IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The 2024 OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://tinyurl.com/w54yupwe

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sommer’s Top Ten Tips for A-to-Zing It In April: an #atozchallenge essential

We have a Video contest winner!  Rachel Morgan from Rachel Morgan Writes!   Here is her video:



    
          You'll be hearing more about Rachel on the co-host blogs over the next couple of weeks.
           
          The voting was pretty evenly distributed and we want to thank all of you who voted and especially  the participants for their creative entries.  Please be sure to stop by all of their sites to show your appreciation.   Here is the complete list of the other A to Z Video Contest entrants and the links to their videos and their sites:

Video Link                          Blog or website


1.Ron Easton                          Dad's Unlimited
2. Ada Zdanowicz                   CollagePodge
3. Marta Szemik                      Marta Szemik's Blog
4. Nicole Ayers   (3)                     Madlab Post
5. Kathleen Medina                  Living 2012
6. Dale Smurthwaite                 Smurfin' the Web
7. Tracy Jo Blowers                Brand New Day  
8. Reka Sang                           A Chronicle of Dreams
9.  Nicole Ayers  (1)                     The Madlab Post
10. Nicole Ayers (2)                  The Madlab Post
11.  Rachel Morgan                   Rachel Morgan Writes
12.  Jocelyn Rish                        Jocelyn Rish



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And now for today's special guest:

       Our thanks to Sommer Leigh for allowing us to reprint this post from her blog Tell Great Stories.  The information in this post is something everyone needs to read and heed.





The April A to Z Challenge is quickly approaching and I’m working on my blog posts for it. My month of blog posts will have a theme, but I’m not going to reveal what it is just yet. Instead I want to give you some tips from one blogger to the next if you are participating or thinking about participating in this crazy challenge. With a little prep work, you can totally have a great time. And if you are on the fence about whether you should do it or not, let me assuage your fears. You’re going to have a blast.
Granted, everyone does it differently, but this is what I learned from the 2011 April A to Z Challenge. Ready?

Sommer’s Top Ten Tips for A-to-Zing It In April

  1. Pre-plan your posts. Write them ahead of time. Schedule them before the month even begins. You’re going to want your posts to run smoothly without you while you’re out there checking out what everyone else is doing.  Meeting new people is the best part of this month and you need to have time to read other blogs. Which reminds me, check out LOTS of other A to Z bloggers!!
  2. Make sure your blog is set up so that it is easy for everyone to post a comment. If you have Blogger, consider turning on Name/URL and Anonymous commenting to make it easier on those of us with self hosted blogs and those who do not have a blog or Google account.
  3. Turn off CAPTCHA or any other “Prove you are not a robot” gimmick on your comments. People are less likely to comment when you make them jump through a lot of hoops and all major blog services come equipped with a spam blocker of some kind anyway. Last year I read more than 400 blogs and the ones I didn’t comment on were the ones who had this turned on. After a while it was too much extra annoyance.
  4. Check your sidebar for the following items: Info about who you are and what sort of blog you run is always nice to find. What name should we call you? List your email address prominently. Make sure you have an easy to find RSS button so people can easily add you to their feed reader. Since only Blogger users can use Google Friend Connect starting in March, you’ll want to make sure you have the Google Friend Connect AND an RSS button. Clean house of any button that honks, blinks, flashes, or animates. These can be hell on your internet speed and they are super annoying to most people.  Try to keep your sidebars clean during April so people can navigate around easier.
  5. Respond to comments that ask questions or need feedback of some kind. It drove me crazy whenever I’d go back to check blogs I’d commented on to see if my question had been answered only to discover the blogger wasn’t responding to ANYONE. I know I did not make a point to go back to blogs where we were clearly not very important to the blogger. It’s like talking to a wall.
  6. Write shorter blog posts and use pictures, video, and other media effectively. Reading a lot of blog posts is tough, but I appreciated the short and sweet with lots of great media. A good rule of thumb word count is 400 words or less. I broke this rule a lot last year but I wish I hadn’t.
  7. Be gracious, poised, and appreciative. The challenge is great because it brings a lot of new traffic to your blog. It can also bring a lot of trolls, too. Not everyone is nice and don’t let anyone who isn’t nice ruin it for you. In fact, don’t respond to them at all. If the comment is truly malicious, feel justified in deleting it. If it’s just kind of jerky, ignore it. YOU are the gracious, poised, and appreciative blogger who loves everyoneand is willing to play nice. Don’t degrade yourself by getting into it with people who suck. It never ends well.
  8. Take a deep breath. Exhale. This is not the most important thing in the world. If you miss a letter, so be it. If you post a letter late, that’s fine. If you don’t get to visit many blogs in the challenge, don’t sweat it! No one is going to show up at your door and flog you to death if you don’t do everything right every day. Whatever you do, do not let the challenge overwhelm you or make you unhappy. If you have to step away for a few days or a week or the rest of the month, it’s fine. Really. Take care of yourself first.
  9. Make a point during the month to stop by all of the host’s blogs. They are doing a tremendous amount of work to make this event a success and they deserve a pat on the back, a kind email, a small note of thanks. You don’t have to follow them if you don’t want to, but I think they deserve our appreciation by the buckets full. Remember, be gracious, poised, and appreciative. 
  10. Spread the word. The more of your friends who are participating, the better. Right? It’s like a month long party and we’re all the guests of honor!
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A to Z Team for 2012

 Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)
Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)
Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)
Life is Good (Tina Downey)
Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)
Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)
The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)
The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)
Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller)
Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson)
No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)
Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)
Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)

From the A to Z Blog:

A to Z 2012 Challenge [Letter Schedule]
Week One:
April 01, Sunday – Letter “A”
April 02, Monday – Letter “B”
April 03, Tuesday – Letter “C”
April 04, Wednesday – Letter “D”
April 05, Thursday – Letter “E”
April 06, Friday – Letter “F”
April 07, Saturday – Letter “G”
Week Two:
April 08, Sunday – BREAK
April 09, Monday – Letter “H”
April 10, Tuesday – Letter “I”
April 11, Wednesday – Letter “J”
April 12, Thursday – Letter “K”
April 13, Friday – Letter “L”
April 14, Saturday – Letter “M”
Week Three:
April 15, Sunday – BREAK
April 16, Monday – Letter “N”
April 17, Tuesday – Letter “O”
April 18, Wednesday – Letter “P”
April 19, Thursday – Letter “Q”
April 20, Friday – Letter “R”
April 21, Saturday – Letter “S”
Week Four:
April 22, Sunday – BREAK
April 23, Monday – Letter “T”
April 24, Tuesday – Letter “U”
April 25, Wednesday – Letter “V”
April 26, Thursday – Letter “W”
April 27, Friday – Letter “X”
April 28, Saturday – Letter “Y”
Week Five:
April 29, Sunday – BREAK
April 30, Monday – Letter “Z”




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Monday, March 19, 2012

RECAPPING - Some valuable information revisited...

Hi, I’m Jenny Pearson, a co-host of the upcoming A to Z Challenge and I’m here today to talk about the stuff that goes on behind the scenes with your blog; a little recapping, if you will!

WORD VERIFICATION:
Recently, I posted about Disabling Word Verification (WV). 
While setting up a Test Blog, for the occasion of making a short video on WV, I noticed Blogger’s New interface (the behind the scenes area where you tweak your blog) DID NOT have an option for disabling word verification. This has now been corrected.
You can now change WV setting in the New Blogger interface. I guess Blogger heard the hue and cry!! Good thing - better late than never.
Here is what the area now looks like:

NEW BLOGGER INTERFACE VS OLD BLOGGER INTERFACE:
This is another area many bloggers (old and new alike) are having frustrations with. 
How do you change back and forth between the two interfaces?

If you are a relatively new blogger you are automatically using the New interface, and may find it frustrating - have you checked out the usability of the Old interface? 
Here’s how to got back and forth between the two:

This picture shows going from the New to Old interface...
And this one shows going from the Old to New interface...

I encourage you to play with both - but you should note Blogger is “forcing” the New interface style upon us little by little and I suspect in short order we will all be required to use the New interface whether we like it or not.
With that in mind, take a look at them both and decide for yourself which you prefer. Your say has more clout than you realize, so don’t hesitate to press the feedback button and let the folks a Blogger know which you prefer, and why. I’m forever pressing the feedback button! 
And here’s where the feedback button is...seems it's just available in New interface mode.

I’m aware that things evolve and change constantly, but I think Blogger has missed the boat with their “new” look and its apparent lack of functionality.
In their attempt to modernize it appears they have created unstructured, poorly laid out pages which are not as easy to navigate as the Old interface. (even though Blogger thinks otherwise)
What is your take on the Old vs New interface? Which do you prefer?
HERE you will find Blogger’s Using our upgraded interface page - which does a decent job of explaining the new interface. Their short videos are useful too. (it doesn’t mean I like it any better)
COMMENT AREA ON YOUR BLOG
Have you set up the comment area of your blog to be efficient and easy for bloggers to use?
You have three options: 
Full Page
Pop-up Window
Embedded Below Post
Hide (only in New interface)
You can find these options, under Settings (in both Old and New interface):
Old interface users: Click on Comments, these options will be next to the sub-heading: Comment Form Placement.
New interface users: Click Posts and Comments, under Comments they will appear under the sub-heading: Comment Location? 
Make it easy for visitors to your blog to leave a comment. Think about what you have experienced when leaving comments at sites you visit...do you find it easy? This is what others will be asking when they come to your site too. 
I can’t stress enough the importance of disabling word verification.
Remember...you cannot see word verification on your own site. You must check your Settings to confirm this option is set on NO.
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NOW, A FEW A TO Z THINGS WORTH HIGHLIGHTING…

  • The Challenge starts Sunday, April 1st. 

On this day you will post the Letter A...here is a calendar which you can drag onto your desktop to keep you on track.

  • During the Challenge make time to visit blogs on the sign-up list. 

We encourage you to start by visiting the blog right after yours on the sign-up list. Aim for five (5) a day, on posting days. This ensures that every blog on the list has someone dropping by to check out their Challenge posts.
  • Take the time to check out these related posts and the FAQ in the Tab area:



  • Tomorrow, March 20th we will be announcing the winner of the A to Z Video Challenge.

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Thanks for stopping by!
 Jenny
Now, I would like to invite you over to PEARSON REPORT to enjoy an incredibly entertaining guest post by Stephen Tremp, author of BREAKTHROUGH, and the newly released OPENING.

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