The 2009 Blog Improvement Project is starting one week from now, and I am really looking forward to it. If I counted correctly, there are currently 89 people signed up for the project, which is way more than I expected when I first proposed it!
That said, I have to admit I’m a little nervous; that many participants creates some administrative questions I didn’t have before. So, rather than flounder away on my own, I thought I would pose a few of them to my fellow bloggers:
What’s the best way to do post linking? I know there is Mr. Linky, but that site doesn’t work great with WordPress. Are there any other linking sites people have used or can recommend?
How should I keep track of participants? I’ve been putzing with Yahoo Pipes, but can’t seem to get it to work well — suggestions on another way or a better reader I could use so people can easily follow participants?
Do you like wrap up posts? Dewey always did a weekly wrap up post for Weekly Geeks that I personally enjoyed reading. Do you think something like that would be interesting to read for the BIP?
The first topic, posted on January 5, 2009, is going to be goal setting, but as sort of a pre-blog project question: What other blogging topics would you like to see covered? Are there any blog related topics you think would be most helpful to work on right away in the new year?
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Maybe you could keep track of all participant with an Excel Spreadsheet of some sort?
Personally I like wrap up posts a lot. I am a member of an online book club and although we haven’t done the “week in review” for some time now, I remember how much fun it was to read it and see things wrapped up. As I was a manager in that club myself I also remember how much time it actually took to work on the review, so I can see if you feel reluctant to do it. But I still think it is a good idea.
I also wanted to pop in here and say that I am looking much forward to the Project and also wish you a (belated) Merry Christmas 🙂
I am looking forward to the project as well! I don’t know of any other linking sites right off hand. I know Mr. Linky can be a pain. I usually end up rounding up manually–but that would definitely be a pain with this number of participants. I’m sorry I don’t have an easy solution.
I’m using the ‘image’ Mr. Linky on a WP blog, and it seems to be working so far. It’s annoying it has to pop up, of course. You could always make a challenge blog on Blogger instead of WP!
I know that for the read-a-thon, someone made a special Google Reader link that followed all of the participants. I have no idea how they did this, of course, but maybe someone else could know?
I really like wrap-up posts, but they are quite a bit of work! You could always look for volunteers to help you. 😉
I’m trying to think of other topics…I can think of some discussion ones (format of reviews, frequency and/or regularity of posting, blog design, ummm…that’s about it), but none that are particularly relevent to the new year.
I’m excited about this, but I can understand the feelings of nervousness-let me know if you need any help! 🙂
Kim – would asking each blogger to link (in your Comments) to their results post each week work? It might not be as pretty as Mr. Linky, but it’s a work-around.
I’m looking forward to working on this 🙂
I’m part of a weekly poetry community and we simply link our comment to our relevant post.
I like the idea of wrap-up posts. I wish I could help you out with the other stuff but I’m pretty new to blogging and don’t have too much experience!
Thank you everyone from the comments! So far I’ve been putting the participants in Excel to start with, and I’m going to experiment with a Google Reader to do the BIP, if I can figure out how to get it to work 🙂
I like the Mr. Linky on the World Citizen challenge, so I think I may just end up going with that; I think it’ll be easier than keeping track in the comments which, for me anyway, is harder to read and look at other posts.
And I like wrap up posts too, so I think there will be some of those too when they work out.
Just wanted to pop by and wish you a happy new year. I have much to be thankful for, but cannot wait for 2008 to be over. Had an annus horribilis this year where things which were beyond my control happened and I am looking so much forward to 2009 which I am determined shall be better. I will definitely work for it to be a better year than 2008.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND SEE YOU IN 2009!
🙂
Hi!
I don’t really know how to link all 89 of us, WOW, that’s a lot of people to keep track of.
As for subjects to discuss. I would really like to know how to put links into my posts.
Hope you have a great New Year!!
Sherrie
Perhaps a post on taking advantage of additional pages and profiles. I’ve been thinking about doing one, but I keep putting it on the back burner (I’ve just come across a lot of hopeful authors who are leaving their profiles blank).
Perhaps something on Technorati (though I’m suspicious of the rankings since my WP blog has only a handful of readers and outranks my LiveJournal blog which has about 125).
Tags and what they can and can’t do for you.
I can’t wait to get started! Mr. Linky is only good if you buy the membership. I don’t know of anything else similar though.
As for wrap-up posts, they are okay but not necessary.
I don’t know what blogging topics you are already planning on of course but I’m already working on cleaning up my labels/categories.
That really is a lot of people!! I’m really looking forward to this as well. I do all my challenge coordinating in an Excel Spreadsheet. I know some hosts make a completely new challenge blog. You could do it on Blogger if that works a little better with Mr. Linky. I love the wrap up posts that Dewey used to do, but it’s up to you whether you want to do them or not. I’m excited….just remember, keep it fun, not a chore or you won’t like it anymore. As the host you have to like it!
This is probably more of a general writing issue rather than a blogging one… but I think the greatest weakness on my blog is lack of editing. Some tips & guidelines on how to keep blogs succinct & readable would be nice.
Kristina: That’s a great reminder, I’m excited now so I just have to make sure to keep things simple enough so I’m still excited!
rebel: Yes, I have the same problem. The length of my posts sometimes gets out of control 🙂 I definitely want to do a few about improving writing and stuff like that.
I posted about this here.
Somehow I missed this – I’m glad I saw it on J. Kaye’s blog. I do like wrap-up posts. I also like Steve’s (J. Kaye’s hubby) questions about technorati and Stumble Upon.
I don’t really have anything to add but to let you know that I’m looking forward to this project.
I like wrap-up posts and I think leaving links in the comments works just fine.
Thanks for doing this! Surely, at some point, it’s more our responsibility to link to you than yours to link to all of us.
I like a wrap up but it’s up to you (my guess would be that it takes a ton of time to get everything together). I’m going to sit down tomorrow and work on my goals. I saw the post with suggestions and I think it’s great! 🙂