Better Blogging: This Blog's Basics

Darren at 31 Days to Building a Better Blog made a really good point in one of the assignments. Not everyone is going to know what my blog is about. I even asked in a forum for a little help on my niche. Even the people who looked at my blog got lost after a few posts and didn't know what the blog was about. So here it is...

The Baker's Acres started out of sheer boredom... why do I feel like I already posted this???... after a hysterectomy. I used this blog to share stories of my life, my kids, our allergies, recipes I try to make, homeschool and all that good stuff.

I also use it for when I am traveling to Washington or California to update friends and family of how the trip is going. It's my baby when it comes to blogs and will always be my favorite of all my blogs.

So, hey, how did you find Baker's Acres? And how long have you been reading?

Wow. So much response to the last post, it's overwhelming!

So I checked for comments and saw that I had a few. I was so excited thinking someone actually read the last post and replied. NOPE! Now, don't get me wrong, I did have two responses in email (Thank you!) but the comments today were, um, less that exciting.

One was "Cool post" with a link to a place selling bread machines signed by Anonymous. Obviously this was spam with two words to try to throw me. You did not succeed! Even if I was totally cool with random links to merchandise, I would not post yours. I can't even eat bread! Why would I want a bread machine?

The next was a comment that was pure spam. "Buy this medicine... blablabla"... I was like, really? DELETE! They didn't even try to woo me with "nice post", they just dumped their crap on my blog. Bastards.

The next one was about Viagra. I don't think I need to announce this as it should be obvious to all my readers BUT, I don't have a dangling man part. And to the other comment, no, it doesn't need to be enlarged and I don't think my woman really cares about my "size". Just saying...

OH COME ON! Seriously? Dang! I guess that is what I get for turning off the word verification. I mean, really people, if you are going to spam me, at least try to woo me over like Anonymous. I'm actually thinking of buying a bread machine as a thanks... (not really)

Better Blogging: Run a Reader Survey

On 31 Days to Building a Better Blog, my next task to tackle is to run a reader survey. Because I do care what my readers think, I thought this would be perfect! SO, here is the first reader survey:

Rules of the survey

1. Any comment or suggestion (positive or negative) is more than welcome!
2. Be polite though.
3. Don't flame others for their suggestions or comments or I'll delete your comment. I want everyone to feel welcome in leaving a suggestion or comment.
4. If you are just too nervous to leave one, email me the comment or suggestion instead.

Reader survey

• What do like most about this blog?
• What would you change if it were your blog?
• If you are a repeat visitor, what brings you back?
• What is your favorite food?
• Where are you from? I am curious where all my readers are... I know the stats will tell me, but it's rather vague like "USA" or "Russia"... I am wondering like "Southern California, USA" or "Moscow, Russia" or "Eastern Australia" or something along those lines. I don't need your info down to your address... unless you want me to send you a letter... then email me your address and I'll get some pretty paper and mail you some snail mail!
• What's the craziest thing you ever did?

Okay, I better stop there. I don't want the page to get too long. Have fun answering the questions :)

Mailbag: "You Commit an Error"

Someone posted a comment to the blog that got dumped in the spam folder. It says:

You commit an error. I can defend the position. Write to me in PM. we will discuss.

There was no name or email though. So, if your the one that left the message, I got it. But I can't PM you because I don't know who you are. You can email me at blogwriter@gmail.com and let me know what error I made.

Thanks everyone! And if you see a typo or missing word, feel free to email me and let me know. Please put in your email 1) the title of the post and 2) the original sentence and 3) what's wrong with it. Sometimes when I am proof reading, I scan right over the missing word. After all, I know what it's supposed to say! So my brain just fills it in for me.

Better Blogging: Reply to comments on your blog

WOOHOO! I am doing another one right! In the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog, I skipped a few b/c of lack of money and another one I printed out to work on later since it's more in depth and will take some time (creating a sneeze page). I went on to check out the article on Commenting on your blogs comments.

Back when I started using blogger, there wasn't really any good way of checking for new comments. But now they have a comments tab where I can check for new comments on my posts. I have been replying to them and if the person is new, I hop over to their blog too and check it out! I have found a couple of really fun blogs to read from this and I really feel like I am connecting with my readers.

Frankly, seeing new comments makes my day! I get all excited and I can't help but smile. I love comments! And I will reply if you leave one. I've been checking them twice a day, sometimes only once if I am really busy. I do check them daily though, so feel free to leave a message.