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Saturday, 23 March 2013
Bloggiesta
Bloggiesta is a blogging marathon revolving around those blog maintenance that you've been meaning to do but haven't gotten around to it. There are mini-challenges, one being a tutorial on how to organise your review TBR piles in an excel spreadsheet, click here to view the other mini-challenges scheduled for this weekend. To read more about Bloggiesta click here and to sign up click here.
My goals for this weekend are:-
Participate in 3 mini-challengesClean up my blog labels- Clean up my blog-related emails
Create my blog tour sidebar HTML code for next month's tour- Plan my pages eg. About Me, Review Policy
- Draft & Schedule my Top Ten Tuesdays for April
Research a blog binderand update my Diary for blog related activitiesVisit at least 15 blogs participating in Bloggiesta- Start my Review Archive
Cross reference my reviews on my blog, Goodreads, Amazon and B&N (for now)Finish the reviews that are currently in draftDraft tour posts till the end of March
Yay this is my first Bloggiesta and whilst I did not complete all the tasks I set out to do I did get through quite a lot and I wasn't even doing it the whole weekend! To check out my progress and what I got done please view the start of this post where my to do lists are and they are crossed off.
Challenges I participated in are below but the two main challenges I wanted to complete I haven't had the time to do yet, which is Organising My Review by Lauren from Lose Time Reading and Through a Visitor's Eyes by Amanda from On A Book Bender.
Anyway, I had lots of fun and it was great how much I got done. The challenges are fantastic and they were all really helpful. I'll be referring to the old challenges to just see if there are tips & tricks and other helpful things I can gather from the past Bloggiesta.
For those that participated link to your Finishing post here and there's a feedback survey there too.
Challenges
Google Reader Alternative Challenge by Jenn from The Picky Girl
After reading Jenn's post I googled Feedly vs BlogLovin, I read this great article and after reading it I decided to go with Feedly as it was the clear winner. However, I re-read Jenn's post just prior to doing this challenge post and I decided to trial both Feedly and BlogLovin, the only reason that made me change my mind is because on Jenn's post it noted that Feedly is actually powered by Google Reader.
I'm going to confirm with Jenn, whether it's ran by Google, because if it is, I'm going to go with BlogLovin as I want to eventually move all the apps I'm using by Google elsewhere...I don't like the fact that they just remove things (Google Reader, Google Friend Connect GFC) when they please, not even considering it's users. If it was not generating funds I would understand, but from the outraged cry of most, it seems that their popularity or lack of users is not the reason for their closing.
So the answer for the purpose of this challenge is that I'm going to trial both Feedly and Bloglovin for maybe a month and make a decision then. I do like the interface of both, I like it's simplicity and I like how it's cluttered-free, I also like the fact that the migration from Google is easy. That's about as much of a decision I'm going to make at this point. I've signed up to both, migrated my Google Reader feeds to both, I'll just trial both.
Another alternative that Jenn didn't mention that I really enjoyed using previously on my iPad was Pulse. It was really user friendly, the interface is clean and easy but I haven't looked into the migration of your feeds from other readers. It has an Android, Mac and web interface.
Getting To Know You Challenge by Suey from It's All About Books
Founded - July 2010
Contributor - Anne from Ohio, USA
What does Anna blog about? Book Related
What attracted me to this blog?
Design - Anne's design is what originally what made me do a double take. I visited and commented all the Bloggiesta participants, so one had to really stand out for me to take notice. This is why I'm contemplating on moving to Wordpress, there is designs like these that can easily be DIY'd. Wordpress just looks so much tidier, streamlined and polished.
Anyway, Anne's blog has such a beautiful colour scheme, I LOVE it! I also liked her typeface used for her title. I just like the entire blog and all the little stuff; the little blockquotes, the comment form etc.
Books/Genre - Most of Anne's reviews are on YA books, a genre that I personally love and blog about myself.
Fave Reviewers - Some of the fave reviewers she's got are some of my faves too.
Design - Anne's design is what originally what made me do a double take. I visited and commented all the Bloggiesta participants, so one had to really stand out for me to take notice. This is why I'm contemplating on moving to Wordpress, there is designs like these that can easily be DIY'd. Wordpress just looks so much tidier, streamlined and polished.
Anyway, Anne's blog has such a beautiful colour scheme, I LOVE it! I also liked her typeface used for her title. I just like the entire blog and all the little stuff; the little blockquotes, the comment form etc.
Books/Genre - Most of Anne's reviews are on YA books, a genre that I personally love and blog about myself.
Fave Reviewers - Some of the fave reviewers she's got are some of my faves too.
Founded - February 2010
Contributor - Jenn from Texas, USA
What does Jenn blog about? Book Related
What attracted me to this blog?
Design - I love Jenn's blog design, it's polished and streamlined. I love how it's catchy without being overwhelming, simple without being boring. I really like her background pattern too.
Photo - I appreciate beautiful photography and this is just beautiful! I love the black & white, not to mention the classic lounge and what a wonderful pose.
Humour - That "Proud Bookslut" button LMAO this is the kinda things that my girlfriends love so I really liked her humour take on books and the fact that she didn't care to post it on her blog.
Challenge - Jenn hosted a challenge for Bloggiesta called Google Reader Alternatives which is perfect for me as I was starting to research that area. For those that do know me, I over research and over analyze things so I would have been researching for ages, so thanks so much Jenn!
I also enjoyed how she wrote this post, so I knew that her upcoming posts/reviews I'll enjoy as I just enjoyed her take and wording on things.
Declutter your Sidebar Challenge by Deb from Debz Bookshelf
Step 1 - Declutter your sidebar...remove any outdated and unnecessary items.
Step 2 - Re-organise your sidebar according to importance.
Results - I didn't have much decluttering to do as I recently did a clean up after I got my blog re-designed. I had to actually move things around then but the things I was unsure of I left and just removed until I could decide. I'm also contemplating on going 2 column rather than the current 3 column design I've got.
Things I did -
- Did the HTML coding for the upcoming blog tours and put it on my sidebar
- Removed Google Friend Connect (GFC)
- Put Networked Blogs and Linky Followers as alternatives to GFC
Stumbleupon Challenge by April from Good Books and Good Wine
Signed up to Stumbleupon but have yet to send a link.
Reviewing at Many Places Challenge by Shanyn from Chick Loves Lit
Part of my to do list (as noted above) is to cross reference my reviews. I normally review on my blog but forget to put the review up on Goodreads and Amazon. I rarely forgot to put my reviews up on Netgalley for Netgalley books, but I had a lot of catching up between Amazon and Goodreads. So for this challenge, I made sure that my reviews were all up to date. All posted on my blog, Goodreads, Amazon and Netgalley. I'm yet to do Barnes & Noble and contemplating on Shelfari and LibraryThing too but we'll see with those.
Shanyn also has an awesome organisational method to ensure that you cross reference everything and you don't forget anything, so check out the challenge even if you don't want to participate as it's a great method!
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51 comments:
Good luck with all your goals! I plan on doing my review archive today :)
Here's my review board on Pinterest like you mentioned on my blog: http://pinterest.com/kelsenator/book-reviews/
If you need any help pinning something let me know!
About Me and My Review Policy is also on my blog to do list. I absolutely love your blog header and design. so whimsical and pretty. Good luck with getting your comment replies working and for visiting my blog.
That's a very ambitious list! I hope you have cleared the decks of all other responsibilities this weekend and can get a lot of it done. ;)
Good luck!
Thanks for coming by The Children's War, Angelica. You have quite a iist and it reminded me that I need to do some lable clean up as well. As for using Google Doc, I also used the different colors to indicate the things that Lauren suggests in her mini challenge and I used one of the columns to put the legend.
Good luck with all your goals this weekend.
Wow! I love your layout! And your list sounds so organised!
Great list! I love the look of your blog...I am now a follower.
Thanks for visiting mine...and enjoy the party!
Great goals!! Good luck with working on them.
Good luck with it all! I'm finding it slow going with my own review archive, because I keep wanting to go in and make my early posts better!
Wow, you've got quite a to-do list, but it sounds like great stuff! I'm working on scheduling some posts, myself, this weekend and trying to do as much as I can with Bloggiesta when I'm not playing with/tending to my 21-month-old daughter. :-)
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog earlier! I love your design, too, and have grabbed your button to add to my page :-D
Happy Bloggiesta!
P.S. I'm a new Twitter follower, Pinterest follower, Goodreads follower, and I liked your Facebook page :-)
Good luck with your goals. I created my review archive last year - it was a very labor-intensive project, but I was glad to get it done!
~Kristin @ Always With a Book
Hey Angelica,
Wow, what a beautiful header! I love it!
Great list! What have you accomplished so far? Are you having fun?
Looking forward to following your progress!
That's a great list! Enjoy Bloggiesta! And thanks for stopping by my blog today too! I love your header. ;)
Good luck getting everything done!!!! It's a lot, but you can do it! :)
Here is my Bloggiesta To Do List!
I want to look into the blog binder as well. I need to keep myself organized!
I love your font, by the way, on your posts. It's really cool.
Good luck!
You've got quite a bit to do! Good luck with everything!
You have such great goals. I wish you the best of luck.
Wow! This is a great (and ambitious!) list!! Best of luck to you!!
The pages seemed to take me forever. I'm not sure why, but they were hard to write. Have you tried using google calendars. I use their docs for pretty much everything blog related so that it's always with me. I can access it from my phone, tablet and pc. It's just easier. Hope you are able to make a big dent in your goals this weekend. :D
Oh my goodness! Your blog is so cute! Good luck with all your goals!
Fantastic list! I hope you're having a fun and productive weekend :D
That's a great list! Several are on my list as well. They will make a big difference in the usability of our blogs.
Joy's Book Blog
Great goals. I wish you the best of luck.
Great list! I really love the idea of a blog binder... I still like handwriting things out, and though I keep an online calender I do have a agendabook calender that I use as well. I absolutely love your blog, it's soooo gorgeous!!! New follower(and thanks for following my blog as well).
Lauren @ Lose Time Reading
Good luck with your goals this weekend! Weeding through blog email is at the top of my list and one of my most dreaded tasks. Your blog title reminds me a bit of The Paperbag Princess (children's book). Are you familiar with it? Happy Blogging!
Whew. And you're going to do all of that this weekend? And whoa. Good luck. Look forward to seeing your progress later.
These are all great goals! I've been thinking about my blog categories for awhile and completely forgot until I saw your post!
You have some great goals for this weekend. I've been playing with the idea about a blog binder as well, but I haven't made up my mind.
Good luck with all of your goals!
That is the prettiest blog header I have ever seen! I love it. I hope you check out my Bloggiesta To Do List or join my mini-challenge about getting involved! Plus, you can knock out a few of your to-do's!
Those are great goals, good luck this weekend!
Wow, that is quite a list! I hope you are finding some time to tick some things off.
Your blog is so pretty, I love the header :)
We have similar lists. Lol. How are you doing your review archive? I might look into doing mine differently.
Great goals! Good luck.
Nice list. I love your blog, its so pretty!! And the header is beautiful :D Good luck on your goals!! :)
Good luck! That's some great goals !
You've got a great to-do list. I hope you're enjoying Bloggiesta! Keep up the good work completing those goals! :)
Great list! Setting up a review archive is a little time-consuming but really rewarding. Cross-posting reviews was also one of my goals, but I only had to cross-post to Goodreads luckily!
OMG! You have the prettiest blog. And you've got things crossed off your list.
Great list and looks like you're doing great with crossing them off! I've been contemplating a blog binder, too. I'll have to check back to see what information you find out.
Enjoy the remainder of your weekend :)
~Michelle
Wow! You've gotten tons of stuff done! I didn't get around to any of the mini-challenges, but I'm going to try a lot of them at a later date. Congrats on all that you've accomplished!
You got a lot done! I like that your challenges and goals are all in one place. Keep up the good work and stay motivated. Your blog's lookin great!
Great job! You have got almost everything crossed off! :)
I did okay too, but only managed to finish one challenge....
I LOVE your blog design! Seriously. It is awesome. :) It looks like you knocked out quite a bit of your list this weekend! Isn't Bloggiesta great?
Awesome blogger highlights! And speaking of sweet looking blog designs... I love yours! Hope you've had an awesome Bloggiesta!
Wow!! You did a lot this weekend! Good job!!!
Angie
Angela's Anxious Life
First of all - your design is cuteness!! I wouldn't change it for the coolest plugins in the world :)
You kicked Bloggiesta! Cross posting reviews is a major pain. Glad i found your blog through this event :)
Oh and FYI with Feedly - they aren't powered by Google Reader. They just have a program so that if you sign up with them before Google Reader dies then all your blogs will be permanently imported. It also syncs with Google Reader. I love Feedly and hate Google too. But Bloglovin has some nice pros to it as well. I might end up using both for different reasons.
Wow, totally impressed! You didn't get the whole list done, but you still did a LOT. Go, girl!
Thanks so much for including me here! So nice to get to "meet" you.
Bloggiesta is always such a good time, but usually I'm so busy working it takes several days before I'm able to catch up with everyone.
As for Google, I so feel you on that one. I had the same thought when I heard the news, and I use Google Drive a lot. Yes, I can just export into Excel if I have to, but it is so annoying. Feedly is powered by GR, but from my understanding, they're separate, and after July, they'll exist without that. But you might want to keep checking Google from time to time to see.
It looks like you had a productive Bloggiesta!
Joy's Book Blog
You made great progress! I wish I had more time this weekend, usually I get a lot more done... Looking forward to the next one!
You did a great job! I didn't accomplish anywhere near what I wanted due to my internet choosing that weekend to go down. :( I love these Bloggiestas though! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
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xoxo
Angelica