I’ve been following along with Sophisticated Dorkiness’s Blog Improvement Project since the beginning of the year, and I’ve enjoyed reading everyone else’s posts about their efforts to make their already great blogs better. Though I signed up for BIP in December, I have had a crazy couple of months and haven’t posted myself. I’ve been doing the mini-projects though. Here’s my quarterly recap:
Project 1: Setting Goals
This mini-project was to spend some time reflecting on what your blog is for and to set some specific goals for your blog.
I tend to be a New Year’s Resolution person, so I really enjoyed this mini-project. I set the following goals for The Bluestocking Society:
- Content: I’m going to keep my posts varied and stay up-to-date on posting reviews. I’m also going to engage authors and readers alike by encouraging discussions in the comments.
- Design: I am going to reevaluate the design of my blog on a quarterly basis to ensure that it is clean and up-to-date.
- Traffic: I am going to increase my traffic by focusing on topics that get the most hits and the most comments.
- Giveaways: I am going to have at least one giveaway a month. I’m going to give away more of my ARCs.
- Subscribers: I am going to increase my subscribers by 20%. I am going to add a “subscribe by email” function.
- Monetization: I currently am an Amazon Associate. I’m considering becoming a Powell’s Books Associate.
Project 2: Brainstorming Ideas
This mini-project was to brainstorm ideas for your blog and to try and morph one of those ideas into a regular feature.
I try and conduct this mini-project every few months to make sure that I am keeping things fresh and current here at The Bluestocking Society. I appreciated, though, the prodding to take one of the ideas and turn it into a regular feature. After thinking about this for a while, I came up with my feature: Bookish Websites. From time to time, I’ll be featuring book-related websites that I think book lovers will enjoy. I’m in the process of creating a button, but you can read the first official installment here.
Project 3: Blog Post Bingo
This mini-project was to flex your blogging muscles and write one of each of these types of posts: A Link Post; A Short Post; A List Post; An Opinion Post; A Poll or Question Post; A How-To Post; A Long Post; A Review Post; A Definition Post; and A Free Space.
I didn’t specifically participate in blog post bingo, but I appreciate the list of different types of posts, and I’ll be trying to mix it up a bit more.
Project 4: Blog Basics
This mini-project was to focus on blogging basics and do that pesky blog maintenance.
I really took this mini-project to heart and completely reorganized my pages. I revised my “About” page and incorporated my “Book Club” page and my “Awards” page into it. I divided my “Challenges” page into several sections to keep it more organized. I added a custom search engine to my “Book Blog Database” page. And, I created a new and very important page: “Contact Me.” I then cleaned up some outdated things in the sidebars and updated my copyright information. Now my blog looks cleaner and is better organized. (Don’t you think?)
Project 5: Social Media Carnival
This mini-project was to introduce the social media tools you use.
I didn’t do a post about the social media I use, but I created a section in my right sidebar and on my “Contact Me” page that allows readers to see where I’m socializing. I currently use the following social media tools in conjunction with this blog: Twitter; Goodreads; LibraryThing; and Book Blogs Ning. My favorite social networking site is by far Goodreads. I think I might have just found a new face-to-face book club from the groups there!
Project 6: Let’s Get Social
This mini-project was to join a new social network or to revisit one you already use, to update your blog with your social media information, and to actively use the tool in the coming weeks.
For this mini-project, I decided not to join a new social network but to become more active on the sites I already use. (Also, as I noted above, I already updated my blog with my social media information.) I set the following goals for my social media tools:
- Goodreads: I use this site the most, but I have been neglecting the “groups” I’m in. Thus, my goal is to check in with my groups at least once a week, probably on the weekends.
- LibraryThing: I use LibraryThing to catalog the books I own, and I’ve gotten very far behind. Since I just moved and unpacked all of my books, I’m setting the goal of cataloging all of my books by the end of June.
- Twitter: I tweet very sporadically, so I am going to try to tweet at least once a day until the end of March.
- Book Blogs Ning: I have much neglected this site, so I am going to visit it at least once a week and contribute something to the discussions there.
I’m having a great time with the Blog Improvement Project. I’m going to try to do bi-weekly posts in the future, but I hope you enjoyed this recap.
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Great wrap up of the BIP stuff you’ve done so far! Sounds like you’ve been busy. Your blog looks great… as usual though. I totally forgot to post anything abou the social media stuff. Maybe there’s still time?
All your blog lacks is frequent updating. But this is difficult when you have such an adorable puppy. I want to come over and play with her right now. Right now.
Suey – I’ve particularly enjoyed your BIP posts. I think the social media thing is for the whole month of March.
Blake – You’re right; I do need to post more. I’ve got a lot of things scheduled for this week, including a post about the puppy. :)
I’m so glad you’ve been participating! I did a lot of page organization for the Blog Basics thing too, trying to get pages to nest correctly and stuff, which took a lot longer than I expected.
I’m not sure how I feel about making everyone post all the time, but it’s the best way I could think of to help everyone keep in contact with each other. I didn’t know you were participating until now, since I usually keep up with people via Mr. Linky, so I’m really glad you posted this!
I haven’t seen your blog before, but I think it’s great! Participating in the BIP can be hard work at times, but it is very rewarding. I love your wrap up, but hope you can join in more next quarter.
I’m catching up on the BIP posts and came to visit. I like your presentation of the steps in the project so far. Even though I’ve been participating and posting since the beginning, this was a nice reminder of how far we have come and how much we have learned.
I like the way you set your goals/plans for improvement. Social media was the hardest for me to figure out. I like your listing of what groups you are in. I’m going to add GoodReads based on your high recommendation. Good luck with the rest of the project.
P.S. I like the nice clean lines and organization of your blog. I’ll be back.
Hi!
I really like your up date on the blog improvement project! Very neat and organized! Have a great evening! My wrap-up for social media is posted if you want to take a look.
Sherrie