I have a love/hate relationship with Google Reader. Sure, it’s a great way to spy on competitors, keep up-to-date with the latest marketing trends, and get ideas for new blog posts. But blog posts have a way of piling up, and when you ignore Google Reader for weeks at a time, it has a way of becoming a major buzz kill.

700+ unread items? Ugh. I’ll get to that this weekend.

I used to attack the problem by simply purging unread items when they slipped past the three-figure mark, but I didn’t get much read that way. Then I discovered a few Google Reader hacks that made it much easier to stay informed.

My Favorite Google Reader Tips

•   PostRank Filter (a Firefox plugin) scores each item in your Google Reader based on its popularity, and then allows you to filter the results based on that popularity. It’s a great way to sift through lots of Google Reader items and ensure you don’t miss any influential posts.

•   List view. Only recently did I discover that I can skim the headlines of my Google Readers by simply choosing “Show: List view” on the top right-hand side of the screen. This isn’t a high-tech hack, but it has saved me a ton of time.

•   The smart subscribe button. I’m always adding and subtracting RSS feeds from my Google Reader, and the smart subscribe button makes it easy to add new feeds in just a few clicks. (Google also offers a similar button that you can add to your internet browser’s tool bar.)

•   Use keyboard shortcuts:

j/k: next item/previous item
m: mark item as read or unread
t: tag an item
e: email an item
s: star an item
v: view source web site

•    Get information about your own blog. When you subscribe to your own blog and then click “show details” in the top right-hand corner, right below the option for expanded or list views, you’ll be able to view your average number of posts per week, your number of subscribers, and other helpful details.

What tricks do you use to stay up-to-date with your RSS feeds? Share them in the comments section below.