H is for our very own Jeremy Hawkins! #AtoZChallenge

As most of the A to Z veterans among you already know, Jeremy Hawkins is the dedicated genius behind the graphics of the Challenge - badges, banners, t-shirts, you name it! Jeremy has been with us right from the start, putting work, energy, and enthusiasm into making A to Z a colorful and fun experience for everyone.

This year, Jeremy is not participating in the daily posting of A to Z, but he still made time to create our graphics. So today, for the letter H, we would like to encourage everyone to go to Jeremy's blog, and say hi! Let's make his day as fun as he made the challenge for us :)

You can also visit his Amazon author page here, and see his designs here. Because he is that versatile a guy!
You can read more about him from previous years here and here.

Have a great day, Jeremy! :)


If you wish to include a direct link to your blog post of this day's letter, please click:
 https://goo.gl/forms/GPdbv4dvaZeJbGMw1

If you wish to visit other blogs in this bloghop challenge who have incorporated today's letter into their current post, please click:
 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c1U6qFCCOgOlEYzNaQblBS00hNK5pCnb4F221fVNz-8/edit?usp=sharing

Click here for the MASTER LIST of all participants who signed up for the #AtoZchallenge 2018!

#AtoZchallenge Pre-Challenge Survey Results

If you were curious, here are some results from the 2018 Pre-Challenge Blogging from A to Z Poll.

(No, taking the survey was not manditory. Yes, you can still join the challenge if you didn't take the survey. A big thank you to everyone who did take the survey! There will be one after the challenge, as well.)

71% of survey takers feel they are proficient in using Google Forms.

Google sheets, however, 28% of survey takers might be learning for the first time.

69% requested a video or written instructions on how to use forms and sheets. That's why we made them available for you. Our team of cohosts has been getting a lot of questions which we hoped the videos had answered. It'd be great to know what or how the instructions were unclear. So, please, if you're asking a question that we attempted to cover in the videos, but the instructions there were not enough, please include the timestamp of the portion of the video where we "lost" you. If we don't know what's confusing, we can't make it better.

81% of you wanted categories! (Don't worry, we created a "don't know/ prefer not to say category for the other 19%.)

A short theme description on the Master List? 69% of you said, "Yes, please!"

Sort the list? 60% of you are looking forward to this feature.

How did survey takers feel about posting links to their blog daily?
The longer a blogger has been with us, the less they liked the idea of that being the only option. However, a majority of people from all four groups agreed that "I would use both the Master List and Daily List (including posting my own link each day)."

According to the survey, people really want the Master List.

Leaving a comment on Facebook or Twitter was ranked mostly with a "3" on the 1 to 5 scale.  Those both remain optional.

Daily commenting on the blog ranked lowest. Thoughts on the matter included disheartening statements about there being far too many comments to keep up with, especially with the scrolling and needing to go to "load more" to find the next stack of comments. Participants saw a drop in visitors. And the further away a blogger was from the UTC timezone, the more they disliked it. (They were still in A, others were already in B.)

The only way the A to Z team can compensate for our global timezones is to offer the daily letter forms in advance. However, not everyone knows how to determine what their link will be before their post is live. (There are too many variables for us to try to teach that lesson.) We are NOT going to edit the daily letter sheets because they are relevant for such a short time. Daily letter linking up is optional.

People who use Twitter are hoping for more Twitter chats (including different days and times). The team is working on it!

Deciding which blogs to comment on last year during the challenge was, overall, a matter of random picks. Some people only commented on blogs they knew or on the blogs of people who commented on their blog first. A couple bloggers only commented on blogs similar to their own. In previous years, categories were the most popular method of deciding which blogs to comment on first. (Random numbers were second.)

Nearly everyone has participated in another blog hop at some point. Lots of them had to do with books or writing. IWSG is very popular among the A to Z crowd. Broken links, bloggers who drop out, or hosts who gave up mid-hop were the biggest complaints about other hops. A few of you were kind enough to say that A to Z is your favorite! 💗 Thanks! We love you, too.

A blog hop is a way to share your blog while also visiting, or hopping, to other blogs using the links of the participants. It's a way to network, increase engagement, and build a community.

A few mentioned that they hate it when someone links up in the hop and then doesn't comment on any other participating links. Others mentioned feeling too much pressure to comment on all the blogs.

Listen up: MOST people do not manage to visit EVERY blog in the A to Z challenge in April. There were 1,344 blogs in 2016. And 1,509 in 2015. BUT, if everyone makes an effort to comment on as many blogs as your schedule will allow, there are good odds that everyone will be visited. 

Non-list methods from other blog hops included daily emails with less than a dozen links, Facebook groups, or the use of pingbacks for Wordpress blogs.

Some people who participated years ago asked if the random blog post picker would be back. (The one that figured out which blogs you hadn't seen yet and suggested you see a set of randomly generated selected ones.) No, sadly, we don't have that in the works. However, there are plenty of random number generators or dice rollers on the Internet, so you could try to fiddle around with those on your own.

One idea offered was making an e-book with our favorite posts. 

Also, people wanted more motivation to complete the challenge. Some survey takers asked if we could make all blogs more mobile friendly, get everyone to include images for Pinterest sharing, or if we could get Wordpress and Blogger to play nicer together. (I appreciate the omnipotent-like power that some participants think the co-host team has over the blogosphere. Alas, we put our pants on one leg at a time.)

^ Probably NOT a photo of Arlee, Zalka, John, Jayden, and J ^
(Strikingly similar though, right?)

For the people who asked, there's a page on the site with the story of this challenge. CLICK

A handful of people would like to know how many followers each participant's blog has currently.

People worried we'd require a theme, or require the use of Twitter and/or Facebook. We don't. That's optional. The nearest thing to a required theme is using the alphabet letter of the day, incorporating it some way in your post. (You could just toss in a picture of something that starts with that day's letter and then do your blog post.)

There was the usual "debate" of some people requesting that people leave links in comments (easier to track them down and reciprocate), versus people who think links in the comment section look "spammy" and could alter Search Engine Optimization and Domain Authority. (Here's a link to an article that discusses this issue in depth.) Here's MY suggestion, which isn't full proof but could help:

If that's important to you, end your post with an open-ended question (so that people have something inspiring and original to write about in the comments); and also ask them NOT to leave a link, but rather to include their "blog name as it appears on the A to Z challenge Master List." 

The Master List is searchable. You'd have a way to find the person who left a comment. Yes, this method will require a few more clicks, a bit more effort to reciprocate a comment. It could work though. Bonus: It requires no HTML.

THANK YOU to everyone who used the comments on the survey to thank the co-host team. 😁💖

Congratulations to Cheryl "Calensariel"
https://promptlings.wordpress.com/2018/02/17/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge/
Winner of the pre-challenge survey giveaway.


Wow, this has been a long post. Here's a link to a POTATO recipe I found on the blog of one of our participants: Simple Potato Fry

Don't forget that there will be another survey in May, after the challenge is over.

Results of the A to Z Challenge 2017 Reflection Survey #AtoZChallenge

An amazing 231 of you filled out the survey. Your feedback matters to the team. Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions. Here are the results:

39% of the respondents filled out the survey on May 1, 2017.


... 7% filled it out on May 20, the last day the survey was open.

91% of the respondents earned an #AtoZChallenge 2017 SURVIVOR badge for completing the challenge.

I pre-scheduled some of my posts before April and wrote others as the month went on. That was the most popular answer by slightly more than half.
I wrote my posts on the day they posted. 27% of the respondents checked this box, making it the second most popular.
I wrote and pre-scheduled all of my posts before April. 19% of the respondents got proactive in anticipation of the challenge!
Two people had an epic fail, and two people commented on challenge blogs but did not create blog posts for A to Z.

Of the wonderful survey takers:

45 were first timers to the challenge.
71 were doing the challenge for the second time.
113 have three or more survivor badges!
2 have been at this since 2010.




I left comments on several blogs of other participants every day. (Over 100 comments in April.) 41%

I made some effort. (51 to 100 comments left for others in April.) 21%

I tried or planned to, but I was not a very active comment maker. (26 to 50 comments left for others in April.) 19%

Only 7 people said No, I did not leave comments for any of the A to Z participants on their blogs.


Yes! I had over 100 comments on my blog in April, and I believe the A to Z challenge is to thank for that. 71 respondents made my heart swell when I read that answer.

Yes. I received 51 to 100 comments on my blog in April, and I suspect it's thanks to the A to Z challenge. 64 of you also had a lot of love.

Yes. I had 26 to 50 comments on my A to Z posts. 54 of the respondents got at least one or two comments a day.
Unfortunatly:
Somewhat. I had one comment on some posts, but no comments on others. Under 26 comments in April. That was the answer for 37 people.

And this answer is heart-breaking:
No. No one left me any comments at all. I had someone test my comment box, I've checked spam, etc. Nothing. The answer of 3 people.

• Of those, two posted on Twitter and Facebook.
• All three said they did NOT visit or comment on other blogs.

On to what you've been dying to know!

2017 went without a linky list.

Honestly, I don't care. List or no list, I love this challenge. I'll just roll with whatever the co-hosts pick. 45%

I was happy about it before, and I'm still happy about it now! 20%
I was leery, but I've been won over. Commenting with my daily link RULES! Woot woot! 9%

I was happy about it before, but now I miss the old way. 17%
I was against it and, dag nabbit, I was right, because it was terrible. 15%

This is my first year, so I have no basis of comparison. 18%


It's a dead heat when it comes to social media!
I have the hashtag on all of my blog post titles, and I cross-posted to Twitter. 38%
I pasted my link on the A to Z Facebook group. 39%

15 people do NOT want to spend 5 minutes a day to promote their own blog.

65 people were perhaps reached by Arlee's post, as they checked off: I thought about my blog in terms of marketing.

91% had a theme!

32% ended posts with simple, open-ended questions.
48% of the respondents MASTERED HYPERLINKING.
(Only 10 people said they've given up on trying to learn it.)

I am proud of what I accomplished during the challenge.
81%!

41% said they shared the post of others!

69% followed blogs they found because of the A to Z Challenge!

Only 3% say they feel like they failed.

27% follow A to Z participants on Twitter.
13% like or friend fellow A to Z people on Facebook.
Goodreads only drew the attention of 3 survey respondents.
Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, G+, and other social media of participants were followed by 13% of respondents.

28% of the respondents
formed friendships because
of the A to Z challenge.

And 53% of you feel a
sense of community
created by the challenge!

69% learned something from a post in the A to Z Challenge.
66% achieved a goal they set for themselves.

83% reply to comments left on their blog.

9 people said they bought something that exists because of the challenge. (A to Z books, pics, crafts, etc.)
And, as a result of participating in the challenge, 13 people created something that is now for sale.
13 respondents tried a food, a drink, or a recipe I found during the challenge.
32 people added something to their Wishlist or TBR list.

Only 4% of the respondents reached out to Arlee, Alex, Jeremy, Heather, Zalka, John, or J (me) for help.

33% reported interaction with a co-host.

There were 33 people who said they want to be more involved next year.
(None of which used the comment box to leave contact information.)

33% also said they read the posts on this blog during the other 11 months of the year.
And 27 people have an idea for a blog post to be used on this blog over the next 10 months.
(The only idea left in the comment box was: I'd love to see a blog post about how to make your Letter-of-the-Day comment more interesting.)
(I'm not sure if this helps, but here's some commenting information.)

100 people said the co-hosts did an amazing job.

18% miss the Twitter chats.
Only 2% played #AtoZBingo.

16% discovered other blog hops, read-a-thons, flash fiction prompts, or ways to connect with fellow bloggers.
79 people checked I discovered a place I want to travel to or learned something new about a place.
A post improved my health or connected me to people of health similar to my own. That answer was marked by 6% of you.

40% of the respondents learned a new word!

185 people thought the new timezone was fine, or they really don't care.

Age 50 to 70 makes up 46%, age 30 to 49 is 44%.
No one who took the survey reported being under age 18.
Only 5 people said they are over 70 years old.

Age of the ten people who have given up on learning hyperlinking:
1 18-29 year old
2 30 to 49 year olds
6 aged 50 to 70
1 (of the five people) over 70

66% are PC users. 21% use Apple/ Mac. 4% are using another operating system.
Android is on the rise with 13% saying it was what they primarily used when visiting during the challenge. Ipads and Iphones were used by 10%.
29% used an equal mix of computers and mobile devices to visit other blogs during the challenge.

Wordpress is the most popular blogging platform, followed closely by Blogger.

53% made the A to Z Challenge a priority in their life.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the survey, and thank you for reading these results.

If you like #blogging the #atozchallenge is for you! Right?

The A to Z Blogging Challenge already has nearly 700 signups, but we want more, more! This post is for those of you who haven't added your name to the list yet.

The A to Z Challenge is 26 posts on 26 days of April, on a theme of your choice, or without a theme.

The Challenge is not for you if:

1. You don't want to grow your blog audience
2. If you don't want more followers.
3. If you don't like networking.
4. If you don't like posting more than once a week or month.
5. If you don't like the alphabet (Like our very own Gary Pennick! Love you, Gary!)

With the above reasons, you're right, the A to Z Challenge is not for you. You might be fence-sitting for other reasons:

1. You're very busy in April (That's all right, really--you can schedule your posts now!)
2. You're scared by the idea of writing everyday. (It's ok, you don't have to. As above, you can pre-schedule some/ most/ all your posts)
3. You're worried you may not be able to handle all the comments that come in. (Ditto as above-- pre-write all your posts so you can comment away and respond to comments in April!)
4. You did not get many comments last time you tried. (We might have a solution for you Here)


So there you go: 8 shiny reasons for you (not) to join the challenge. For a gazillion reasons to join the challenge, check this post, and this one, and this one.

Oh, just go and sign up already!

And if you want to give us reasons (not) to join: let's have them in the comments!

--Damyanti Biswas

What Does Your blog mean to You? #blogging

A to Z Challenge is about promoting the blogging community-- we're all bloggers here-- a friendly, supportive bunch, who would like to help each other grow.

That's the purpose of this A to Z blog-- to give voice to other bloggers, to promote their work, to give advice and support, to feature guest bloggers, and foster a sense of community.

This clarity of vision is very important when blogging-- bloggers need to clearly understand what the goals of their blogs are. Their mission statements, if you like.

It could be random, it could have a niche, but every blog needs to mean something to its owner, in order to thrive. Both my blogs, six-years old each, are my playground-- Amlokiblogs is all about writing and reading, whereas Daily (w)rite has become about questions and answers-- I often have weird or useful questions, and I look to my audience to educate me, give me answers.

So what does your blog mean to you? What is is about? Fire away in the comments!

Blogger and Word Platforms are Not Compatible

By M. J. Joachim 

All those glitches! If only we had known! A simple notice from Blogger in the “Create a Post” or “Edit Post” window would have been nice! 

Suffice to say, Blogger and Word are not compatible. “Word and any other word processing program contains a lot of hidden formatting that isn’t compliant with the Blogger platform,” states Mishka Blogger, a top contributor on the Blogger Product forum. 

Types of Problems Created by Pasting from Word into Blogger 

• Dashboard Functionality 

• Post Disappearance 

• Removal from People’s Blog Rolls 

• Email Subscriptions Delayed or Not Received 

• Template and Design Glitches 

…and probably quite a few more!

Fixing the Problems and Glitches

1. Creating a New Post 
2. Paste from Word.
3. Select All. 
4. Click on the (Tx) button, located on the right side of the tool bar. 
5. Reformat post, using Blogger tools provided. 

Fixing Past Published Posts 

1. Edit your post. 
2. Select all. 
3. Click on the (Tx) button, located on the right side of the tool bar. 
4. Reformat post, using Blogger tools provided. 

Note, “If the format removal tool (Tx) doesn’t fix the issue, then you will have to copy all the text out of the post, into a plain text editor, and then once you are sure it is completely unformatted, you can paste it back in from the plain text editor,” explains Mishka. 

It is probably a good idea to check your sidebars, headers, pages and anywhere else you might have pasted from Word on your blog. While it is a painstaking and tedious process to remove all Word formatting, only to reformat using Blogger tools, it will make your blog much better in the long run. 

All those page views, all those adsense pennies, all those blog rolls not getting updates, all those emails not getting received… 

It’s a given, Google should have done a better job of communicating with its Blogger users! At least we know now. 

Thank you for visiting and commenting on A – Z Blog today! We look forward to seeing you again real soon! 

The A – Z Blogging Team 

©2014 All Rights Reserved 
Photo credit: Open Icon Library, Public Domain 

Susan: How to Help Bloggers Connect Across Platforms

Please welcome Susan, who joined us this year for her first A-Z Challenge. She has an interesting proposal for next year – check it out!

~Tina

As a relatively new blogger looking for something to write about I came across the Blogging from A to Z challenge just at the right time. I had been blogging for about 8 months on my first blog, Sue's considered trifles which was intended to be the basis of a book on the English language from an enthusiastic amateur. I had sometimes deviated from my original intention and blogged about other subjects of in a different style.

At the beginning of Holy Week I had started posting to a new blog, Sue's Trifles in order to blog in whatever way I chose, while working on my original blog in a more consistent manner. I had already created and published two posts about letters of the alphabet, P and R and had begun making notes about other letters. I was considering taking the words PRECIOUS and WALK which do not have any letters in common. 

Precious is a word used to mean valued or special. Isaiah 28:16 is one example of its use in the Bible. However that was only going to use twelve out of the twenty six letters in the alphabet. An A to Z challenge was right up my street. I was at a slight disadvantage during the challenge as my blog was so new.

I also found that it was difficult to direct other A to Z bloggers to my A to Z posts. My username on WordPress is more closely connected to my other blog. I have learned a lot during and since the challenge about using widgets to customise my blog. I have also improved my Gravatar profile to help with this. I also created a page with a list of links to my A to Z posts, having seen a similar one on another blog.

I use facebook a bit, but have very few friends on facebook and don’t often look at links to it from blogs. However I set up a facebook page for my blogs during April. When I published post U, I had already prepared and scheduled my posts for the rest of the challenge, so I had a bit of “spare” time and discovered the facebook page for the A to Z community. I posted links to my posts from Q to the end of the alphabet on the appropriate threads there, but did not seem to have any additional traffic from this source, although I looked at some posts myself using links from the same threads.

Now as a blogger on the WordPress platform, it is simple for me to post comments on other WordPress blogs and keep track of the answers without flooding my email inbox. However, I found that to comment on other blogs, whether on blogspot or other web-sites required a great deal of patience, perseverance and ingenuity. Even then it often did not work. I had thought carefully about what I wanted to say, typed it and it either gave a page not found error, or just failed. I learned to copy my comments before trying to post them, but even so my failure rate was very high.

So here is my proposal. For bloggers who really want to interact with others on different blogging platforms, why not set up a facebook page for your blog. (You need to have a personal facebook account first.) The help pages on facebook allowed me to do this, so I’m sure you can manage it too! Then if you find a blogger you wish to give a comment to, use your facebook page identity to comment on the facebook page of the other blogger.

I’d like to do the A to Z challenge again next year. I have found some interesting blogs and wonderful bloggers through it. There are links to some of their blogs in my reflections post and on my links page. I have also learned a great deal about blogging and social networking. What do you think? Have you already set up a facebook page for your blog(s)? Did you use the A to Z community page on facebook? And how difficult is it for non-WordPress bloggers to comment on WordPress blogs?

Interview with Triberr Founder Dino Dogan

 A month or so after I joined Triberr, a site for bloggers who tweet, I first interacted with Dino Dogan, one of its two founders. As those who know me would tell you, I'm neither very tech-savvy, nor very tech-fortunate. So I got into Triberr glitches quite often-- and Dino has bailed me out each time, with compassion and good humor!

I haven't told Dino or Daniel (the other Triberr founder), but I call each of them "My Friendly  Neighborhood TriberrMan," because they come to my rescue every time I'm in Triberr-trouble. Without further ado, I bring you my chat with Dino the Triberrman:

1. How and when did you start off as a blogger?

I first started blogging on a now defunct community website for motorcycle enthusiasts. It was called 2WheelTips, and it was essentially like Facebook with lots of educational content for bikers. 

Then I started my dog blog, followed by my social media blog DIYBloggerNET.

2. Did your interest in blogging inspire you to build Triberr.com? What is Triberr all about?

It absolutely did. I always tell people that Triberr is built for bloggers, by bloggers. And I mean that. 

Here's the thing. 

1% of superstar bloggers get 99% of attention. And attention equals traffic, book deals, sales, speaking engagement, money, opportunities, etc.

Alas, superstar bloggers are not making superstar content. In fact, their content is safe, it's boring, it's regurgitated, it's just plain mediocre, at best.   

Yet they get 100s, sometimes 1000s of social media shares. Why?  

Meanwhile, there are so many amazing small bloggers writing kick-ass content that no one ever sees. 

I decided that enough is enough. Amazing bloggers writing awesome content need to be heard, and Triberr is a way of stealing attention away from 1 percenters of the blogosphere and giving it to those who actually deserve it.

3. What are the most important things to keep in mind if a blogger wants to succeed on Triberr?

It's a platform unlike any other, so it may take a while to get the hang of it. Stay with it, it's worth it. 

Tribe up with people you would invite to your house. People who's content you would share even if they never shared yours. 

Be a connector. Build your own tribes.

4. How can a new blogger kickstart his or her blog? Would Triberr work for new bloggers?

Triberr's original intent is to help new bloggers. Getting on Triberr is THE BEST way for a new blogger to get things going.

5. For bloggers who have hit a ceiling in terms of number of visitors, what is your advice to break into a higher level?

That is an excellent questions with which I struggle all the time. Here are few tricks I've successfully implemented in the past. 

I. Meet new people

As humans, we have this tendency to get comfortable with our surroundings. I try to fight that tendency, and make a point of meeting new people. In person, via social media, commenting, whatever it takes...new connections = new possibilities.

II. Interview

Get interviewed or interview others. 

One of the best online relationships I've developed is with Christian Hollingsworth. And the way it started was with an interview where he called me the Triberr MacGyver. I mean, how could you not love that?

III. Become a Source

Subscribe to HARO and become a source for news stories. 

It's a great way to get some links back to your site, and afterwards, you can use it to add credibility and social proof to your blog. 

It's how I managed to get on ReadWriteWeb as the source for a news story.

IV. Join a new Tribe

Triberr is a great way to extend and expand your circle of friends. Join a new tribe. Start a new tribe based on a new/different ideology. In short...get yourself out there.

6. What is #TribeUpNYC? Why should bloggers sign up for this event?

#TribeUpNYC is a 1-day conference for bloggers. We have 5 amazing speakers, like Geoff Livingston, who is a living legend, and Lena West, who is a dynamo in heels. 

But most importantly, #TribeUpNYC will be an opportunity to bloggers from the East Coast to meet each other face to face. Make some new connections, expose themselves to new opportunities, and have fun in the City that never sleeps.
--------------

Dino Dogan  Founder of Triberr Lousy Mixed Martial Artist and a recovering Network Engineer. Pretty good singer/songwriter, trainer of dogs, and a blogger of biz. Fun at parties and a global force for badassery.   Current Location:          New Jersey Phone (US)                  201.403.1362 Phone (Paris)            + 33 6 51 72 50 33

Contact me: dinodogan dino.dogan
Latest From My Blog: You Don’t Get Paid to Speak. You Get Paid to Promote.
---------------------
This interview was brought to you by Damyanti@Amlokiblogs , a Triberr fan who has seen a boost in her blog and twitter following due to her Triberr membership, and recommends it to all lovers of blogs and blogging.