For today's project on 31 Days to Building a Better Blog I started out with search for and join a forum on your blog's topic.
Join a Forum
I thought about it, searched around and realized, my blog doesn't really have a topic. It's a place to post my articles, post pictures, post family updates, tell people about our travels, rant about work and pretty much whatever I want to put on it.
Instead I found two general forums and started reading and browsing. I don't really enjoy chatting in forums or trying to keep up with them so I am using them to see if there is any valuable information about blogging that I can use. I like playing online, I just don't want to be in a forum chatting all day.
Comments
The next project I took on was email a new reader. This was a bit of a downer for me. I don't know who reads my blog because I have very few people commenting on the actual blog. I know my friends, husband, kids, family and coworkers read it but, other than that, I don't really know who reads my blog.
Instead, I went to the comments section to see if I could get ideas. Low and behold! There was a new comment from a new reader. I was thrilled but there was no way of getting a hold of her. There was no email address and the only link was to another website. So I replied to her comment on my blog instead. I also made a note to check the comments section every day or two and reply to every comment made on my blog.
Lessons Learned?
While the blogging forums aren't that much of a help right now, I now have two places I can turn to for guidance, ideas and just general blogging chit chat.
As for the comments, I never really put a lot of thought into replying to the comments made on my blog. I read them, they made me smile or laugh or touched me in some way. I rarely replied though and I am not sure why. From a person's point of view who reads the blogs, I can see the point though. It just never occurred to me to reply.
I am learning a lot and I hope the next lessons help as much as these have. I'll keep posting my updates on my learning adventures in blogging better!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Better Blogging: The Dead Link Hunt!
I decided not to do everything in order while trying to build up my blog. I figured if I pick a topic a day, one that is relevant at the time, then I will still make it through the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog project. I scanned the list and one of the topics really jumped out at me. Day 23 is "Go on a Dead Link Hunt".
The Dead Link Hunt
Since I have a lot of time on my hands, I manually went through every month in my archives searching for links that no longer work (AKA dead links). At first my goal was simple: Only look for links! But as I started searching for links, I started reading my past entries. I laughed, I cried, I pondered, I went back over it looking for dead links because I forgot what I was doing and was too busy reading old entries.
Just for kicks and giggles, I wanted to share two posts from way back... I nearly peed myself laughing!
Earplugs Please! Apparently I was in a crappy mood when I posted this. I vaguely remember when this happened but I didn't remember blogging about it. Now this I laughed at until I had to go to the bathroom!
Sail by Braille Oh yes, I DO remember that night! All to well! I was really having a trip down memory lane on this one!
Back to the Dead Links
As of now, and after 5 hours of surfing my blog, there shouldn't be any dead links. Well, except for the couple of months in 2006 where you can't click on ANY link anywhere on the blog. But the rest of the blog has all working links. If you find one I missed, shoot me an email at blogwriter at gmail dot com!
Dead Link lesson I learned?
In the beginning of my blogging experience I didn't add links to my posts. I didn't know how, I didn't want to and I didn't see the need for them. Then, apparently sometime in 2005, I figured out how to create links and went stupid with it. Every post for several months had links all over the post. Links to silly .jpg pictures, links to Wikipedia articles, links to YouTube, Facebook, twitter and every site imaginable.
Looking back at these posts I thought they looked like a link whores dream come true but it also made them look... BAD! So I removed a lot of the links that really weren't necessary, fixed the broken links and removed a sentence or two from back posts about links that no longer worked to make the post read better.
It also made me realize that I need to be careful about adding too many links to a post. I like adding them to ingredients in recipes, like the Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuits, because I don't always use common ingredients. But I learned from looking back at posts from years ago how they must look from the new reader who is just now stumbling across my blog.
From now on, I will be more careful with adding links. Not that I am never going to add them, but I will make sure they are relevant to the post and aren't covering every other word like this:
My next task: Working on a "Sneeze Page".
The Dead Link Hunt
Since I have a lot of time on my hands, I manually went through every month in my archives searching for links that no longer work (AKA dead links). At first my goal was simple: Only look for links! But as I started searching for links, I started reading my past entries. I laughed, I cried, I pondered, I went back over it looking for dead links because I forgot what I was doing and was too busy reading old entries.
Just for kicks and giggles, I wanted to share two posts from way back... I nearly peed myself laughing!
Earplugs Please! Apparently I was in a crappy mood when I posted this. I vaguely remember when this happened but I didn't remember blogging about it. Now this I laughed at until I had to go to the bathroom!
Sail by Braille Oh yes, I DO remember that night! All to well! I was really having a trip down memory lane on this one!
Back to the Dead Links
As of now, and after 5 hours of surfing my blog, there shouldn't be any dead links. Well, except for the couple of months in 2006 where you can't click on ANY link anywhere on the blog. But the rest of the blog has all working links. If you find one I missed, shoot me an email at blogwriter at gmail dot com!
Dead Link lesson I learned?
In the beginning of my blogging experience I didn't add links to my posts. I didn't know how, I didn't want to and I didn't see the need for them. Then, apparently sometime in 2005, I figured out how to create links and went stupid with it. Every post for several months had links all over the post. Links to silly .jpg pictures, links to Wikipedia articles, links to YouTube, Facebook, twitter and every site imaginable.
Looking back at these posts I thought they looked like a link whores dream come true but it also made them look... BAD! So I removed a lot of the links that really weren't necessary, fixed the broken links and removed a sentence or two from back posts about links that no longer worked to make the post read better.
It also made me realize that I need to be careful about adding too many links to a post. I like adding them to ingredients in recipes, like the Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuits, because I don't always use common ingredients. But I learned from looking back at posts from years ago how they must look from the new reader who is just now stumbling across my blog.
From now on, I will be more careful with adding links. Not that I am never going to add them, but I will make sure they are relevant to the post and aren't covering every other word like this:
I love blogging! But I will definitely watch the dead links.Some of my posts were that bad! Thanks to ProBlogger for the great tip to keep my blog looking great. I always hated dead links on other sites. I never really thought of going all the way back looking for them on my blog.
My next task: Working on a "Sneeze Page".
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Building a Better Blog
While surfing the net about what tabs I should add next to my about me and other tabs, I ran into ProBlogger on the net through his article 31 Days to Building a Better Blog. It really got me thinking about my blog. I need to do more with it and spruce it up a little, wipe off the cyber dust and make it beautiful again. I mean, really do something besides change the background at my every whim.
So I decided I am following the steps in his article and I'll get this blog moving a little again. Plus I have a list from ProBlogger called 98 Blog Tips for a Lazy Sunday. I am going to go through those too. This should give me something fun and productive to do during the next month since walking and cleaning hurt too bad and I'm not working any at the moment. It should also give me enough momentum so that when I finally go back to work I can keep up with my blogging.
I plan to journal this on here too so if you want to follow along, I'll add a tag to this post or a link or something that you can follow. UPDATE: Here you go! Click here!
So I decided I am following the steps in his article and I'll get this blog moving a little again. Plus I have a list from ProBlogger called 98 Blog Tips for a Lazy Sunday. I am going to go through those too. This should give me something fun and productive to do during the next month since walking and cleaning hurt too bad and I'm not working any at the moment. It should also give me enough momentum so that when I finally go back to work I can keep up with my blogging.
I plan to journal this on here too so if you want to follow along, I'll add a tag to this post or a link or something that you can follow. UPDATE: Here you go! Click here!
Gluten Free Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuit
Since I found out all my allergies back in August 2010, I haven't been able to find a bread I can eat. For the most part, I don't miss it at all, or at least that is what I have tried to convince myself. It didn't work. I want a sandwich, or biscuits or something!
I spent the last the last year searching and experimenting with recipes trying to find ANY bread I can eat. Either they can out like bricks (I could built houses with some of the bread recipes) or they looked beautiful but tasted like crap.
This week, I was in another experimenting mood and found a biscuit I can eat, that tastes great (everyone is eating them... my kids, guests, friends) and that have a lovely bread feel to them. Here is the recipe!
They taste great with gluten free gravy!
Note: I added clickable links to each ingredient.
Gluten Free Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuits
Makes 12
Nutritional Info
Calories 125.5
Fat 5.9
Carbs 15.1
Protein 3.5
Ingredients:
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl (from oat flour to buttermilk powder)
Add the oil and water. Stir thoroughly.
Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet. I use an ice cream scoop and get a beautiful 12 biscuits with a teensy bit left over. They don't expand a lot so you can put them a little close together.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (I usually go the whole 12 minutes).
Let cool and enjoy.
I LOVE these with butter and blackberry jelly. I keep meaning to make a sandwich with them but they don't last very long.
I got smart today and made a buckwheat/oat flour mixture by mixing 1 part buckwheat flour to 1 part oat flour. I think I did 3 cups each. I mixed them together well and put them in a new container by themselves. Now when I go to make the biscuits, I'll just add 1 and 1/2 cups of the mix. I am good! And so are the biscuits!
If you try this recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!
For more recipes, click here.
I spent the last the last year searching and experimenting with recipes trying to find ANY bread I can eat. Either they can out like bricks (I could built houses with some of the bread recipes) or they looked beautiful but tasted like crap.
This week, I was in another experimenting mood and found a biscuit I can eat, that tastes great (everyone is eating them... my kids, guests, friends) and that have a lovely bread feel to them. Here is the recipe!
They taste great with gluten free gravy!
Note: I added clickable links to each ingredient.
Gluten Free Buckwheat Oat Amaranth Biscuits
Makes 12
Nutritional Info
Calories 125.5
Fat 5.9
Carbs 15.1
Protein 3.5
Ingredients:
- 3/4 C Oat Flour (Note: Not all Oat Flours are gluten free.)
- 3/4 C Buckwheat Flour
- 1/2 C Amaranth Flour
- 1 TBSP Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Arrowroot Starch
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/3 C Powdered Milk
- 1 TBSP Buttermilk Powder
- 1 C Hot water
- 1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Canola Oil
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl (from oat flour to buttermilk powder)
Add the oil and water. Stir thoroughly.
Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet. I use an ice cream scoop and get a beautiful 12 biscuits with a teensy bit left over. They don't expand a lot so you can put them a little close together.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (I usually go the whole 12 minutes).
Let cool and enjoy.
I LOVE these with butter and blackberry jelly. I keep meaning to make a sandwich with them but they don't last very long.
I got smart today and made a buckwheat/oat flour mixture by mixing 1 part buckwheat flour to 1 part oat flour. I think I did 3 cups each. I mixed them together well and put them in a new container by themselves. Now when I go to make the biscuits, I'll just add 1 and 1/2 cups of the mix. I am good! And so are the biscuits!
If you try this recipe, leave a comment and let me know what you think!
For more recipes, click here.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Crochet Slipper Socks!
I have been crocheting slipper socks out of complete boredom. This is my third pair of slippers. I am keeping these! I made them with two pieces of yarn crocheted together. They are really warm and will come in handy this winter.
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