I normally use Google Reader to stay on top of blogs and websites I like. But there are still a few locations I visit “in person” almost every day.

1. Ragan’s PR Daily

Ragan Communications publishes a range of newsletters for media professionals, chock-full of how-tos, news analysis and workshop invites.

PRDaily.com is mainly targeted toward PR professionals, but should be regular morning reading for writers, editors, journalists and markters as well. This can be a really good place to pick up new tools and tips, and articles are always easy to read. Past headlines include:

• 7 common PR sins, as told by a journalist
• 8 terms that suck the life out of your writing
• The perfect Facebook post: A blueprint

2. Slashdot

At Slashdot.org, the comments are as important as the article.

Since 1997, tech enthusiasts worldwide have submitted articles to this website and spent hours in the comment threads debating issues back and forth. Favorite topics include civil rights, gadget rumors, patent lawsuits and CowboyNeal.

Because of their emphasis on discussion, Slashdot’s moderation system is far more advanced than other news sites, which actually makes the discussion bearable to read. Sometimes it’s even educational!

News sites wanting to increase their audience engagement would be wise to draw inspiration from this website.

3. Buzzfeed

Do I really need to explain this one?

Actually, you should go read this really interesting article by Slate’s Farhad Manjoo in which he explores why Buzzfeed has been so successful at cranking out viral content. He writes:

The answer, in short, is that BuzzFeed’s staff finds stuff elsewhere on the Web, most often at Reddit. They polish and repackage what they find. And often—and, from what I can tell, deliberately—their posts are hard to trace back to the original source material.

If a staff writer at Buzzfeed finds that a photo of a cute panda has gone viral on Reddit, he scavenges the Web for more photos and puts them under a headline such as “20 of the cutest pandas you’ll ever see.” Not surprisingly, that blog post will go viral too.

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Got any more websites I should be checking every morning? Leave me a comment.