Works for me Wednesday- Bloggy Favorites!

I have recently been doing some new things (for me) in the blogging world and I thought that I would pass a few of these ideas on to the rest of you since they are working so well for me!

First of all, any of you who follow Carisa at 1+1+1=1 probably saw this post a few weeks ago, but if you haven't then you really need to check it out! She has so many awesome tips about blogging and making the most of your internet time! One of the things that has made a big difference for me has been enabling my e-mail address through blogger (this link goes to Jolanthe's Homeschool Creations blog and give very clear directions). By doing this people are able to e-mail me directly back in response to my comments on their blogs- duh, why didn't I figure this out before?! This has been really great and has allowed me to have much more of an ongoing conversation with some of my new blogging friends. I highly recommend that you all do it!

Another wonderful thing I have discovered and put to good use is my Google Reader! Holy cow- I am addicted! I had quite a few blogs that I was "following," but most of the time I wasn't able to make the rounds to all of the blogs and would forget the address and such. I had subscribed to fairly large number by e-mail but started receiving so many e-mails that I just couldn't keep up with it any more and it all felt disjointed! Now that I use my Google Reader I can easily read all my favorite blogs at one time and in one place! I LOVE it!!! What a valuable tool!

Okay, quite possibly the coolest and most useful thing I discovered through Carisa's post is Evernote!! At first I thought, "Oh, big deal, it is just another notes app! I have so many of those on my phone and hardly ever use them!" Well, Evernote is in a class all it's own! I don't thinkI can really do it justice by just telling you about it (although I may blog exclusively about it soon after I have used it for a while), so just do me a favor, go to the Evernote site and watch the intro video! You can thank me later!

Another great blog post was recently up on The Cloth Diaper Whisperer with lots of great basic directions for finding your way around Twitter! I am more of a facebooker and so Twitter has felt complicated and a little beyond me! However, this is a great post to simplify things a bit!

Lastly, for now, is the MckLinky Blog! Many of you probably know that MckLinky popped up on the scence about the time that Mr. Linky started having all sorts of problems, and has done a fantastic job filling the link-lovin' spot! Brent, the creator of MckLinky does an amazing job at creating relevant products and link-ware, and more over, the service is FREE! But beyond using the MckLinky itself, you have to go and check out the blog! Brent has some of the best blogging advice I have ever heard! He is incredibly straightforward and honest and I really appreciate his blogging mentality! I think all bloggers can benefit from reading what he has to say!