How to Read a Blog Post Effectively

We all subscribe to other blogs. We do this because we don’t know it all, and reading other blogs will enable us to learn a lot more about the certain topic. But sometimes, we just read for the sake of reading and often we will completely miss the point of the article.

So as weird as it sounds, I am going to cover some ideas I have when you go to read an article at a blog. Yes, it seems silly to be going over how to read something and take knowledge out of it, but it is something that some people may not be good at. I know I occasionally slip up when I read articles and just skim through them and miss out on some important information.

You need to really analyze in full detail what you read. Don’t read for the sake of reading, expect to walk away with some new knowledge in hand.

A little quote I made from the opening paragraphs ↑

Interpreting the Information in Your Own Way

The thing I can’t stress enough in this post is that you need to take any information you read and build off of the information given to you without taking the advice exactly as it appears.

In some cases like graphic tutorials you will need to take the steps exactly as they appear. But even then, you will eventually be using that information to make your own creation.

Take for example I am reading a guide to make money from my blog. The author goes over monetization methods that worked for him.

He went over the steps he took to make money, and also what products he used to generate his income. He mentioned other details like the personality needed to get a product you are selling “out there”, how long it took him to make the money, and his target market.

So from that information given, I can gather:

• What products he used to make his money
• The steps he took to use those products to generate income
• You need to have a certain personality to sell profitably
• There is a lot of research to be done, and also a lot of test trials. Basically, there is a possibility you will be doing a lot of testing before you make real money

So with me knowing that information, I can use it to go in my own direction and make money off of my blog keeping his advice and tips in mind lightheartedly. Not everything he says I will be able to relate to, mainly the personality part since we are bound to have different personalities. I may choose to change a few things in my money making attempts because I am different, and some things may seem more logical to me than what he suggested.

If you understood nothing I just said, try this: Build your own routine, don’t always do everything by the books!

More Advanced (And Maybe Tedious) Tricks

The purpose of reading something it to analyze it, and by doing that you will have learned something. I guarantee that. There are far better ways to analyze something than just reading it and never looking back.

1. Reading it Twice

This is something I can also guarantee that most of you will not do. Sometimes I don’t even do this, but I know that if I really did not learn anything from what I just read (especially if it’s very important), I will go back and read it again. You’d be surprised at the benefits of doing this are:

• Since you may have a general idea of the topic already after reading it once, you will be able to follow along way better
• You can confirm any doubts/unclear areas of the article you went over before. It is common that when we read and something is unclear, we don’t want to go back and look at it again. That may be how some of you feel about my posts, but it can pay to really go back and try to decipher what it is trying to be said.
• It is possible that you may have missed some pieces of information the first time around, so by reading it again you have a better chance of picking it up. It can also clear up some of those doubts or unclear thoughts you had before.

2. Relate the Current Paragraph to the Next, or Previous one

See if you can tie together the subject change from paragraph to paragraph in the article. I think this could be something cool to try out, and maybe a little challenging since paragraphs are meant to divide different points about the topic that’s being written about.

I think if you can do this, you can figure out the bigger idea behind the whole article, and also learn how different things about the same subject tie into each other. It’s pretty cool, especially if you can do it. Just give it a try sometime.

3. Read the title before you read ANY content think about everything you know about it

I believe this to be a good brain exercise to get your brain at a good thinking level. Working your brain a little is not only great for productivity, but also for when it comes to reading something like a blog article.

See the “Planning & Brainstorming Ideas” of this article for more tips on warming your brain up.

So by looking at the post headline, I recommend that you just spend maybe 2-5 minutes thinking about what you know about the topic already. It can prepare your mind more for the article, and you can go into the post feeling like you already know some of it.

Taking it Further

Want to really get advanced? Try these methods out:

• Grab a Pen & Paper and get to note taking!

Nothing is better for learning new information than taking notes. By taking notes, you are setting up a reference for the future. Now you will never forget about what you read.

• Record Notes

Recording something is the ultimate note taking tip you will ever hear. By recording something – whether it be pure audio or video will make it such a better reference for later use. It is much better to hear a voice rather than reading a lot of text, wouldn’t you agree?

• Quizzing Yourself Afterwords

Maybe think about creating a little quiz for yourself right after you read the article when it is still fresh in your mind. After you make the quiz, store it somewhere and leave it along for a few days. Go back to it later and see if you can still answer the quiz. Make it as comprehensive as you want, it’s your quiz.

• Create a checklist of things you want to learn before you read the article

If you took tip #3 seriously and thought of everything you know about the topic by just reading the headline, take it a step further and try to fill in the blanks. Make a list of things you don’t know about the topic, or things you are unsure of and see if the article answers them. If not, I’m sure the author of the article wouldn’t mind answering a few questions.

Bonus

A Great Note Taking Tool: ShoveBox for Mac OSX


ShoveBox is a great on the spot note taking tool that allows you to write text notes and record notes using your built in iSight camera on any Mac. It’s simple to use, and invaluable for taking quick notes on any article. It does cost money (don’t all great Mac Apps?), but a 30 day free trial does exist.

Check Out ShoveBox →

Photo by Daniel Horacio Agostini

Tagged as: reading for meaning