Bloggiesta finished up this morning and I’m finally able to put together my wrap-up post. This time around Bloggiesta was a little different for me. With the Mini-Challenge that I hosted about Stats, I was able to help answer some questions via email and Twitter. It was really really fun! Sorry for any of you that were on the receiving end of my long winded emails, but when I get going with that type stuff I can go on for a long time. So, most of my time with Bloggiesta was spent doing that, BUT I did get a lot of other great tasks accomplished and I’m feeling pretty good.

So, this is what I started with when I began Bloggiesta:

• Schedule at least 14 Posts.
• Post my reviews to the following sites: Goodreads, LibraryThing, Indiebound, Amazon, Kidlitosphere, Book Army, B&N, etc.
• Set up a Calendar on Google.
  
• Organize my Author Interviews & Websites into a separate page.
• Gather a List of Bloggers I love and post a separate page.
• Create a Book News Page.
• Create an Awards Page.

Here’s the skinny on what I really accomplished:

• Set up a Calendar on Google. I was able to put this together, plus coordinate it with my Google Docs & Reminder Fox scheduling data so that I’m all planned out! YAY!
• Add more “Guests” to my “When I Was Young” Feature. I sent out a total of 15 requests and just looked again, I have 3 more to send out. Wohoo! This is a huge thing, because this is one of my favorite parts of the site and I want to see it keep going. So yay!
• Scheduled a total of 2 Reviews, but set up about 16 posts/reviews so they’re ready to go when I am finished with the books.
• Post all of my reviews to the following sites: Goodreads, LibraryThing, Indiebound, Amazon, Kidlitosphere, Book Army, B&N, etc. I’m just about done with all of this (although, I did give up on Book Army, every time I entered a review it went away to nowhere, boo!), but I still need to add them to the Kidlitosphere. All-in-all pretty good I think.
• Gather a List of Bloggers I love and post a separate page. This is the page titled “Links” and so far it’s not looking so hot. So, this is definitely still a work in progress.

Things I’m still planning on doing this coming week:

• Schedule out a few more posts.
• Organize my Author Interviews & Websites into a separate page.
• Create a Book News Page.
• Create an Awards Page.

All in all, pretty good. I’m so glad I was able to help so much this time around and I can’t wait to join in Bloggiesta again next time around. Although, next time I may just be a cheerleader, I seriously need a nap now. )

On to Day 3 of the 3rd Bloggiesta! Today was kind of rough. My hubby was able to go help someone move this morning and The Turkeybird decided it wanted to be up at 4:30 AM, which didn’t exactly bode well for my concentration. I was still able to press on and got a few things I wanted done accomplished. How about everyone else? Any fabulous new progress to report?

• Set up a Calendar on Google. Done!
• Add more “Guests” to my “When I Was Young” Feature – So far, I’m up to 14 (and I’ve emailed them all!), but would still love to schedule more!
• Schedule at least 14 Posts. – So far, I’ve done 14 reviews and some templates. Not bad. Still need a few more
• Post my reviews to the following sites: Goodreads, LibraryThing, Indiebound, Amazon, Kidlitosphere, Book Army, B&N, etc. (I’ve done about 20 and I’m still plugging away!)
• Organize my Author Interviews & Websites into a separate page.
• Gather a List of Bloggers I love and post a separate page.
• Create a Book News Page.
• Create an Awards Page.

Wish me luck and I’ll be stopping by a few of my fellow participants to see how they’re doing during my rest stops!

Make sure to check out my two Mini-Challenges! Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: It’s All About the Numbers (learn all about how to utilize your stats to make your blog even better) and Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: It’s Not Cheating (learn all about backing up that data you desperately don’t want to lose).

So, it’s day two of the 3rd Bloggiesta, you’re starting to lose a bit of speed and need a bit of a push. Pick up your favorite Mexican snack food and your must-have sweet and dig in! Saturdays are always great for getting tons done and I can’t wait! I’ve only accomplish a few things, but still been able to cross some difficult tasks off the list. Hopefully today will be a banner day and I’ll be able to cross of most of it. What do you think? You think I can? Let’s see how it goes!

• Schedule at least 14 Posts. – So far, I’ve done 2, with templates set up for about 7, just need to add reviews. Not bad.
• Post my reviews to the following sites: Goodreads, LibraryThing, Indiebound, Amazon, Kidlitosphere, Book Army, B&N, etc.
• Set up a Calendar on Google. Done!
  
• Organize my Author Interviews & Websites into a separate page.
• Gather a List of Bloggers I love and post a separate page.
• Create a Book News Page.
• Create an Awards Page.
• Add more “Guests” to my “When I Was Young” Feature – So far, I’m up to 10, but would still love to schedule more!

Wish me luck and I’ll be stopping by a few of my fellow participants to see how they’re doing during my rest stops!

Make sure to check out my two Mini-Challenges! Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: It’s All About the Numbers (learn all about how to utilize your stats to make your blog even better) and Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: It’s Not Cheating (learn all about backing up that data you desparately don’t want to lose).

I’m very excited to have the opportunity to host a Mini-Challenge for the 3rd Edition Bloggiesta put together by Natasha of Maw Books. The last Bloggiesta was my very first and I accomplished so much that I knew I wanted to participate again. So, without further babbling on my part…

As a book reviewer or someone just looking to improve their overall site, stats can be a very useful tool. This can also be a source of great stress and confusion for most bloggers, even those of us who have been doing it for some time now. So in an effort to help sort through the numbers and get to the information you really need to know we’re offering up this mini-challenge. The overall goal here though is to have fun, learn something new and hopefully improve on your already fabulous site!

Your assignment: Set up one account with a Stats Site and have some fun with it!

• Google Analytics (Personally, this is the one I use and I really like how easy it is to use.)
  *Added* WordPress users may want to install this plug-in to make it really easy to access your GA stats: Google Analytics for WordPress
• Woopra (Similar to Google Analytics just a different style.)
• Site Meter (I also use this as a backup, easy to grab stats. They also email you once a week.)
• StatCounter (Simple to use counter showing number of hits and location daily. Also, one of the few that work with Wordpres.com websites.)
• IceRocket by Blog Tracker (Suggested by Stacy from A Novel Source)

Let’s Play Around with That Great Data Now: There are a few “Big” things that can get you started off in your journey with stats. Below is a list of suggestions to start with as well as some tips on where to find the information you’re looking for. Remember that the data you are looking at will only be from the date you started your Stats account, most don’t go back to your blog start date.

• Average Daily Hits. The number of people visiting your site everyday.
  Using Google Analytics click on the “Visitor Trending” Tab and then “Visits”. This will tell you the average number of visits per day based on the dates you put in the top right box.
• Average Monthly Page Views. The number of “pages” viewed each month. Pages can be tabs, menus, archives, anything that takes them away from the home page.
  Using Google Analytics click on the “Visitor Trending” Tab and then “Pageviews”. This will tell you the number of pageviews for your site based on the dates you put in the top right box. If you want to calculate your monthly number, just pull out your calculator and divide the number by of months during this time.
• Average Monthly Unique Visitors. The number of “brand new” visitors to your site.
  Using Google Analytics click on the “Visitor Trending” Tab and then “Absolute Unique Visitors”. This will tell you the number of unique visitors for your site based on the dates you put in the top right box. If you want to calculate your monthly number, just pull out your calculator and divide the number by of months during this time.
• Current RSS Subscribers.
  Make sure to head over to Puss Reboots Mini-Challenge to set up your RSS feed. Once this is done you can install a button that tells you how many subscribers you have or just check it from time to time.

Additional Tools:

• Problogger: If you haven’t subscribed to Problogger’s site, I would highly recommend it. He always has a ton of great tips for improving your site. His article 17 Statistics to Monitor on Your Blog is perfect for anyone at any level and will give you some extra fun things to look at with your blog stats over time.
• Google Analytics Blog: This is perfect because if you have a question, they’re sure to have an answer. If you are a beginner, they even have a category to use to get started called Beginner Topics.
• YouTube also has a great video by Google called, Beginning Analytics: Interpreting and Acting on Your Data, just don’t pay attention to the bit about e-commerce unless you’re really interested in it. There are also some other great Analytics videos on there you can check out.
• Smashing Voice also has a fantastic Guide to Using Google Analytics and Tools.
• Woopra has a great set of posts all about Using Woopra, as well as a video review that has me thinking about trying it out.

Remember, this should be fun! Play around with the stats and use them to make your site better. If you notice a particular month has low visits, take a look at what you blogged about and compare it to a more visited month. You may find that your visitors like a certain post more than another. Use these tools to keep improving and enjoying your blogging experience.

I’m by no means an expert, but if you have questions, again, feel free to contact me either on Twitter, via email (the1stdaughter {at} gmail {dot} com) or on my contact page.

Natasha has some wonderful prizes for those of you who participate in these challenges so once completed this challenge come back and let me know how it went in the comments below. You have until the end of Bloggiesta to complete this mini-challenge and report.

Enjoy the Bloggiesta festivities and ‘Ole’!

While you’re at it take a look at these mini-challenges new to this round of Bloggiesta:

• Kim and Jackie at the Blog Improvement Project (@kimthedork and @farmlanebooks) – Take a step back and view your blog as a whole.  Where do you want to go from here?  On goals and analyzing your blogs (I’d do this one early and first).
• Jennifer at Girls Gone Reading (@girlsgonereadin)- Do you have a review policy?  Do you even need or want one?
• Sarah at Puss Reboots (@pussreboots) – What is RSS and how to make it so your feed is easily discoverable.
• Pam from MotherReader (@MotherReader) – Be brave in your writing and push the limits of what your comfortable with.
• Cass at Bonjour Cass (@bonjourcass) – It’s often said the best part of book blogging is the community.  Go discover them in this commenting challenge!

This is my second Bloggiesta and it seems like just yesterday I completed my first. Time flies! Experience has taught me though to be more concise with my goals and expectations for the amazing weekend. That way I can enjoy more of the challenges and social aspects of Bloggiesta. So, without further adieu, my list of goals for the weekend:

• Schedule at least 14 Posts.
• Post my reviews to the following sites: Goodreads, LibraryThing, Indiebound, Amazon, Kidlitosphere, Book Army, B&N, etc.
• Set up a Calendar on Google. Done!
  
• Organize my Author Interviews & Websites into a separate page.
• Gather a List of Bloggers I love and post a separate page.
• Create a Book News Page.
• Create an Awards Page.

Good luck to everyone involved! Make sure to enjoy some fantastic food, cross off some goals, and enjoy the great company! I’ll see you around!
Make sure to check out my past Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: It’s Not Cheating, for those of you in need of a “back-up” list, it’s perfect!

Also, for those of you wondering, what in the heck is Bloggiesta? It’s basically a weekend long event that bloggers (primarily book bloggers, but anyone can really) join together to focus on “sprucing-up” their blogs. It could be anything from adding buttons, writing posts, requesting guest posts or cleaning up tags & categories. Truly, the sky is the limit and it’s all about your blog for an entire weekend. Interested in joining in? Checkout the sign-up post over at Maw Books Blog for all the details.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Definitely around 1am.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Any of the Hunger Games books…if they haven’t read them already.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I thought it was great! No suggestions.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
All of the min-challenges were great along with all the great prizes. Also, the cheering was fantastic!
5. How many books did you read?
Two for me and one with the kiddos (though we read more, there was one clear winner).
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Eat, Nap, Play by Robyn Spizman and Evelyn Sacks, The Heart Is Not A Size by Beth Kephart, and Where Teddy Bears Come From by Mark Burgess Illustrated by Russell Ayto (with the kiddos).
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Since I didn’t read too many, I actually really enjoyed them all for different reasons.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
The first was probably the least favorite, just because it was more of an information book, not so great for read-a-thon reading.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Just do cheerleading (at least that’s my plan) and have some cheers prepared ahead of time, that way you’re not scrambling at the last minute.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I’m definitely doing it again next time, I had such a blast, but I think I’ll stick to cheerleading next time. I had so much fun visiting all the sites participating and cheering everyone on, I want to focus on that next time.

Thank you again to everyone who stopped by and to everyone who participated! It was so much fun! Can’t wait to see you next time!

Mid-Event Survey:

And….we’re off! I’m reading and cheering today (for Team Shelley). My plans changed a bit because I found out my book signing is actually tomorrow. So, more reading time! I’ll be doing a bit of cheering and reading off and on for a while just to keep things going, but here’s what my reading is starting off with:

Eat, Nap, Play by Robyn Spizman and Evelyn Sacks
13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
The Heart Is Not A Size by Beth Kephart

We’ll see how that goes and after I finish those off I’ll move onto something else…or just cheer on some more! Good luck to everyone and have a fabulous time reading!

This year I’ve decided to try to participate in the Dewey’s 24-Hour Read-a-Thon and it’s tomorrow!! Yikes! Well, I’m not entirely going 100%, but that is mostly because of a random illness I contracted from my little one and hubby and also because I have a book signing to go to tomorrow. So, because I won’t be able to give it my all I decided that I would also be a cheerleader and help out those dedicated readers out there! I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone reads over the 24 hours!

Here’s my plan for the day:

Read in the morning (Since I’ve been sick recently I’m just going to start once I get up, maybe 7).
My book selection:
Eat, Nap, Play by Robyn Spizman and Evelyn Sacks
13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
The Heart Is Not A Size by Beth Kephart

Book Signing from 1pm – 3pm (For the recently released The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams)
From 4pm to 8pm Cheering on my Readers

After that…we will just have to see.

I can’t wait to see how everyone does. If you still haven’t signed up and want to head on over to Dewey’s Read-A-Thon and join the fun!

Sorry I’ve been MIA for the last couple of days. I know you’re all devastated! Now that I’m back and starting to feel a bit better I thought I’d take some time to get things spruced up around here and focus my efforts.

During the Bloggiesta event a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to join a Book Blogging Community Forum called The Bloggie Cult. The main purpose is to provide bloggers (mainly book bloggers, but anyone is welcome) the opportunity to share and gain knowledge from others in the online community. Be it technical or just emotional support, the forum is there to help. So, in an effort to make my site better for my readers I decided to join and hopefully acquire a “Blogging Mentor”. Well, the day has come and I’m excited to say I was given the great opportunity to work with Kate from The Neverending Shelf! To say I’m excited is putting it lightly. She has a fabulous blog and I always love her reviews. To begin she asked that I put together a post detailing some of the things I’d like to accomplish over the next few weeks through this process. So, I’m going to first list my goals, but I’d also like to ask you as my readers, What would you like to see more of? Is there something in particular you’ve like or not that you’d like to see? Any feedback is welcome and I can’t wait to hear what you have to share!

The list:

• Gain a better focus. I’d like to not feel so scattered. This may come by way of a more structured schedule or something else, but I need to hone things in.
• Be in touch with what my readers are interested in. Is it the newest thing or something else entirely, I just don’t know at this point.
• Improve the sites accessibility. I’d like to make sure everyone enjoys coming to the site, that it’s easy to navigate and doesn’t take too much time to load.
• Stats. I’d be lying if I didn’t include this in some of my goals. I graded the blog over the Bloggiesta weekend and came up flat. Honestly, I’ve tried it before and I just don’t know how to make it better. So, I need some help in this area.

I’m pretty sure that’s it. I don’t feel like delving too much further because I don’t want to overstretch myself. So far I’ve really been loving book blogging. The comments I’ve received and friends I’ve made have been fabulous. It’s what is really driving me to make things better.

So, like I said, if you have any suggestions…even things like “I can’t see the entire background, the reviews are too short, etc.” let me know! Any constructive input is welcome. Thanks again to all my readers and here’s to hoping things keep going wonderfully!