How do you follow offbeatempire.com?

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#Publishing#rss#social media

By: Alan Reeves - CC BY 2.0
By: Alan Reeves – CC BY 2.0
I want to understand a little bit more about how y’all are following posts here on offbeatempire.com (note the URL: I’m specifically interested in offbeatempire.com — not the other offbeat sites)…
[polldaddy poll=7298271]

If you answered “Other,” please leave a blog comment below and lemme know. Now that we’re ramping up the number of posts on offbeatempire.com, I want to make sure I understand how people are following posts.

Oh and by the way, if you’re not following offbeatempire.com specifically, here are a few ways you can start:

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About the Author: Ariel

@arielmstallings

Author of three editions of the Offbeat Bride book and From Shitshow To Afterglow, Ariel Meadow Stallings acts as the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire websites.

Comments on How do you follow offbeatempire.com?

  1. Generally, the route goes something like this

    Twitter –> Tweet from OBH&L about a new post –> open in new tab (read post) –> menu bar right at the top of the page –> Open OBB, OBF & OBE in new tabs –> Read/be aware of All The New Things

    (I do follow OBH&L through Feedly but work haven’t updated our internet browsers in ages so, at lunchtime {ahem}, I tend to get new things via Twitter)

  2. Usually I click on my URL’s dropdown menu of recent links and browse until I see something new/interesting. I might do this about 4 times a day. I DO use feedly, but I find that I’ll still jump over to the page rather than rely on the feed.

    • BTW, I kind of like the pop-up recommendations and share options. Reminds me of the NY Times.

      • Oh yay! I totally love the new recommendations module too, although I did just get an email this morning from an Offbeat Bride reader who wanted to know if she could turn them off. (Answer: anyone who hates them can use an AdBlocker to manually block the module.)

        For me personally? Totally love them! And the traffic results on Bride were instantaneous:
        http://awesomescreenshot.com/0611kmsd89
        Keep in mind, that’s a SATURDAY, when typically shares/clicks are down.

  3. I use facebook and I just check back regularly. Looking forward to seeing more posts!

  4. I click on the links I find interesting once I’m already looking at Offbeat Bride.

  5. Mostly, I just visited all the OBE sites on a daily basis. Usually more than daily, actually. I realise this is not an effective way to follow a lot of blogs, but since I don’t follow a lot of blogs, it works for me. 🙂

    • Same. OBE is one of the few blog-pires I click through to every single day.

      ETA: I even have commafeed with like 70 feeds and I still hard-visit OBE everyday.

    • Me too. I only follow about 5 blogs so it’s no big deal to check each multiple times daily. I also use Facebook, but don’t rely on it for updates.

    • Yeah, this is me, as well. All I have to do it hit “o” in chrome’s omnibox and it takes me straight to the empire.

    • I do the same, I usually type in OBB and use the green buttons at the top to navigate to home/family/empire. Mostly because I’m killing down time at work and I don’t follow a lot of blogs.

    • Me too. I have Offbeat Home on my bookmark bar, read that, then click on the other three sites. I don’t follow a ton of blogs, so it works for me.

    • Yep, I have Offbeat Families and Offbeat Home pinned as bookmarks on my laptop and mobile. So I just click and then bounce between the sites using the green buttons up top. I’m usually on multiple times a day. Subscribing to RSS or getting it in my email feels like…too much commitment.

      I also follow Offbeat Families via Facebook, and so if it pops up in my newsfeed I might pop over. But sometimes I feel bamboozled by old posts and end up commenting and then feeling like an idiot because the ‘super cool conversation’ I think I’m having happened 2 years ago. 😛

    • This is what I do – I go straight to the OffbeatHome URL every 3 or 4 days, and then after reading new content, navigate to Empire and Bride. I’m with Lydia, I follow so few blogs that direct address bar navigation is what works for me.

  6. I have Offbeat Families on feedly and will probably add this site as well if you’ll be posting more often. Since it used to be just occasionally, my strategy was to just type the address in and go directly. Very retro, I know. And I realize it doesn’t make any sense and that if anything, a feed is even more important for a blog that doesn’t update often. But FWIW, all I have to type is “o” and offbeatempire comes up. So there’s that. 🙂

  7. I click the green button for Empire as my last stop on my morning run through the Offbeat sites, which I get to by typing in the url and start with Bride.

    • I do this too. I type in the URL for OffbeatFamilies, then go to Home & Life using the green button at the top and then to the Empire (and occasionally Bride). I don’t visit a lot of blogs, but I do visit most of the Offbeat Empire sites several times a day and I’m FB friends with Families and Home & Life.

  9. I click on links from the right side bar thingy on the tribe. That’s how I read articles on most of the blogs, via links from the tribe side bar.

  10. I just randomly look at offbeatfamilies when I have a spare moment, and usually click over to the other pages. I’m not really the kind of person who wants/needs prompting to look at a page that’s mainly for entertainment or curiosity.

  11. I check OBH several times a day. When I’m done reading new OBH content, I use the green buttons to click over to the other sites.

    • This. I come to the sites on my browser (usually OBH&L first) then browse the others via the green header buttons.

    • Same for me. I will see updates on Facebook occasionally, causing me to come back and click through directly to the site, but otherwise the entire Offbeat series warrants an early-morning run through and another towards the evening.

  12. I visit the tribe multiple times a day through my iPhone and always look to see what new posts have been made on the blog by checking the links on any page I visit on the tribe.

  13. I subscribed to the Offbeathome RSS feed. When I want to read comments, I click on the article and usually afterwards I wander over to families and empire (by clicking the buttons on top of the page).

  14. I follow on Facebook and Twitter, but don’t actively “check” either of those channels regularly; just sometimes see a new story and click. My main way of checking in is just quickly visiting the site every couple days.

    The Empire is my “main” offbeat site, btw. I go here first, and then will usually click links to the other sites, sometimes from the “Recent” area in the sidebar, but also just from the top bar sight-unseen.

  15. I regularly go to OBT, OBB and OBH, and I’ll notice the sidebar and click if I see an interesting post on OBE. If I’m not in a hurry I’ll also usually read through all the old posts till I get to one I’ve already seen.

  16. I check each blog daily, so I start on bride, go to H&L and then end on Empire; I also follow all of them on FB.

  17. I visit the websites as a mental break when I’m bored at work. I know the Facebook feed doesn’t always show me every post, so there’s usually something I’ve missed by the time I make it to the site!

  19. I basically stopped following all my blogs and it breaks my heart! I do sort of half-heartedly follow on Facebook, but like you’ve covered before, in no way is that an effective way to comprehensively follow. Basically, when Reader died, I lost my love of RSS. I tried Feedly and other options for a while, but never could get into it. And now I have a big RSS hole in my heart, with a tiny Facebook bandage over it.

    • …it’s so interesting to hear this! I love Feedly so much that I just became a Pro user, and feel like it’s better than Google Reader ever was. I’m always fascinated by how/why some tools hit so well with some of us, and completely miss with others.

      • I should try to get back in and see if I can pin it down exactly. As much as I hate to admit it, I think it had to do with resistance to change. I didn’t figure out how to customize it very quickly, and the UI bugged me. I couldn’t get into it, and surfing over to Feedly when I was bored never quite gave me the satisfaction that it had with Reader. Also, I feel like in the beginning it was seriously slow, while they were dealing with the hoards. And I hated that I couldn’t find a good search feature, something I used to use in Reader to find good posts from Feminist blogs, which was useful because I could search way into the archives, usually before the days when I’d even followed.

  20. I was just checking in every so often and seeing what new posts were on OBE and OBH. Now I’m using bloglovin’ and lovin’ it!

  22. I usually just click the links in the sidebar of the Tribe when I’m in there. Unless I saw something really interesting come up on Facebook (since I’m usually at work when the links get posted), then I’ll come directly to the site later that night. …Although, since I’ve been married almost a year, I should probably start weaning myself off of my Tribe addiction and find a better way to follow 🙂

  23. I get emails for other sites (say apartmenttherapy) that I check less often than OBB/OBH/OBF/OBE. Here… I just check the websites every day. READ ALL THE POSTS. 😀

  25. I follow the Empire on Twitter and Tumblr, but mostly I just pass through on my daily (or twice daily, or thrice daily) rounds through all my favourite blogs. My list of blogs to read is more manageable lately, so I just go by memory and what comes up in my URL drop-down list.

  27. Daily visitor to OBH&L and navigate to the other sites from there. If I see an Empire post in my fb feed, I usually go check it out.

  29. I check the blogs daily as part of my daily “things I do on the internet” routine. Check my email, check my fb, check a couple of news sources (national and local) and then head to the OBE and read through families, home, the empire and sometimes bride if I’m bored.

    I do follow family and home on FB, but mostly cuz I like that they post older posts sometimes.

    • I do follow family and home on FB, but mostly cuz I like that they post older posts sometimes.

      That’s great feedback to hear. Thanks!

  32. I am subscribed to all of the Offbeat sites through Feedly, and jump over to the page itself when I want to see comments.

  33. I used to follow it just via a bookmark, but I recently found your Tumblr and have followed it there since.

  34. I have offbeat empire pinned to my top sites thingy (technical term that!) on safari, so I tend to just pop by every couple of days or so, then click to Bride, Families and Home via the green buttons at the top.

  35. I hit “Other.” I do the ol’ fashioned thing. I come and check all 4 blogs…every day. Via the URL. 🙂

  36. I see things on Facebook, but I also tend to visit the site any time I’m killing time on the internet (that is, most evenings, and all weekend long even though I know there’s nothing new…). Same goes for OBH&L and OBF (although I don’t actually follow OBF on Facebook…).

  37. I usually check the website myself while scrolling through other offbeat articles, but lately I’ve been catching your posts through Tumblr. I didn’t know there was a twitter for some reason (didn’t think to look I guess lol), but I often miss things on twitter so yeah, Tumblr is good for me.

  38. i just click on the “empire” button at the top as i browse through all the sites. i follow bride and home&life on facebook, but more of a show of who i like (and to give you guys numbers) then to actually follow stuff. once every few days (because i read fast), i devour all of the sites at once.

  40. I just type in the offbeathome.com address into my browser everyday – then click on the Empire button, then the Family button, and if I have time the Bride button. I only have 2 blogs that I follow regularly, so this works for me 🙂

  41. Count me in for the retro method. First thing in the morning I type the url for OBH&L then use green buttons to go OBB and finally to OBE.

  42. I usually visit offbeat families several times a day, then use the buttons at the top of the page to visit empire, home&life, and bride, in that order ^^

    • This poll is specifically about how you follow offbeatempire.com, which does not have an associated Pinterest account.

      Do you mean that you follow one of the other Offbeat Empire accounts on Pinterest, and then click from that website over to offbeatempire.com?

  44. I follow on FB and twitter, but I mostly just check all the sites each day – starting with home usually. I haven’t added any off the OBE sites to my feedly because I like the formatting and everything way too much on here.

  45. I check the Offbeat Empire websites at least once a day, during my morning routine, along with facebook and my e-mails. 🙂

  46. I have Offbeat Home bookmarked and check it almost every day. After I read Home, I use the options at the top of the page and hit Empire, Families, and Bride (usually in that order).

    Sometimes, I’ll see an Empire post mentioned on Facebook through Home or Bride and I’ll hit up the post via Facebookland.

  47. I have Offbeat bride book marked and check it frequently. If I don’t see something so interesting on the bride site I check out all three others, open a ton of tabs and sit back to read! 🙂

  48. I have the website bookmarked and visit it every day. I’m surprised this wasn’t one of the options on the survey.

  49. I am a Google Reader to feedly transplant (and follow all the offbeat websites this way) but not loving feedly. My plan is to find another rss site so I can continue reading and saving certain pages. I do love the “behind the scenes” perspective of the Empire posts.

  50. I manually check all the OBE sites when I get to work in the morning. It’s my little office wake-up ritual! During the day, I sometimes click through from Facebook.

  51. It goes like this: I go to Offbeat Home & Life (pretty much daily) manually (i.e., I enter in the URL in my address bar). From there, I open the links at the top for Offbeat Families and Empire (also checked most days) and occasionally Bride.

  53. I just pass through on my daily rounds through all my favorite websites, checking all the Offbeat sites including Offbeat Empire.

  55. A little late, but here goes.
    I guess I don’t follow any of the Empire blogs properly. I just have them saved to my bookmark’s bar (OBH, OBB, OBM) and then when I’m done reading them, I just click on the empire button from whatever blog I’m on. Although I’ll probably end up switching my OBB with OBE, since I haven’t been in a very wedding mood lately. I need more of an OffBeatDivorce.com, if you know what I mean. ; )

  56. I usually just check the blogs every week or so when i get time! I don’t have a whole lot of time to devote to blog reading at the moment, so i just visit those i’m interested in when i have the time. I do follow the fb though, which is sometimes a visual reminder that i haven’t hit up the site in a while 🙂

  57. I read through Feedly, but I just realized that I hadn’t seen any posts for a long time and it turns out I got lost in the ‘Clear your Cache’ mess (thanks to a comment from one of the other OB sites). Now I have three months of posts to catch up on!

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