How to follow my (any) blog!

Welcome to Blogland!!

I follow a TON of blogs, so it didn't occur to me that other people might be unsure how to do it effectively!

First thing to know is that the most recent post is at the top - so you will have to scroll down to see what I've written in days gone by :)

Sooooo..... here are a few ways to be notified WHEN I've updated my blog, or ANY blog for that matter! I've also included some some commenting and search tips below.

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FOLLOWING ALONG


RSS FEEDS


You can click on the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed icon on the right sidebar to subscribe to my blog. This will add my blog FEED (new posts) to a blog READER. Readers are good especially if you follow a lot of blogs (like me!) as it allows you to see all the blogs I follow in one place, highlighting them when they've been updated. You can use a reader even if you're only following one blog, but you'll have to sign into the reader every time to check what's new. Since I check mine a couple of times a day, I have it on my browser toolbar as a quick link and I'm always signed in. I personally use Google Reader, but there are other readers out there – like MyYahoo. They all work the same way.

You can also add my RSS feed directly to your email program like Outlook. Simply go to *tools/accounts/rss feeds/new feed* and enter my url (www.girlgoneclean.ca). You will receive updates directly in your inbox or in an RSS folder in your email program.

If you use Internet Explorer, you should see the RSS icon next to the Home icon - probably greyed out. Whenever you look at a site that has an RSS feed (like mine) the icon should become orange and by clicking on it, the site you're on will be bookmarked in your favourites. This wont SHOW you that a site has been updated, but it will allow you to get TO the site quickly to check on your own.


 EMAIL


On my blog's right sidebar, I have added a widget that allows you to subscribe to my blog via email (under my profile picture). Simply enter your email address in the box and click on *Subscribe* . You will receive an email in your regular inbox when there's a new post (for some reason, this seems to take at least a couple of hours). You can then read my new post as an email, or you can link back to my blog and read it there.


 FOLLOW


You can choose to follow my blog, but you will need a Google, Yahoo or Twitter account. You can see my followers on the right sidebar... some of them have pictures, some don't.

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COMMENTING

Anyone can leave a comment on my blog - and I love it when you do :). Simply click on comments (if someone's already left one) or Leave a comment (you'll be the first!) at the bottom of each post. Scroll down past the other comments if there are any until you see *post a comment*. Write your comment in the box and then you can choose how you want to sign your comment:
  • You can choose to leave a comment using your Google email, in which case your Google profile picture (if you've added one) and your name with a link to your Google profile will show.
  • If you want it to be anonymous, just choose anonymous from the drop down list – but be sure to add your name to the end of your comment so that I know who left it!
  • If you want your name to show up like *Leslie said.....* before the comment, then choose name and then it will prompt you to enter your name (ignore the url part).
You can preview how your comment will look, or you can simply click on post comment and your comment it posted!

That's it! LOVE reading comments!!

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FINDING A SPECIFIC POST
* Newer posts are always on top.
* If you're looking for a recent post, just scroll down - the main page shows 10 posts, so if you want to go back further, click on *older posts* at the very bottom of the page.
* If you're looking for an older post, and don't want to have to scroll through looking for it, you can look in the archives on the right sidebar. It lists my posts by month and then in date order with the title.
* If you don't remember WHEN I wrote the post, or don't want to search through the archives,  you can search for a post by entering a keyword in the search box under *Search this blog* and clicking on search. It will only search within my blog and will bring up any posts with that keyword in it.

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Thanks for reading!