began to do a little research and signed up for Bloglovin’. Another similar website that has received a lot of praise is Feedly, so you might want to check that out as well.
Both Bloglovin’ and Feedly import your previous Google Reader feed, making it easy to continue to follow your favorite blogs in one place.
Also, if you’re a blogger and want to add the “follow this blog with bloglovin’” button you see on the right hand side of my blog, you can click here for a tutorial.
Simply click the icon and type in the name of your blog. Then click “how to put this icon on your blog” and follow the instructions. Since I use WordPress, I just copy and pasted the HTML code into a text box and then dropped the text box widget into the side bar to the right of my blog. (Check their tutorial. I promise they make it simple!)
I still haven’t downloaded the Bloglovin’ or Feedly apps on my phone yet, so I’m hoping they are user friendly!
If you’re looking for more blogging-related posts, here are a few I’ve published on the blog in the past:
Question of the Morning
- How do you read blogs? Email subscription? Visit the website directly? Through Google Reader, Feedly or Bloglovin’?
I almost always read blogs through Google Reader, though sometimes I just mark all of them as read when too many accumulate and visit my favorite blogs directly on the blog’s website.
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
I usually just go directly to the blog’s website, unless I have them emailed to me. I didn’t know there was an App to read them (though with all the apps out there I should’ve figured I could find one), I’ll have to check them out 🙂
Great post! I was a bit confused with the google reader going out of business nonsense (since when does anything google close??) but bloglovin is cool. i added the button to my site a week or two ago. ohh well, you know what they say about the times- they are a changin’ 🙂
Thanks for the tip Julie!!
I was also really sad to hear Google Reader was shutting down. I still don’t understand why they would do that. I tried out the Feedly app and hated it. I didn’t really consider it user friendly but I know a lot of people do. Then I stumbled on Bloglovin’ and LOVE it. The app gets along well with my old smartphone and I love that I’ve been able to search different categories and have found some great new blogs to read.
I’m definitely bummed about Google Reader shutting down. It was my favorite tool for keeping up with blogs! I think Bloglovin is pretty good, but I guess I’m still caught up with my past relationship 😉
I didn’t know you could import the blogs you read! I did them all by hand haha
I was a long time Google Reader user but made the switch over to Bloglovin’ a few months ago. I really like it and the app is user friendly!
Since I use blogger, I follow all of my favorites through my Blogger reading list. Is there an advantage to using something like Bloglovin’ instead?
I just go directly to the blog website but I’m going to check out those apps out, thanks. I have an unrelated question that you (and maybe other readers/bloggers) can give me some tips on. You have inspired me to start my own blog but I’m having trouble coming up with an original name. How did you come up with such a good name?
Your post was the first one I saw this morning on my blog lovin’ account- how appropriate! I like Blog Lovin’ so far. 🙂
I just switched too! So far liking it
Wow, I had no idea that there was an app or website where you can follow your favorite blogs in one place! Brilliant! Right now, I have everything bookmarked and just visit the blogs directly. I just quickly checked out BlogLovin and I like what I see….thanks for the tip!
I use bloglovin. My only complaint about it is that it doesn’t update immediately. It takes about an hour after a blog shows up online to show up on bloglovin. At least it does for me. I don’t know if that’s normal for readers or not. Still, I like it for what it does.
I’m lovin’ bloglovin!!!! I actually like it better…. probably because I did not use the alternative as much. Very excited to read blogs on the beach this summer via the app!
Thanks!
I have my favourites in a list on Twitter 🙂
I switched to Feedly over a month ago probably now, and I love it! I actually have the blogs that I follow organized (never bothered to do it in Google Reader), and the mobile app is extremely convenient. I actually like it a lot more than Google Reader!
Ahhh, love a little extra R&R in the mornings. I generally just visit directly and find out about new posts or new-to-me bloggers via Twitter.
I used Google Reader for about a half a day…then got so fed up with it that I immediately started hunting around for a new one. I just don’t like the layout or how it has you read blogs. (And I guess I also have a really short attention span and am impatient.) I’ve used Bloglovin’ ever since, and I love it. I think it’s super easy to use, and if you’re used to the desktop version, the app is almost the same, so it’s also pretty easy to use.
I’ve been using BlogLovin’ too and while I do like it, I miss the “Next” button I had in my bookmark bar but BlogLovin has definitely been my preference over Feedly.
I need to sign up for bloglovin! I am a bad blogger who reads from my favorites lol! It is about time I step up my technology! 😉
I switched from Google Reader to Bloglovin a month or so ago. It’s OK but I will definitely miss Google Reader!
I’ve heard good things about Feedly…hmmm.
I’m thinking of starting a blog and I like your series on the blogging. The trouble is that I don’t have any specific focus, I’m not sure what I want to focus on? So I wonder if I should wait and make sure I do it “right” or just jump in and hope I don’t make a fool of myself!
I use bloglovin’ but I noticed that the app had a major memory leak on it- within a couple weeks of downloading it my phone was running out of memory- and their app looked to be the culprit- now i just go to the bloglovin’ mobile website on my phone instead.
I actually just started using Bloglovin’ last week and I am LOVING it! 🙂 And thanks for all of the tutorials. Those will be really helpful for me since I am not very tech savvy ;).
I’m so sad that Google Reader is shutting down! I’ve tried BlogLovin’ and Feedly but nothing beats the simple, but effective layout of Google Reader. I’ve been in denial but I think it’s time to face facts. In four days Google Reader is no more! 🙁
I transitioned from Google Reader to Bloglovin’ a couple months ago, but I’m still not entirely sold on Bloglovin’. It works, but it takes a long time to update the blogs that I read on Google Reader! I definitely mark them all as read if too many accumulate as well, then try and go back and read my absolute FAVORITES when I have time during that day. If not, they just don’t get read that day.
I love Bloglovin! I’ve been using it for awhile now and it has become my source for “daily news”. Every morning I check all the blogs I follow on Bloglovin. It’s great. I don’t know what I would do without it.
I’ve always used Bloglovin’ I highly recommend it and thanks for that tutorial link–really helpful!
I am using Bloglovin’ for 3 months already and I am super satisfied with it
I LOVE bloglovin! It’s such a great easy way to keep up with everyone. I used to just have everyone saved in a folder on my favorites bar but this is way easier.
I should probably jump on the reader trend…I tried Google Reader for a few weeks but missed visiting all the blog websites (I don’t know, I’m weird) so needless to say I simply type in the URLs. I read them so often they auto-populate. From a nerdy statistics standpoint, do you still get page views and unique visitors etc from readers who don’t visit your website directly?
I’m old school. I just type in the blog url.
I went from Google Reader to Feedly – I tried both Bloglovin and Feedly and really preferred Feedly’s web interface and apps.
UGH still bitter about GR closing down. Was it really that hard for a huge company to keep it open? I digress – I switched to Feedly about six weeks ago and I’ve been really happy with it. They’ve been working really hard to improve the system and have been very responsive to user needs. It’s not yet possible to search within feeds (great when you’re looking for a recipe you just know you saw) but they’ve said it’s a high priority. It’s streamlined enough that I don’t hate it, too 🙂
Thanks for the info! I typically read blogs by directly going to the website or getting an email update, but I want to give Bloglovin’ a try.
I’m bummed. I’ve been logging into Google Reader and getting that ‘we are shutting down’ warning. I have both Feedly and Bloglovin, but I’m not thrilled with either!
I used to use Google Reader, but made the switch to Bloglovin soon after I heard they were getting rid of Google Reader. I’ll be honest, at first I wasn’t a huge Bloglovin fan, but now I truly do love it – quite possibly even more than I liked my Google Reader!
I have both Bloglovin and Feedly, but I find that I’m gravitating more towards Feedly. I like the interface better, and the app is quite nice, it syncs everything up between all of my devices. Though I do open all the posts in their actual websites since I’m not a big fan of reading things directly through a reader.
I switched to Bloglovin’, as well. I like it, but I am disappointed about the mobile app. With Google Reader, I could store blogs in the “catche” for offline reading on my Kindle or phone. Bloglovin does not appear to have this option, at least with my Kindle it does not…
I love Feedly. I think its super user friendly and easy to read on both my phone and computer. I never used Google Reader though, so I have no idea how it compares
I love Bloglovin’! I started using it after seeing the buttons on everybody’s pages and it works great. 🙂 I used to go to each blog’s website, but then I would forget some and it was just way too annoying!
I’ve never used Google reader… but thanks for the tip on bloglovin! I just signed up and it seems so easy to use! All my favourite blogs in one place!
Julie, what happens to the email subscribers who subscribed through Feedburner and receive emails via Google? Will that remain the same?
I have been using Bloglovin’ for a few months now. I checked it out when it first popped up on my Google Reader. There are some things that I do not like about it. For example, I have yet to figure out how to adjust the blog list that pops up on my main page. I can’t find settings for my reading list. Also, sometimes the website freaks out when I’m clicking through unread blogs and I have to close out of my browser and open a new one before I can even go on to a different website. I’m hoping with their new found popularity (every blog I read is moving to Bloglovin’) they will find a way to fix these things. 🙂
Definitely another vote for Feedly!
I’ve switched to bloglovin but I’m still having such a hard time figuring it out. I liked how Google reader was easy to visually see what I had already read vs what I hadn’t read yet. I’m not so sure about it still. I;m going to miss Google Reader!
If you want to stick with the Google Reader format, try theoldreader.com!
I have recently switched to Bloglovin but I miss my google reader! Feedly is my favorite alternative, but unfortunately it only works on Firefox, which I am unable to use on the Microsoft surface.
I’ve been using Bloglovin for a while now, didn’t ever use Google reader. I like it a lot, it makes keeping up with lots of blogs easy. I think you’ll like it!
I like how simplistic bloglovin is, it’s laid out in an easy to understand way and the format is very clean! Usually the posts I read that day are either ones that I can remember their direct URL while at work, or are posts I see on Twitter! I definitely think you’ll like bloglovin though!
I loved Google Reader, but I made the switch to Feedly after Google’s announcement a few months back. I really like it, and the iPad app is great!