5 Blog Resolutions

Oh my, I am really on a roll today. Earlier this morning, I was lost in thought about THIS BLOG as I walked outside to take care of a few things in my yard when a teenager walked by on his way to school. I smiled and said, “Hi.” And he just stared at me as he walked by (in a furrowed-brow, even scrunched-up-nose kind of way). That’s when my scattered brain scrambled back into place, reminding myself that I had a head full of curlers—curlers!—and I was wearing bath slippers, no makeup, and a sweatshirt I’ve had since high school. Now, don’t get me wrong. No make-up? Fine. But CURLERS? It just seemed so old lady to me, and my only thought for this young man was, “Yes, I am an aspiring Young Adult author.”

Back to the blog. Thanks to a couple of articles I’ve read (Robert Lee Brewer’s blog link, and Nicholas Cardot’s site link) I now have five New Year's Blog goals. Here they are; you can use them, too, (if you haven't already) to improve your blog:

1) Post regularly. Robert Lee Brewer encourages bloggers to post at least weekly, and preferably on the same day each week. So that’s my goal. Once a week (we'll see how the same day each week thing goes). I'll try to post mid-week, so tune in then if you'd like.

QUESTION: what types of blog posts do YOU enjoy the most? Stories? Book reviews? Writing tips? Embarrassing moments? (I have plenty, as you are now aware). Any comments on this are appreciated.

2) Tag content. Blogger lets you tag posts with keywords so readers can more easily navigate through your blog.

3) Links. My friend Kristyn has a craft blog LINK (ha, look at me go), and she showed me how to do this. Link your own blog content, link to other sites, etc… Select the word you want to turn into a link, click the green button (next to the i on your posting page), and type in the url. Connecting applicable sources of information is helpful should your readers want to learn more about a certain topic you discuss.

4) Blog buttons and social media share buttons. Blog buttons help readers connect with you via Twitter, Facebook, etc… Additionally, you can make your own unique blog button that readers can share on their blogs, linking your blog to theirs. Check back later, and hopefully I’ll have my very own little blog button.

5) Post polls for your readers to vote. I love this! Nicholas Cardot suggests doing this. Readers enjoy voting on things, and they want to come back to your blog for the results. I love polls because I love learning what other people think, and I’m excited to come up with some polls in the future. Check back here next week. I already have my first poll in mind.
There they are, 5 ways to improve a new blog like mine. Any thoughts/suggestions on what blog posts you enjoy most are welcome!