I never was a big reader. My mother fought and fought with me to get me to read as a child. As an adult I try to read, but I get bored with books halfway through and abandon them and never look back.

But one thing I do read consistently (besides comic books that is) is my RSS feed. I love reading blogs.

I end every day by opening my RSS reader on my phone and going through the day’s news. I subscribe to many blogs spanning multiple subjects. From comics, movies and TV, marketing, web trends, general interest blogs (like the great kottke.org for example), photography, and a ton more.

Why is reading blogs important?

1. They keep you educated with what is going on

“No doy” you say. Spending 15 minutes a day to read about your industry will keep your finger on the pulse, so you can see trends coming up before they blow up.

2. They can help you come up with new blog topics for your site

I have come up with more content ideas for LyntonWeb and my own personal blog by reading my feed. Topics I never would have thought to write about, or possibly thought no one would be interested in reading. Use the blogs you read as pool for idea for your own blog. Email yourself good blogs and keep them in your inbox while you write your own blog.

3. They keep you up to date on your competitors

Sure, you can spend a few minutes a day checking out your competitors websites, but that isn’t ideal or a good use of time. Instead grab their RSS feed and dump it into your reader.

Each night I have about 60 to 70 blogs to read, sometimes a little more if it’s a big news day. That may seem like it’s a lot, but there’s no need to read EVERYTHING that comes into your feed. Read the headline. Does it interest you? Then keep going. Losing interest after a few sentences or paragraphs? Move on. There’s not going to be a test unlike that time in high school you didn’t read Old Man and the Sea.

What if a blog is really long and you don’t have time to read it at that moment but it’s really interesting? That’s where services like Pocket and Instapaper come in.

What are we reading? I asked my LyntonWeb team members:

• I mentioned Kottke.org already, and I also really like Rands in Repose and What If?
• Daniel reads Chief Marketing Technologist, MarketingProfs, Signal vs Noise and Bulletproof Executive
• Samantha enjoys User Testing’s blog and Apartment Therapy
• Nathan likes Tab Dump and Dart News & Updates
• Brad reads Miguel Grinberg’s blog about development
• Roman likes Moz, KissMetrics, and Jeff Bullas
• Ian reads CSS Tricks and CSS Wizardry
• Bridget (who has talked about CrossFit before) enjoys Tabata Times as well as the LinkedIn blog
• Jennifer reads HelloGiggles and HubSpot’s blog
• Rob likes The Verge and Android and Me

So how about it? What blogs do you read?

This article originally appeared on LyntonWeb.