How To Create Your Own Dance “Magazine”

Quite recently, I wrote a post about the growth of Dance Advantage. In it I briefly described the concept of creating your own magazine of sorts using a feed reader, as well as the benefit of subscribing via email.  I am proud to report that on the day of the post subscriptions to the site tripled immediately. Wow! Interestingly enough, before realizing this (I actually don’t check my stats much… tsk tsk, bad blogger!), I had begun a post that covered the process of subscribing to this and other blogs in more detail. So here it is, I hope it is helpful to those of you who may be unfamiliar with the technology available.

You have favorite dance, news, or arts sites but forget to visit them and miss out when the info is updated.  Did you know that you can receive automatic updates to your favorite blogs or news sites and even read them all in one place without having your inbox clogged with additional e-mails?  It’s like having your own personal magazine including only the topics and sections you’ve handpicked.  As long as the site has a feed (and many do these days), you’re good to go!

Getting Started

I realize there are many people who don’t know about or understand how feeds work or what purpose they serve. If you are one of those people, here is a quick explanation that will guide you through the steps of adding your favorite sites to a feed aggregator.  Keep in mind, this is just one method using one of Google’s many gadgets, but it’s one of the easiest.  Here we go!

1. Go to the Google homepage.
2. Create a free Google account and follow steps (or login if you already have one)
   ** this is not a gmail account but you can set up gmail with this google account
3. Go to My Services and choose Reader
4. Now you need to add subscriptions. There are a few ways to do this:

• If you know the web address or feed address just click Add Subscription and enter it in the box.  For example, enter http://danceadvantage.wordpress.com OR http://feeds.feedburner.com/danceadvantage and WHA-LA!, Dance Advantage’s latest updates are at your fingertips.  Click on a post title to read an article. Click on the arrow next to the title and it will even take you to the website so that you have access to all of the site’s articles and special features!
• You can find other sites that match your interests with the Discover link (next to Add Subscriptions).  Click on Browse and type in a keyword and it will lead you to new sites.
• If you are on a website you like, look for buttons or links that say “feed” or “subscribe” or “RSS”  or a symbol that looks like this:

• If you use Firefox, the above icon often appears in the address bar at the top of your browser.  Clicking on these will typically lead you to a page where you can choose to add the feed to Google Reader. Once you’ve done this, the latest updates from the site will automatically appear in google reader.

Need some more help? Try this post or this one.

There are lots of little gadgets and tools that will improve the usefulness of your reader. Look for handy items like the Next icon button for your bookmark bar.

Get Going!

Visiting the websites of your favorite dance companies and organizations, and subscribing to their blogs is a good way to start your “magazine.”  Here are just a few of the many dance blogs out there to be discovered, look for others in my blogroll (sidebar on the website):

• The Winger – performances, interviews, and more
  
• Swan Lake Samba Girl – reviews, So You Think You Can Dance, and other musings
  
• Dancer Universe – A little bit of everything
  
• Teaching Smart – The body, injury discussion, great answers to your questions
  
• The Kinetic Interface – Dance and technology
  
• Valery Lantratov’s Ballet Blog – A little dance history and then some
  
• The Dance Primer – Swing dance and other tidbits
• Halyma’s Belly Dance Blog – lots of (Belly)Dance news and thoughts on teaching, etc.
  
• Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist
• ADF – The American Dance Festival
  

You have lots of options for feed aggregators, but I use Google Reader because it is 1) free 2) online, so I can access it from any computer, and 3) because I already use other Google services.  I use a reader in general because it really is like creating my own personal magazine!  I am a dancer but also a mom and I have interests in a variety of subjects.  With a reader, I can view the latest in these topics all in one place.  I can check out news headlines, recipes, and articles from my favorite websites without having to visit them each individually.  For sites with content I don’t want to miss, it is way more efficient than ordinary bookmarking.  Give it a try and don’t forget to add Dance Advantage to your subscriptions!!

E-mail Subscriptions

On a side note, if you are willing to invite Dance Advantage into your inbox, I have some news to share.  Subscribers who sign up via e-mail will notice that I am now using FeedBlitz as my newsletter provider. What this means is that the e-mails your receive have more options and features to allow you to access the site. The latest post will still come straight to your inbox but I can now offer special “subscriber-only” benefits as well. For instance, I hope to eventually send special announcements, offers, and more to my subscribers. I am only beginning to brainstorm some of the possibilities, but I hope you will consider becoming an e-mail subscriber! If you have already subscribed via the original Feedburner link, I am currently attempting to transfer you to the new system. Please check your email for an opportunity to sign up for the FeedBlitz update newsletter. Regardless as to whether you re-subscribe to FeedBlitz, FeedBurner will continue to send you updates as they always have.

Once again, thank you so much for reading! I love to read your comments on posts and hope that more of you will take advantage of this option. It is important to me to build an interactive site where people can not only read my thoughts, but respond and offer their own thoughts and ideas as well.  It will make us all more knowledgable about this passion we share – dance!

Related posts:

1. One Feed to Read them All
2. A New Resource for Dance Studio Owners Offers Real-Life Experience, Support, and a Personal Touch
3. Taking Your Website into Your Own Hands — Danceregister Web Services

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.