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! 

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 21 - Blogger Love Note

Today is all about sending your favorite blogger some love! Pick your favorite blogger (or bloggers) and send them a quick note of appreciation for all that they do on their blog that keeps you coming back. Keeping up a well maintained blog is hard work and I'm sure it makes a blogger feel good to get a little validation from their readers that their hard work is paying off. 
Be sure to compliment your favorite blogger on your favorite part of their blog or one of their posts that you really liked. Let them know that you enjoy their blog and thank them for their time and effort. Spread the love! 
(Just don't be weird about it) 

Which blogger got your "love note"? 

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 19 - Change It Up + Link Up & Giveaway!!

Today's challenge is to change things up on your blog. I was fully committed to seeing this challenge through by changing up stuff with my blog layout BUT there are a lot of things going on at home right now that have needed my attention A LOT more and I've let things slip away from me. Let's just say that sometimes motherhood is very hard. 

Anywho.... As a last minute decision I decided to do a link up for anyone who is a disorganized blogger, frazzled mother, of if you're giving away an all expenses paid vacation!!  Link up your most neglected post so it can get some love! 

I'm always giving away a free ebook copy of my new book, The Letters!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

31 Days of Better Blogging: Day 17 - Missions and Goals

Today's challenge is goals and missions. You should have a mission statement for your blog. I think mine will be: 

"This blog's mission is to provide a glimpse into the world of writing and reading. Writer In Progress is dedicated to promoting upcoming authors, brand-new books, writing tips, tricks, and giveaways. "

I feel like that should suffice for a mission statement. 

For the goals part of this challenge, I would say that the goals for this blog for the next few months are to 

• Build on my readership
• Post more book reviews 
• Build better relationships with fellow bloggers 
• Share more writing tips
• Share the process of writing my second book 

What is your mission statement? What are you goals?