01 April 2012

Bloggiesta Wrap-Up

Bloggiesta Logo My first Bloggiesta has come and mostly gone, and I had a long weekend of fixing and tweaking and all kinds of fun stuff. I wasn't able to get as much socializing done as I had hoped, because I was so focused on my to-do list that I kind of forgot that it was supposed to also be a fiesta. Blogger was also a huge pain all weekend as they switched everyone over to their new interface, which resulted in a lot of yelling, harumphing, and slamming of my laptop. But overall I think I was pretty successful and have already started a list of things I'll probably need to do the next time Bloggiesta comes around. Here is what I was able to accomplish this weekend:

  • Install Navigation Bar: This was a big one for me because it was supposed to be an original feature when I set up this design, but despite looking at numerous tutorials, I could never figure it out. But now it is there, and it is beautiful, and I love it. Here is the tutorial I used to finally figure things out, in case anyone else is struggling: Creating Navigation or Menu Tabs in Blogger.
  • Review Archive: I wanted to get a head start on this feature before I have too many reviews. I played around with it for quite a while, and I really like the way I ended up formatting and sorting it.
  • Challenges Page: My challenge widgets were previously in the sidebar, but because I only have one, I didn't want it clogged up with unnecessary things. Now challenge images, progress bars, and books read are all featured on the same page.
  • Profiles and About Me: I did not have an About Me page before Bloggiesta, and I didn't intend to make one, but I did want to re-write my bio for social networking sites. Then Mary from The Sweet Bookshelf left this comment on my original Bloggiesta post, and I knew I had to write an About Me page as well:
    I love About Me pages. I always want to know the blogger behind the blog. One of my favorite pages to check out.
  • Review Policy: Not much to say here, other than that I have one now.
  • Update Old Reviews: All reviews now feature the same formatting and information.
  • Pinterest Account: I now have a Pinterest account dedicated entirely to bookish things. And cats. Visit it by clicking the (new!) Pinterest icon in the sidebar!
  • Sidebar Cleanup: As I mentioned, I moved the challenge widgets out of the sidebar, moved things from the sidebar to the footer and vice versa to make them easier to find, and updated social networking icons to include all the ones that I am currently a member of.

There were a few other things I dabbled with, such as SEO, that I will continue to learn about and work with over the coming weeks. I didn't accomplish everything on my list (namely I still have unwritten reviews and couldn't even imagine finding the time to make custom images for memes), but it was still a hugely productive weekend and I'm so glad I participated. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and offered encouragement!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Bloggiesta Weekend! I think we are all now more than a little deserving of a nice five-month siesta before the next Bloggiesta rolls around in September!

3 comments:

  1. Good job.. I just need to do one of these now!!

    Angie

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  2. I agree that SEO is something I am going to have to work on. It seems like there is so much to learn and it will take more than a weekend to fully understand it all.

    I am glad you decided to add an About Me page!

    It was great chatting with you this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow - you got a ton done! I, too, worked on creating a review archive page, but I had 2+ years of reviews to work with - it took forever, but it's done. I love the format of yours. I also did it by author.

    One of my goals that I did not accomplish was to create an about me page - and now based on that lovely comment you have from Mary, I am going to try to do one soon!

    ReplyDelete

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