How I Improved My Blogs in One Weekend – Summer 2012 Blogathon

I just finished an intense weekend of blogging! I was a participant in the Summer 2012 Blogathon. Over a period of 72 hours, we were supposed to put in 24 hours of blogging if possible, although we could do as much or as little as we liked. It was time for me to make some improvements and learn some new skills, so I opted for the full 24 hours of working to improve my blogs.

I probably ended up with somewhere between 24 hours and 34 hours, depending on how much of my time on the computer I counted as part of the blogathon. I didn’t keep track of the exact amount of time, since I occasionally had to do a task like move my hose when I was watering my lawn. {Please send Colorado your prayers, by the way. We have eight fires – three of them major fires – in the state at the moment.}

But however I counted my time, being focused on the blogathon made my computer time much more productive than normal.

Why I Needed the Summer 2012 Blogathon

I have two blogs of my own, Raising Figure Skaters and Living Montessori Now. My husband and I co-founded Spring Snow Publications. My husband writes the majority of the blog posts for Spring Snow Publications, but I still manage the site and social media.

My kids and kids-in-love also have three blogs among them. They send me their posts, and I put their posts on their blogs. My husband and I are also working on publishing some eBooks. So I typically feel a bit scattered. And a lot of things get put off that I’d like to do or improve.

How I Improved My Blogs During the Summer 2012 Blogathon

I started the blogathon with the intention of learning some new skills through the mini challenges. I chose 7 mini challenges, and I’m happy to say that I completed each one. The challenge of making photo collages was so addictive that I created two collages today, the one here and one for Montessori Monday – Montessori-Inspired 4th of July Activities at Living Montessori Now. Here are the mini challenges I completed:

How to Write a Better Tweet on Twitter @ Callista’s Ramblings
How to Make Photo Collages To Use On Your Blog @ American Mom in England
Using Google Calendar @ Letters Inside Out (UPDATE: Unfortunately, the blog is no longer available)
Tools to Make Twitter Work for Your Blog @ Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Blogger SEO Basics @ Geek With Style

How To Monetize Your Blog in 5 Easy Steps @ Sunshine and Sippy Cups

The mini challenges are still available even though the blogathon is over. You’ll find a list of the mini challenges here: Biannual Blogathon Bash Mini Challenge List. I highly recommend working through some of the challenges. I thoroughly enjoyed each one and became comfortable with tools I had put off learning how to use. I had especially been putting off learning about do-follow vs. no-follow links. I’m so happy I finally understand what I should be doing and made necessary improvements.

I’m also a calendar-challenged person who just never stays with a planning system. The mini challenge on using Google Calendar actually has to be my favorite because I finally found an online calendar I’ll use and stay with! I’m a visual learner, so the color coding I learned makes a huge difference for me. And the alerts are great … something I’ve been wanting!

My other goals were to:

• work on fixing any broken links here, at Living Montessori Now, and at Spring Snow Publications using the Broken Link Checker plugin.
• work on adding some watermarks and tags to photos.
• work to improve older posts at all my blogs.

I completed some of each of those goals, but I still have some (to a lot of) work to do in each area. Adding watermarks and improving older posts is a never-ending task, but I’m glad that I made significant progress this weekend.

At the end of the weekend, I’m very happy to have made some great new blogging friends, to have learned some new skills, and to feel prepared to use my new skills as a regular part of my blogging!

And I already have the next Blogathon from January 25, 8am EST to January 28, 8amEST, on my Google Calendar! 🙂

Note: Because I did so much blogging over the weekend, I’m going to take a bit of a break to catch up in other areas, spend extra time with my family over the holiday, and do what I can to help Colorado. I’ll still be publishing my regular posts at Living Montessori Now. But I’ll see you here next on Wednesday, July 11. I’ll still share a quote of the day and some word-art inspiration on the Bits of Positivity Facebook page!