Since launching Intentional Mama two months ago, I sometimes get questions from friends and acquaintances who want to know how, exactly, to follow a blog. I'm happy to explain . . . but first let me convince you why you should follow several blogs!

My three favorite reasons for following a blog:

1. You choose the main topics: Think of a blog as a magazine specifically tailored to your interests--but instead of wading through irrelevant articles and advertising, you can choose to follow bloggers who write about your passions, desired lifestyle, and hobbies.

2. Personal connection: sometimes you already know the blogger in person, so reading blog posts is an enjoyable way to get to know him or her better. Even if you don't know the blogger personally, following a blog is wonderful way to forge friendships through your similar interests. And at some point you may well have an opportunity to meet the blogger and other readers (perhaps at a book talk, reader get-together, or convention).

3. A way of learning: When done well, blogs are visually beautiful snapshots of information. They encourage us to live a reflective life in response to the words of others.

How to find blogs you'll enjoy reading:

Use an app: Apps like Bloglovin' and Feedly allow you to search for blogs by topic.

Search blog publishing sites: Sites such as Wordpress and Blogger allow you to search their blogs by clicking browse or add.

Use search engines: As a last resort you can use a search engine like Google or Bing, but you'll have to wade through many other sites too. Type the topic you want into the search bar with the term "blog" (i.e., bilingual family blog.) In Google, you can use the drop down menu to specifically search blogs (you'll find "blogs" under "more").

Once you've found a blog (or several) that you want to read regularly, you ought to follow it. You'll enjoy the content and you support the blogger by reading it regularly. You could simply go to the blog's website whenever you want to read it, but frankly you'll forget more often than not, and it quickly becomes impractical to try to keep up with more than one blog this way. So here are my recommended ways to follow a blog.

Two basic options for following a blog:

Use an app. Bloglovin' is my favorite blog reader app for its simplicity and clarity. It summarizes all the new posts from the blogs you follow in a list format that makes it easy to scan, read, and jump to the next post that interests you.

or . . .

Receive blog posts via email. Go to the website of the blog you like, click the follow or subscribe button (usually next to an RSS symbol) and fill in your email address. You'll receive an email of each new blog post. Often, the email format won't look as visually organized as the actual post, but the content is the same.

You can also follow a blog via social media--i.e., via the blogger's Facebook fan page, Pinterest pins, or Twitter links, for example, but you'll miss a lot of their posts and you're guaranteed to get distracted by other information along the way.

Happy blog reading!

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You can subscribe to Intentional Mama via email, like Intentional Mama on Facebook, or check out my Pinterest pins. In the meantime, I'll keep writing the best posts I can about purposeful parenting, bilingual parenting, and French resources for children and families. Merci for reading, following, and supporting Intentional Mama! Feel free to comment with any feedback or questions about this blog or about following blogs in general.