Bloggiesta Finish Line!

Pedro!

Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize.

So here we are at the end of Bloggiesta. I have learned and completed so much in these past few days and I am excited to implement these ideas into my blog to make it more functional and overall a great book blog!

June 2010 Mini-Challenges:

~Kim and Jackie at the Blog Improvement Project : This challenge showed different sites to take your blog to the next level and making effective lists. I am definitely signing up for their year-long event as well.

~Jennifer at Girls Gone Reading : Review Policy. I cleaned up my policy and make it more clear and concise.

~Sarah at Puss Reboots : RSS Feeds. I already had an RSS icon, but I did add my RSS to my header too, I did not know how to do that previous. Thanks Sarah!

~Pam from MotherReader : Be Brave! For this one, I drafted an email to independent book stores in my area to join up with me to support their business via advertising on my blog.

~Danielle at There’s a Book : Stats. For this challenge, I fixed my Google Analytics page with my new domain, and now I have a better idea how to view my stats.

~Cass at Bonjour Cass : Commenting. I went around to many blogs this weekend and put meaningful comments on their postings. I saw a lot of really great blogs that I added to my RSS feed too!

Flashback Mini-Challenges:

~Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog : Feed Reader. I cleaned up my feed reader and labeled each feed : "Book Blog Name (Name of Blogger)" to make it more uniform and informational.

~Jackie from Farm Lane Books : Back up your blog. I backed up my blog and set an alarm on my phone for every two weeks to back up so I can always refer to previous templates if (heaven forbid) something happens to my blog.

~Trish from Hey Lady! Watcha Readin’? : Favicon & Gravatar. I have heard these phrases before but I never really knew what they meant. So I set up both for my blog!

~Michelle from GalleySmith : Anchor text. How to make the most out of your link love. This was a fun challenge! From now on I am going wisely use my anchor links.

~Danielle from There’s a Book : Cheat Sheet. I created a *cheat sheet* with templates for my memes and reviews.

~Pam from Bookalicio.us : Copyright. I added a 2010 Copyright to the bottom of my page!

~Amy from My Friend Amy : Blogging Buddy. I asked a fellow blogger to be a blogging buddy of mine, and she said yes! Be sure to visit Meaghan at A Bookworm's Haven.

~Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves  : Brainstorming Topics. I created a graph to *extend* my posts further into great content posts. Five of these ideas are:

1. Helpful hints on book blogging
2. Favorite book themes
3. Informational posting about supernatural creatures
4. Featured literary couples
5. Expand on current (or just read) subjects in books that interest me

~Beth from Beth Fish Reads : List and opinion posts. I got a lot of new ideas from this challenge. One idea that I got is to create a series of opinion posts on "Why I Love.."

~Emily from Emily’s Reading Room :  Vanity alerts. I set up Google Alerts for my blog name and address.

Deborah from Books, Movies, and Chinese Food : Elevator Pitch. I pretty much perfected this at BEA when I had to explain my blog to a ton of people. This is what I said:


I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read! is a book blog where I do reviews on all young adult books, and adult paranormal/fantasy, and chick lit. I do author interviews, giveaways, guest posts, and book tours.

Drea from Book Blather : Learn a New Tip or Two. There is a WEALTH of information at this post and the links included. I read a few and I am going to bookmark the rest for later.

Ruth from Bookish Ruth : Webgrader. I was actually surprised that I got a 79/100 for my website grade! I appreciate all of my readers and I hope to get a higher grade as the years progress.

Lynn from Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile : Blog Directories. I requested to be added to Kidlitosphere Central & Fyrefly's Book Blogs Search Engine. I am already a member of Book Blogs Ning and The YA Book Blog Directory.

Kristen from Bookworming in the 21st Century : Blogger mentoring program and forum. I joined The Bloggie Cult and linked a *hint* on the forums for newer bloggers.

Here are my completed Tasks (outside of those for mini-challenges):

• Write reviews.
• Write backup posts for a rainy day.
• Write guest posts.
• Clean up and update challenge lists.
• Visit the Blogging Tips group on the Book Blogs Ning and find ways to improve my blog.
• Revise business cards.
• Make 3-month posting calendar
• Detailed rating system
• Catalogue books 
• Completed memes several weeks in advance.

I am so proud of the work I have done and now I am able to relax and read a bit more because the *thinking* part is taken care of and I just need to do the writing. But once you get me going I am unstoppable, so I am not concerned with that. I tried to stay away from Twitter this weekend because I am always distracted by contests, etc. so that is why I did not make a ton of updates.

Final Thoughts:

Total Hours: 24.5 hours!
Total Comments: I did not keep a good record but I think I made about 40 comments throughout the whole weekend. :)
What I liked best: The challenges! They were so informative and I feel such a great triumph that I accomplished so much to make my blog the best it can be!
Constructive Criticism: I don't really have much for this time around. This was my first time participating so I am not sure how others were run. So I would say nothing right now.

Thanks to Maw Books for hosting, and all the mini-challenge hosts! Until next time, Ole!