Many websites claim to specialise in helping surfers to sift through the flotsam of the blogosphere. The best known is Technorati, which has a huge directory of blogs on a plethora of topics, but its search tool is woeful and its directory of the top 100 blogs with “authority” is dominated by commercial technology websites. Another blog-only search engine is Icerocket.

A more useful destination is Blogpulse. This contains a blog-search feature, as well as tools that enable you to monitor the buzz being created in the blogosphere according to words or phrases that you choose. Handy for keeping tabs on trends.

Another straightforward way to search the blogs is to google your phrase du jour. You can either use the main page and add “+blog” in the command box (which focuses the search remit to blogs), or try Google’s new Blog Search tool at tinyurl.com/63pcrn

It’s easy to keep tabs on dozens of blogs — or indeed, the sections of most websites that interest you — without the faff of visiting them to see what’s new. Simply deploy the power of a few automatically updating newsfeeds, commonly known as RSS feeds, and you’ll instantly boost your browsing prowess. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, albeit geeks routinely debate this. The feeds enable websites or blogs to post a list of current headlines that you can check before you visit them.

If a site has a new story, its list updates itself. Simple, really.

Once you have signed up for a few feeds (there’s no money involved), you can glance at these lists of headlines directly within ordinary browser software. You can also view all your feeds pooled together on one neat webpage or, if you’re really keen, on many mobile phones.

To sign up for a feed, simply click on the orange RSS symbol whenever you see it on a website or blog. If you run Internet Explorer (version 7 or newer), each list of headlines will then be shown in a sidebar.

A far smarter idea, however, is to download the slick Firefox browser (free at getfirefox.com), which lets you place all your feeds as favourite links on your toolbar; glide the mouse over them and they reveal their lists of stories. In a few seconds, you can browse hundreds of hot headlines. A wealth of clever add-ons for Firefox display these feeds in various fancy ways. Have fun.

If this sounds too complicated (it isn’t), there are websites that enable you to swiftly put together a whole page of RSS feeds that reflect your particular tastes, the “Daily Me” idea. Blog fans have long thronged towards Bloglines (see beta.bloglines.com) for this.

Rival feed-aggregator sites include Netvibes.com and, of course, the increasingly popular Google Reader (see tinyurl.com/2krh2d). Each, naturally, has its own acolytes.