Have you heard of Bloggiesta? It is running this weekend, September 20 through September 22, 2013.
The blurb:
In short, Bloggiesta is a blogging marathon revolving around ticking off those items on your to-do list and improving 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!
Bloggiesta is a cleaning party for your blog!
Part of the challenge is to create a to-do list. Sometimes just setting goals sends you on your way toward accomplishing them. My to-do list for this session are:
Get rid of the archive section in the sidebar of my blogs.It is long and doesn’t really help readers find information. – Changed it to a dropdown menu with one click – that was easy!- Possibly
replace with a review archive page (remove old Cybils from 2011)
Wow, that small change almost got me into trouble. I found out my old WordPress theme wouldn’t let me change the navigation bar for some reason. When I tried to upgrade to the newest version of that theme, I lost the sidebar. After a frantic few moments, I changed to a better theme and everything is back. Whew!
Add a review policy to the About page.Really, I haven’t done this yet.
I enjoyed reading what others included in their review policies. I might have to tweak mine after a bit, but it feels good to have one in place. While I was there, I updated the entire About page.
Write and schedule at least five posts to get ahead for the busy upcoming weeksInvestigate Bloglovin’- Investigate copyright footers – unresolved
Do two of the mini-challenges
Have you checked out Alysia’s Post Brainstorming challenge? She has so many excellent ideas, I just can’t wait to get started putting some of them to use.
April’s favorite WordPress plugins is very helpful, too. I found out I could use a Collapsing Archive plugin instead of the dropdown archive I just created. Better Delete helps get rid of all those stored excessive drafts, as well. Several people have suggested Duplicate Post, which I use all the time for meme posts that have the same links and buttons each time.
Brittany’s Guide to GoodReads highlights her research into how people use Goodreads and points out some awesome and little-used features. I spent some time going through GoodReads after reading her post and trying out the features.
Read and comment on other participants Bloggiesta posts
See, setting goals was helpful already. I’m sure as I read through other people’s goals I will think of more things to add to the list.
If you’d like to try it, make your own to do list (great suggestions here) and sign up at the Bloggiesta Starting Line.
I’d love to hear from you if you decide to take the challenge, too.
Good luck with your to-do list. I love making lists and always end up adding to my list as I go around and visit everyone!
~Kristin @ Always With a Book
Yes, it is great to see what everyone else is doing. Lot’s of inspiration out there…
I have to check out Bloglovin too! There are just so many things to do. The list just keeps growing and growing.
Congrats on starting to cross out your list already! I’m using Bloglovin and I like it, although I really miss Google Reader (which is what prompted me to jump ship from Google to WordPress, I’m still upset over the loss of my reader!). Good luck with the rest of all your goals!
Kate @ Midnight Book Girl
I think you’re right about the power of making the list. I always feel more on track when I write down a to do list. Congrats on already having crossed an item off your list!
I miss Google Reader, too. I do Feedly, but Bloglovin’ seems popular. I thought I would see how it goes.
good luck with your goals!
I have discovered that Bloglovin’ works better for me…I never read in a reader, anyway. Now I just get an e-mail telling me which blogs that I follow have posted.
One of my to-do items was putting the Bloglovin’ button on my blog. Good luck with your list.
Here’s MY BLOGGIESTA POST
Following favorite blogs via e-mail is a good idea, too.
I’m super impressed with how much stuff you have completed!!! Good job!!!! Seriously! You’re like a pro over here. 🙂
If you haven’t already, stop by and enter my Bloggiesta Challenge Giveaway, which you can totally enter even if you don’t complete the challenge!
-Rebecca @ Love at First Book
We had a few goals in common. It felt so good to finally get my review policy up. I’ve only been putting it off for about 8 months.
Good luck with the rest of your goals 🙂
There are too many Bloggiesta-ing blogs to visit them all! 🙁 I love playing around with WordPress.org plug-ins, and I loved April’s Mini Challenge! I added Editorial Calendar and a bunch of others. Spent most of today consolidating and reorganizing categories and tags. I had way too many categories!
Thanks Rebecca. Your book club challenge is a great. I think I read children’s books because that’s all I have time to complete, but if I ever get more time on my hands, it looks like a fun way to connect with like-minded readers.
Reanna,
Isn’t Bloggiesta wonderful for getting to those things we’ve been putting off? That and meeting lots of other book bloggers… Good luck with your goals, too.
Laurie,
I haven’t dared tackle the tags and categories. Good luck with that!