31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 31 - Test Your Blog!

Today is the FINAL day of 31 Days of Better Blogging!! 

YAY!!!  

The last challenge is all about testing your blog. 

These are some really good sites to test your blog's speed, SEO, ranking, and how it looks on different browsers: 

• Alexa
• BrowserShots
• Pingdom
• PluginSEO

Thanks for hanging around and following along with me to see if I actually finished the challenge!! 

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 30 - Brainstorming

\

Day 30 is all about brainstorming!! 

As a writer, brainstorming is very important to me. Some of the best ideas I've had in my writing and in other areas of my life have come from brainstorming sessions. I've also wondered about my sanity during brainstorming situations. There are some scary things floating around in this head! 

I have five tips for brainstorming. These are things that I use to help me come up with ideas: 

• Listen to music that fits the mood or theme of whatever you're trying to come up with. For example, I listen to a lot of jazz music when I'm trying to develop characters. I like characters who have soft and hard edges like some jazz music so sometimes I grab my headphones, turn up the volume, and lay back on the couch until something comes to me. (Or I fall asleep. Don't do this if you're sleepy.) 
• Write down everything. Dump it all out on a piece of paper, a Word document, a note app on your phone, or even a cocktail napkin. Whatever you have on hand, write everything in your brain on that. When I was working in retail and I came across a brilliant idea, I'd write it down on receipt paper. I ended up with stacks and stacks of little notes but it helped me keep from forgetting my ideas. 
• Phone a friend. Or text. Bounce ideas off of someone you trust who will not judge you if you send them a message at 3 A.M. Especially if that message says something like , "I created a fictional cat in this story because I want a cat and the hubs says we can't have one." (Not that I've sent something like that to anyone.) 
• Get a hobby. I've had some "lightbulb" moments while I was immersed in one of my favorite hobbies. There are several times I've been working on a piece of jewelry and think about what it would look like on a character. Usually a dead character but beggars can't be choosers, right? 
• Have a good sense of humor. Allow yourself to be silly, even more so when you're getting frustrated with yourself or the situation. Find something funny in your brainstorming process and give yourself a good laugh. Don't be so serious! 

I hope some of my tips help with your brainstorming process. What are some things you do to help brainstorm? 

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 29 - User Friendly

Today is about making sure your website is user friendly! 

In order to make sure your website is user friendly you should: 

• Make sure your menus work
• Make sure your links work
• Your contact info should be placed somewhere that will be easily seen 
• Your layout should be streamlined and easy to navigate
• Your font should be easy to read
• Sidebars should free of clutter and only filled with things that are of vital importance to you and your readers 

Is your site user friendly?

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 28 - Contact Info

Day 28 is all about making it easy for your readers to contact you. You should have your contact information in a clearly designated spot where your readers will be able to find the info and feel confident about making contact with you. 

I have all of my stuff in my sidebar under my "about me" blurb. I also have my e-mail address on my About Me page and a contact form to make it easy. I used Google Sheets to make my contact form instead of the blogger contact form simply because I'm constantly using Google Sheets for something and I will probably see it there quicker. Whatever you use, if you do use a contact form, make sure that it is linked to your primary e-mail account so that you will be able to see something a reader has sent you fairly quickly. 

Where is your contact info? 

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 27 - Target Audience

Today is all about determining who your target audience is. I use Clicky (it's free) to see my demographics but you can also use Google Analytics or Alexa. It's important to know who is visiting your blog so that you can curate your content to their preferences in order to keep them coming back. You can also use the responses from your reader survey in order to determine what you readers like. Reader surveys are also good for finding out what your readers might like to see more or less of or to find out about things they would like you to change. 

Who is your target audience? Did you intend to have that audience or were you aiming for someone different? 

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 26 - Sharing

Today's challenge deals with sharing personal information; whether or not to share personal information on a blog post. You have to be careful what bits of your life you choose to share on your blog. If you share too much personal information you may alienate your readers or embarrass others in your life. 

You should share personal stories when it is relevant to the post. For example, when I reviewed Me Tarzan - You Jane I shared about my daughter losing her father when she was younger. It was relevant to the post because I understood the loss the character was dealing with when she lost her husband. The story meant more to me because I had been through some of those same emotions but I had also been helped by my amazing husband to learn to let go and love someone again. That's a good example of sharing something personal. 

A bad example would be if I told everyone in the blogging world something scandalous about myself or someone in my family. Or a close friend. You don't want to embarrass yourself most importantly but you also do not want to betray another person's trust or weird your readers out. 

Be mindful of what you post and think about who it would affect if you post it!