I have been pretty slack with the BIP these days. I kind of got side tracked with summer and the house and I sort of forgot all about the project. Now that all the distraction are gone, i'm ready to get back into the swing of things and continue with the assignments. So here is the next assignment..."Since it’s summer in most places, and everyone (myself included) seems to be in a blogging slowdown,
1/2 way through the BIPHere’s the task for revisiting goals: Find your original BIP goals post and take a look at what your goals were. Or, if you came to the BIP late or are just joining now, look at the Week #1 assignment to learn about setting goals. If you’re feeling up to the task, I suggest looking at the ProBlogger list of 69 questions to review your blog. You can use these questions to look
So this is assignment #11 and I have to admit, I haven't been all that interested in the last three of the assigned tasks. This assignment does sound interesting so I shouldn't have trouble finishing this one (that is as long as I don't get distracted by something else).This week’s task is a content analysis of book reviews to get some info about reviews. How long are they? How personal are they?
Linking with Anchor Text is a pretty easy thing to understand, and is important for blogs when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (how high up your blog appears when people use a search engine like Google to search for a particular phrase).When you make a link, some of the text in your blog post will change to indicate it’s the link. Whatever words make up the link are the anchor text. In the
...the bane of my existenceBlogger's comment platform falls quite short for me. A few months back I tested a third party comment platform for my blog; Intense Debate comment system can be used to replace Blogger’s. I created a test blog and invited my readers to give it a try but they found it confusing. My readers don't like... I don't like, so I decided not to use it on Slightly Off-Center.I
Week #7 is going to be all about making your blog more comment friendly. During the goal setting project (Week #1), a lot of people made it a goal to leave more blog comments. This is important, but I think it’s also vital that once you get a new reader at your blog it’s easy for them to engage with you by commenting on your posts. Don’t worry, Week #8 will more specifically address that because
I have chosen to try Plinky Prompts for Assignment #6 -- Let’s Get Social.What's Plinky?Plinky makes it easy for you to create inspired content. Every day we provide a prompt (i.e. a question or challenge) and you answer. We make it simple to add rich media and share your answers on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. My Plinky AnswersZombies, Shmombies! - Blog PostWhat will you do when the zombies come?They'll
Social Media Carnival (BIP Week 5)Check out the wrap up page for Week 5. There is a great collection of links to pages that offer tutorials and such for different social media applications.Now on to week 6 for the Blog Improvement Project, trying out a new social media tool. While I don’t think there is a perfect way to do this, here are some guidelines to follow if you like instructions: 1. Pick
Sure Facebook has been a great way for us to connected with old friends and keep in contact with family members near and far, but did you know it can be a useful platform to promote your Blog? Here some ideas to utilize Facebook to promote your site or blog.First thing I did was...Click here to read the entire post.BIP Assignment #5 -- Social MediaOur task was to:write a post about a social media
March is going to be Social Media Month for the Blog Improvement Project. For the next 31 days, we’ll be focusing on using social media to improve your blog.There are a lot of social media options to think about. There’s Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Ning, and about a million other options I don’t even know about. In that spirit, Social Media Month is going to be
This week we’re going to focus on blog basics — when a new reader gets to your site, how easy is it for them to find out basic information about you and what your blog is about? In retrospect, this is something that should have happened a lot earlier in the project. However, I got so excited about other ideas that something like blog basics slipped aside.Write (or update) your “About Me” Page — Make
Oops, didn't complete this assignment. Below are the post types we were assigned, and the ones I have put a link beside are the post types I have completed.I have decided I will continue past the deadline and finish all the post types listed. I had a great time with this task, it really gave me some great ideas for blog post and I'm sure I will use this as future reference.1. A Link Post - A link
This is the new assignment for the BIP, and it's a doozie!Week 3 of the Blog Improvement Project is all about writing different kinds of content. It’s easy to get into a pattern of writing the same kinds of posts over and over again, but sometimes it can be fun to spice it up, or at least have ideas about other ways to present your ideas.I did a search about kinds of blog posts and came across many
To go along with this BIP, I have a page called "Blog Tweaking Experiments". This is where I go to test and troubleshoot any new ideas I have for my blog. Right now I'm working on experimenting with a new comment forum for my blog.Come over and try it out, and give me your opinion, that would be greatly appreciated. The name of the new comment platform is called IntenseDebate.Blog Tweaking Ex
Mind mapping Attempt #1:Get a piece of paper to write on.Draw five circles across the middle of the page. In each circle write the titles of the last five posts on your blog.Brainstorm on ways that the post could be extended or built on.For each idea draw a line out from the circle, and write the idea inside of it.Let yourself be as creative and outside the box as you want. Any idea is allowed at
Content is kingOne of the biggest struggles for me is providing content that will keep people coming back. With all the other blogs out there, blogs that stand out are few and far between.The blogs I like to read on a daily basis I keep going back to because I like the content they provide. So, how do I come up with new ideas every few days to keep people interested enough to visit on a regular
What Is Your Blog For?It's been nearly a year since I started this blog. In the beginning this space was mostly a spot for personal reflection but as time passed it became more then that. I started using my own photographs and digital art to accompany blog posts but lately, I've been falling short when it comes to writing journal entries. I'm excited to see where this project takes me and looking
Sophisticated Dorkiness is hosting a Blog Improvement Project which I have decided to participate in. The 2009 Blog Improvement Project is a year-long challenge that will consist of twice-monthly activities to improve my blog. Every first and third Monday of the month there will be an activity on her site that will related in some way to making my blog better. I will then spend the next two weeks
