BLOGGIESTA . . . ACROSS THE FINISH LINE

Boy, am I tired. 

I'd like to say it is because of my 72 hour blog housekeeping marathon. But that would be a lie.

We took a break last night to check out a friend of ours in his band, Superlicious, and the night took on a life of its own. 

The band is an eighties cover band (you know you like it, admit it) and they were great. We had a wonderful time with friends. And Then . . . . 

On the way home the truck broke down in the middle of nowhere. Our cell phone was dead. And it was a foggy fifty-some degrees.

We had to walk to the call box. Thank heaven it was there! We woke our daughter up to come get us and walked back to the truck. This was after dancing all night. Our daughter got lost and we shivered there nearly three hours with no heat while waiting.

Well, we got home this morning and after some sleep, went back to pickup the truck. So I lost time, sleep, and productivity. (THIS was my starting line post).

What did I accomplish?

I Did some soul searching about my blog and how I would like it to be,

Visited blogs I wouldn't have otherwise and gotten a lot of new ideas, 

Cleaned up my links, 

Made the sidebar more user friendly, 

Drafted and scheduled future posts, 

Bookmarked information regarding improvements I still want to make but haven't,
and
I enjoyed spending time in the company of other bloggers. I love blog hopping.

I also participated in a mini challenge at Word Lilly, called '10 Things Bloggers shouldn't do.' It gave me some direction as well as good ideas.

I went to Website Grader for a report I don't quite understand yet. (But I will)

No, I didn't accomplish all that I wanted. But that's OK. I gained a great deal from the experience, and I thank Natasha at Maw Books Blog for hosting the challenge. And I thank all those who participated for being my teachers and my inspiration.

But now I'm off to bed. Night all.

Ole! Fiesta Time! Suggestions Welcome!

Well, it's begun.

I know a few things that need to be done with my blog. But some feedback from others would be helpful to get a feel for how it looks to outsiders. Any thoughts would be great.

First, A couple of things that I am quite proud of: 

1). I taught myself how to give my pictures coded descriptions for those visitors who may be vision impaired. Their readers will read the description of the picture to them. I occasionally forget and let one slip by, but I try hard to do this with each image. 

2). I searched high and low for a widget to allow visitors to change the print size to suit their needs. At the time all I could find was some code that I couldn't make work (I am NOT a programmer), but through trial and error I got it to work. What else can I do to ease the use of my blog?

Now to work . . . . 

A. My first task was to comb through my links, weeding out those that no longer work. Question: As time goes on, links in past posts may end up broken, and combing through years of posts seems daunting.  Is there an easier way to track broken links in in very old posts or should I just wait for visitors to point them out?

B. I am reevaluating my sidebar. What needs to stay / go? How can I make it better? What do I need to offer that I don't?

C. SEO, promoting, and networking are big weaknesses for me. I found a TEN THINGS BLOGGERS SHOULD NOT DO mini challenge on Word Lilly (Thanks a bunch Word Lilly!), and evaluated my weak points. These were the top three. I'll be attempting to address them also this weekend.

D. The bulk of my efforts, however, will probably be put toward setting up content for the future. I love being able to draft and schedule things ahead.  I can then drop in current events without feeling rushed. (when I'm actually ahead, that is)

I would appreciate

any suggestions you might have.

Thanks.

I SEEM TO HAVE INADVERTENTLY DELETED MY POST ABOUT THE 4TH ANNUAL BLOGGIESTA THIS WEEKEND.

 

Bloggiesta is scheduled for January 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. 

(Did I mention it's this weekend?)

It's hosted by Natasha at Maw Books Blog. 

 

"The beginning of the year is a great time to evaluate your blog, see how you’re doing, and get re-energized for the rest of the year! 

Some of you may be asking what is Bloggiesta? In short, it’s a blogging marathon.  An opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Our awesome mascot Pedro (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize) is ready to break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two!  It’s nothing short of an awesome fiesta!"

And you will find many great bloggy consumables if you wander over to the fiesta. 
There are links and hints, 
but most of all there are others to party with; 

so come join the fun.

I plan to tackle some overdue housekeeping.
I also want to stretch my knowledge and skills a bit so I will try some of the hints offered by my betters and scour the many links offered. 
It is also a great opportunity to trade ideas
among the many inveterate bloggers participating.

So, 
see you there!