31 Day Blog Challenge ~ Day 31

Today's Challenge ~ Plan the next steps for your blog.


    With all that I have learned over the last 31 days I feel confident that I have built a better blog.  Now I just have to apply all that I learned.


Today our task was to plan the next steps for our blog.  How we were going to apply what we had learned and follow through.  Here is what I have come up with.

• This home page will become a virtual newsletter of sorts.  A newsletter will be posted weekly linking to the other sections of the blog.  This will give my readers one central location to find out the goings on for all of the blogs.  This way they can go and read the posts that interest them.  I will also use this page for breaking news and discussions.
• I want to have more series of posts like this one and like our plant care guide.  This will engage the readers and keep them coming back for more. 
• I will set up a blog schedule with each blog getting at attention each week.  With the busy holiday time ahead it may be just one post.  The idea is to keep the topics and pages looking fresh for our readers.
• I will continue to use analytics to monitor and improve my blog.  This will be done monthly.
• Monthly I will also be checking for dead links and adding links to older posts.  This will help with my SEO ratings and keep the blog up to date.
• As I post topics that are what I consider "hot topics" I will use stumbleupon and digg to get the word out to others.
• I would like to reply to readers every morning.  As the blog grows in popularity I may have to save this task for a specific day.  
• I want to continue to learn and grow.  This means keeping in touch with my SITS friends and exploring new sites that will help me grow my blog.

Well this is it, the final 31 day post.  I can't believe it's been 31 days.  I am proud to have finished the challenge and invite all who are interested to try to do the same.  Here is a link to a recap on SITS that will help you follow the challenge. 

Have fun and happy blogging!

31 Day Blog Challenge ~ Day 30

Today's Challenge ~ Statistics to Monitor your blog.


Statistics are an important part of blogging.  You can see where your readers are coming from and once they get to your page how long they stay.  You can track your most popular posts and even a bit about who is reading them.


I use Google Analytics to monitor my blogs and I am pleased with the results.  I like to spend a little time each week looking at how many visitors, how they found me, and what they read.  Then I can look at the successful posts and see how I can duplicate that with a new topic.  


I know right now my numbers are not huge but they still have a huge meaning.  Also the challenge reminded us to focus on ways to improve the numbers and set goals to do so.  


This challenge has actually helped to increase interest in my blog.  I can now see what has worked and what has not.  This will help me make the blog more successful in the future.

31 Day Blog Challenge ~ Day 29

Today's Challenge ~ Promote your blog.

It is important to set time each day or week to find ways to promote your blog.  We discussed on Day 4 how to promote single posts.  Looking back on this day the ideas are similar but a little more in depth.  

We were to spend 10 - 15 minutes figuring out who are desired readers were.  For me they are as follows:

• Flower Lovers
• Our Shoppers
• Our Friends
• Other Shop Owners
• Anyone looking to order flowers
• Anyone looking for plant & flower care tips

We needed to figure out where our desired readers were gathering online.  I would say the majority of my readers are the facebook type of folks.  They want to stay in touch with friends and family.  Most are looking to network and build relationships.  

We then had to figure out how we can promote our blog on those type of sites.  For me it is leaving links, talking it up to our fans, and letting my customers know about not only my blog but my facebook page.  At work we have our facebook page on the back of every business care, we also ask customers to review us there.  These are all great ways to promote the blog.  I will be looking at more ways in the future as well.  

31 Day Blog Challenge ~ Day 28

Today's Task ~ Write a Review Post
I have not yet had the opportunity to write a review post, thought I have read many.  I like the idea of testing a product, service, or even just watching a movie and telling others what I have to say.  I do it in my everyday life when I come across something I like or dislike.  Why not put the pen to paper, or in this case fingers to the keyboard and give it a go.


31 Days to Build a Better Blog.  By: Darren Rowse


As many of your know I have been following an e-book by Darren Rowse.  This book is designed to take you step by step, in 31 days, to better blogging.  As of day 28 this book has delivered on it's promises. 


When I first started out with my blog I really did not know what direction I was going to take it.  I knew it would be a little about the family, a little about me, but mostly about our flower shop.  One night while surfing the web I came across a challenge.  I am always up for a new challenge so I decided to check it out.  The gals over at SITS were about to embark on a 31 day journey to better blogging.  I joined up with the group, grabbed my notebook, and a cup of coffee, and here I am on day 28.


What I have Loved: 
     I love the fact that it is broken up into daily challenges.  I have wanted to improve my blog but had no idea where to start and always felt overwhelmed when learning about it.  This was a one day at a time stadegey and I could see the results at day 1.  When you have a family, own your own business, and so much more you need daily tasks.  This really did help me keep it all in perspective.
     I also loved that each day he told you not only what you were doing but why you were doing it.  Whenever I train someone I always explain to them why what they are doing is important.  There is nothing like telling someone "cut flowers under water" and walking away.  When they go to do it next time it may just seem silly and they could skip it.  If I take the time to explain why they are doing it then they will be more likely to remember it and do it on their own next time.
     He kept the tech speak to a minimum.  I am a novice at blogging and I have dabbled with HTML in the past.  I will be the first to admit, if it sounds hard I will not even attempt, it will go back on my list.  Some of the tasks were a little more advanced then others, but once I understood why I was doing it I took the time to learn.  
    I also loved that it was not specific to one type of blog.  I did not feel like I was reading a book dedicated to making money on my blog or blogging to a mass of readers.  This let me feel like I was growing at my own pace.  I could concentrate more on tasks that I felt would help me the most.  Two that I use the most, and plan to for a long time, are days 11 and 12.  Coming up with post ideas and writing a schedule for them.


A few things I did not Love:  
     We all have them, and here are mine.
     There were a few days that I thought maybe too much information was given for a single day, an example of that would be day 6.  This day was a list of 21 must read tips.  Well on day 6 I did not have time to read 21 tips, and I must say that I have not been back to do this.  I understand though that the information is right there waiting for me and I should go back and read them all, one day at a time.  
     I also was not a big fan of Day 15 ~ Find a Blog Buddy.  This is not because I am anti-social.  It is because finding a florist blogger with an active blog is just HARD.  I have looked and only found a handful.  I am also aware that the life of a small business owner is fast paced and full of things to do.  I am still a little hesetant at reaching out to the few that I have found.  Again this is not a bad mark on the book by any means.  Plenty of fellow challenge users have found a buddy and it looks like it is working well for them.


Well as you saw this is my first review.  Since I am a florist I think I will use a flower scale to show how much I like things I review.  We will say 1 to 5 flowers to keep it simple.  


I give "31 Days to Build a Better Blog" by Darren Rowse 4 Flowers out of 5.

I would recommend this book to:  Anyone who wants to improve their blog, learn about blogging, or just wants a good challenge.  


You can pick up a copy of this e-book at : Problogger and while you are there take a look around their site.  It has page after page of useful information.  


By the way, thank you Darren for writing this guide that helped me to build a better blog and for all my friends at SITS for cheering me on along the way.  I may not have stayed this motivated without all of you.  


And this post proves that I paid attention on Day 7!


You can see all the days of this journey here.

31 Day blog challenge ~ Day 27

Today's Task ~ Hunt for Dead Links. 

Because our blog is very new I am pretty confident that the links work the way they did when I set them up.  It is a good idea for everyone to check for dead links on a monthly basis or even more regular if your blog contains lots of links to different places. 


I have written several link posts since the challenge suggested this and we will have to follow up on those links over time.


Dead links can make your blog look out of date.  This can harm your reputation as a Go-To blogger.  It may even harm your SEO rating with search engines.  There are a wealth of free sites that search for dead links.  When we go out to do our hunt we will probably be using either deadlinks.com or Xenu's Link Sleuth.


I hope that you are enjoying the challenge so far and have learned as much along the way as I have.

31 Day Blog Challenge ~ Day 26

Today's Challenge ~ Improve Another Blog

Helping another blogger can help your blog as well.  Leaving constructive comments can help them by giving them ideas or future topics.  They may also allow you to guest post for them, this would increase your readers and theirs as well.  You could also email them ideas or topics that you would like them to discuss.

When you help another blogger it can have a positive effect on your blog as well.  You may gain new readers when they see the comments and feedback you have left.  

I have been building a relationship with the author of Smile Blog.  She is a fellow blogger in my niche that I enjoy reading.  She has been a wonderful resource for my shop and the ladies that work with me.  I have left comments in the past and discussed a few topics on facebook.  I look forward to working with her more in the future.  

31 Day Blog Challenge ~ Day 25

Today's Challenge ~ Ask your reader a question.


I have tried this a couple of times on my blog.  We love to hear from our readers, it makes our day to see them engaged in conversation.  


We post questions to Facebook and Twitter as well to see what our readers think about different topics.  Today we will post a few questions here for our 31 day blogging friends.


1.  What has been the most valuable lesson you have learned over the past 25 days?


2.  Do you feel that your knowledge of blogging has grown due to the challenge?


3.  Have you seen an increase in traffic and readership to your blog since the challenge has begun?


4.  What great blogs have you found because of the challenge?


5.  What one thing will you continue to do to improve your blog after the challenge has ended?