This week I want to share a resources to will help make your blog reading more enjoyable. Sometimes hopping from blog to blog can become tedious and it can keep you from participating in communities that can help your bottom line.

Feedly: I discovered this great feed reader two months ago and I have not looking back. Feedly is just a pretty feed reader. There are many that are simply eye sores and I am a rather visual person so when I found Feedly I was sold. What feedly does is organize your favorite sites into a magazine-like start page with some great visual appeal.

If you use Google Reader, Feedly exports all of your post over to their interface without a hitch.

Here is a sample of what the cover page of a Feedly reader looks like:

With Feedly you can organize all of those blog post that you want to read into handy little categories to make it easier for you to locate your favorite posts.

Here is another showing how you can organize your favorite blogs or websites into pages. If you need to move one from one category to another, you just drag and drop. Really easy!

In addition to the cover, you can also view the latest content from your favorite spots on the web, or you can view it in digest style.

The one feature that I think any social media geek will love is the ability to search for topics, twitter streams and hashtags. Feedly’s Explore feature you see a twitter stream of someone you follow along with the post or web page they tweeted about. Now that is cool!

Here is an image:

You can see where I did a direct reply through my twitter stream and where I commented on someone’s blog via Disqus and it went into my twitter stream. This is a handy feature because it helps you to find new site and blogs and explore cyber spots that you have have otherwise never knew existed.

I have to say that reading blogs is such a joy now because it is all so pretty with Feedly

Do you use Feedly?

If so what do you like about it? What are you favorite features and why?

I like to read a lot over the weekend. I visit blogs that may have missed during the week. It happens when you own your business. The cool thing is that with tools like Delicious and Feedly you can bookmark great reads and come back to them later.

This weekend I will be reading the following. Read along with me or share your own Great Reads for the Weekend!

Here is the Social savvy Weekend Wrap-Up for the week of January 29, 2010! Have fun reading and learning!

How to Build a Beautiful Blog

Site Review: Where is Your Call To Action – I love learning from Lynn Terry!

Create a Blog or Website - Another goodie from Lynn. If you are looking into Internet Marketing or Affiliate Marketing to earn some residual income, Lynn is a great keep it real person to learn from.

How to be a Twitter Rockstar Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 - Regina Baker is my mentor and has been online as an Internet Marketer since 1996. I read her stuff with great care because I always glean something applicable from it.

How Well do You Know Your Audience – I just discovered this blog through a friend’s tweet and I have been eating up since discovering it.

If you want to know what is good to read here on the Social Savvy Online Solutions Blog, let me suggest the following:

Virtual Tour Tips – 12 Days of great information to help you organize you very own Virtual Blog Tour

Review and Book Giveaway – I am reviewing Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel and giving away 5 copies.

Marketing Tips from the Shark Tank – Do you watch The Shark Tank? I do. You always learn some of the more valuable lessons for business.

The bottom line for most business owners is to earn money. Money is often accumulated through the of a particular product or service. However, to sell that product or service business owners need to alert the general public. Customer cannot buy a product or a service if they do not know that it exists. That is why, as a business owner, you need to advertise your business.

When it comes to advertising there are many business owners who literally cringe. The reason they cringe is because many of the advertising methods cost money. While it is good to spend a little to make a little, it would be even better if you are able to save by advertising for nothing. There are ways to promote your business and the products or services that you sell without having to spend any money at all.

Is your curiosity peaked yet?

One of the ways that you can promote your online business, without having to spend a dime, is by using something that is readily available online. That thing is an online social networking. A large number of internet users, in fact millions of them, belong to at least one social networking group.

When it comes to social networking,many people think of online friendships or online relationships. Yes, these are very common but many online marketers know that there is power in participating in social networking groups. In fact, it was through doing business online that social networking got it start.

If you are a small business owner, especially one that operates an online business or is trying to give your business a strong online presence, there is a way that you can use social networking sites to your advantage.

There are networking sites that are designed for business owners. These websites will not only allow you to share your business information with other business owners, but it will also allow you to develop close relationships with those that share an interest that is similar to yours. Essentially, this means that you could not only learn valuable business information, but you could also walk away with a new business partner or client.

Image via CrunchBase

If it is your goal to start social networking, be sure that you target networks that fit your needs and desires. This is why having a plan is so important. Writing down your social media marketing plan is a good way to guage which groups you join and which ones are just not for you. Many places like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and even MySpace are helping business owners share their expertise, gain a following, and increase their income potential.

By joining a social networking website, especially one that is popular and has a large number of members, you should be able to generate interest in your business, including the products or services that you sell.

If you have not discovered a place that suits you ask around, talk to a social media expert, and get in where you fit in.

There has been a lot of talk on Twitter lately about using automation in social networking. While there are many tools available like Tweetlater and Twitter Tools that do some amazing things, I am not sure that automation in social networking is the best idea.

Maybe what I really mean to say is that I don’t think that every part of social networking should be automated. When you do this, you have to ask yourself if there is really any purpose to what you are trying to accomplish

Do I use it? But I only use it in minimal strategic ways. For example when someone follows me, they get a DM that says something like “Thank you for following me. I look forward to connecting with you.”

There is no link to a million dollar business or a great free gift that is a ploy to get me to buy. It is simply a welcome because I am humble that people want to follow a simple girl like me.

I also use Twitter tools so that people who visit my sites can see what I am tweeting about and to let people know that I have a blog post ready to read. I don’t think there is anything wrong in that because there are people waiting to see what you write. I always follow up a few hours later by manually typing in the link for people who may have missed it and to see if I get any feedback on it.

One of the automation aspects that I think needs to be gone is the welcome of new followers on the timeline. I just think it is waste of space. It makes think of the robot from Lost in Space when he says over and over again “Danger Will Robinson”.

The purpose of Social Netowrking is connection and while automation may have its place, it should not be a way to put Social Media on speed. Eventually what will happen is what happens with all drug addicts – the crash and burn.

I am not saying not to use the tools available. As I said, I use them. However, everything in moderation is a good idea.

What are you thoughts? Does social media automation help or hurt your marketing efforts?