Friday, January 23, 2009

Blog Improvement Project: Weeks 1 and 2


One of the things I wanted to do this year was work in sprucing up the blog a bit. It's getting too boring or something. Anyway, the perfect way to do this is by participating in Kim's (Sophisticated Dorkiness) Blog Improvement Project. What great ideas she's dishing out to us all! A new one every week.

And of course, I'm already a week behind!

So, for the first week (which was last week), Kim suggests we think about the purpose of our blog and come up with specific goals. I did that a little bit in this post, but those were more general goals and reading goals too.

So the purpose of my blog: To have fun sharing what I'm reading with the world! To have an outlet for the enthusiasm I have for reading. And to have fun trying to be creative with it at the same time. My purpose is not to make money, not to become the most popular book blogger on the planet (though I do get jealous of you popular ones!), and not to have it take over other areas of my life.

My goals:

  • keep up with posting often, even on those days when I think there's no one reading so why try.

  • comment more, even when I feel like I have nothing to add to an already rousing discussion.

  • be less shy about advertising and promoting my blog (I love how some of you have business cards for your blog! I want to do that! Maybe....)

  • continue to participate in things, like The Blog Improvement Project, and support other bloggers and their projects

  • clean up the look of my blog (I've been working a little on this already, but it's still in progress.)
And this week, we are given ideas on what to do if we are stuck for ideas. Kim links to some great articles HERE. The point is to then keep some of those ideas handy for when we feel that blog fog setting in. Also, she suggests for us to come up with a regular feature for our blog, something that is unique to us. I love this idea! I want my own feature! :)

(.....several hours later..... )
I guess I'll have to keep pondering on what feature would work for me. So far, nothing too cool is jumping out at me. I guess it'll have to be one of those middle of the night inspirations, or something. Anyway, stay tuned.

9 comments:

  1. Suey: looks like you have made some progress..I've been lurking on blogs these days because the reading load is high, but I will be commenting more regularly now. It's been a long road of catchup after the holidays...and the inauguration.

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  2. I love your goals, especially the one about self promotion. I think that's a great idea! I struggled with the brainstorming too.

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  3. Hey you! It is so hard, sometimes, to decide what to pare from the blog, what to keep and how to present it. You're doing a great job of it, by the way! Like with the awards being a slideshow, yeah, that's a great idea! I like your outline in today's post, too.

    I don't know why it is so hard to click over to a blog from Google Reader to comment...but it just is. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. :)

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  4. I love your profile picture! I'm with you on the blog improvement quest.

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  5. Of course it is great to have many visitors. However, I have already realized (after 2 months' blogging) that a few people who really share my reading preferances is more important to me than being very 'popular'.

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  6. I love your goals! I'm sure a feature idea will come to you, and even if one doesn't the thinking will probably have come to something good. And don't worry, the BIP projects are only going to be every two weeks, so we all won't fall too far behind!

    Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness)

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  7. Serena: I've been so far behind too... and I should say one of my goals is to get caught up once and for all and to be especially diligent about keeping up with your posts!

    BermudaO: Yeah, self promotion... it's a hard one for me.

    Michelle: Thanks! And glad you managed the click over from Reader! :)

    Boy Mom: Thanks about the picture. Your's is great too! And your blog... wow.. it's amazing.

    Dorte H: True, true. It's fun to find some great friends out there in the blog world!

    Kim: I really do hope something does come to mind for a unique feature. I'll keep pondering! Meanwhile, all the great stuff you are coming up with for us will be such fun.

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  8. I hear you on not letting the blog take over your life. Good suggestions. Oh, the boys want to watch a movie. Bye!

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  9. Good set of goals. Self-promotion can be difficult!

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