More! More! ( #AtoZchallenge )

 

The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22

       We are at the middle of the April Challenge, but there is more to come!  We hope you have hung in there and please keep hanging on.  If you've gotten this far you might as well keep going forward.  

      Are you still visiting and commenting on other blogs?  It's a fact that the more you circulate amongst the blogs and leave your presence to be known, the more visits you will likely receive on your own blog.  Do you feel like you've been ignored?  Increase your commenting and that feeling should be remedied.  To be known you need to make yourself known.  Your increased visibility in the blogging community will likely mean others will want to see what you are doing.

      Sure, you're probably a busy person, but so are most of us.  To do this Challenge right you should set aside at least fifteen or twenty minutes a day visiting other blogs and leaving comments.  The more visits you make and comments you leave, the greater the odds that you are going to get more visitors.  

       We can't stress this enough and it's really kind of a matter of common sense.  It's pretty much how life works

   

       Now let's keep moving forward, onward, to the letter Z.  We're halfway there!

    How do you make time to visit other blogs?   What is your best strategy for luring visitors to your own blog?    Have you been keeping up okay so far?

bloglovin.com/blogs/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-3294742
@a.to.z.challenge @atozchallenge
@AprilA2Z Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge
Please follow us on social media.

 

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Friday, April 15, 2022

Goody! Goody! We've got a week behind us! ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22

       Great!  If you've made it this far then you're off to a good start.  We've got a week behind us and now there's only three more to go.  We know you can manage that.  After all you're a blogging pro.  Or at least you're a pretty good blogger. 

       Getting to the end will take persistence, patience, and a lot of self-assurance.  We're all cheering you on to make it to the end.  You don't want to give up and at this point why should you?   Take things a day at a time, but if you find some extra time then go on ahead and work on future posts if you haven't done them already.  And most importantly, please visit other blogs and leave them comments.

       Growing your blog and your blogging community is what this Challenge is really about.  You want others to read your blog and the same applies to everyone else.  We want to make friends and support others in their blogging endeavors.  So comment with encouragement or start a conversation.  Successfully complete the Challenge with your own posts and commenting on other bloggers' posts and you will find this all to be rewarding experience.  Who knows what friends you will make this April.

       Go get 'em!

    Is anything in particular stressing you out this year in regard to keeping up with the April A to Z?   How do you balance your personal time with blogging?  What advice would you give to others in regard to finishing the Challenge successfully.  

bloglovin.com/blogs/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-3294742
@a.to.z.challenge @atozchallenge
@AprilA2Z Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge
Please follow us on social media.


Sign up for the 2022 challenge? Click this:
https://forms.gle/pN8xCbvnxGLScj4V8
***
File, Make a Copy of the Master List for yourself! Click this:
https://tinyurl.com/AtoZ22

Be sure your copy is updated with everyone who signed up for the challenge. Hopping to other blogs to leave comments is half of the challenge!

Get your 2022 merchandise here: 
https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/103818836

Attention!! Attention!! The Blogging from A to Z 2022 Challenge has begun!! ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

The team's theme of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge this year is:
ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22

     Are you ready?   Are you ready?  !!!

 

     Yeah, I said it twice.  Duality you know.  And I just want to make sure you're there for the Challenge.  I've got my posts all finished other than a few inserts I'll make along the way to keep things topical.  This is my first year for finishing every letter post ahead of time.  Whew!  What a relief!  Now maybe you'll see more of me in your comment sections.

       How about you?  Did you prepare ahead?  Or are you just winging it.  Either way it's all okay.  This is your personal Challenge.  You're not competing against anyone else.  You're only up against yourself.  Can you do it?  Will you finish?

        We think you can.  In fact we know you can.  We've done it and so have many of you.  If it's your first time then I assure you that you'll be fine if you just don't stress out about it.  This is supposed to be fun.  Are we having fun yet?   Hey, it's only the first day.

        You can do it!    

      

        How much preparation did you do ahead of time?   What advice would you give to other bloggers who might be concerned about whether they can finish this Challenge?    What is the biggest obstacle that you are facing in regard to finishing the Challenge this year?

       

bloglovin.com/blogs/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-3294742
@a.to.z.challenge @atozchallenge
@AprilA2Z Our hashtag is #AtoZChallenge
Please follow us on social media.

 
Sign up for the 2022 challenge? Click this:
https://forms.gle/pN8xCbvnxGLScj4V8
***

 
File, Make a Copy of the Master List for yourself! Click this:
https://tinyurl.com/AtoZ22

Be sure your copy is updated with everyone who signed up for the challenge. Hopping to other blogs to leave comments is half of the challenge!

Get your 2022 merchandise here: 
https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/103818836

#atozchallenge Blog Check Up in 7 Steps

       Here's some good words of advice from one of Arlee Bird's A to Z Ambassadors team.  

Blog Check Up in 7 Steps

Guest post by J Lenni Dorner

The April A to Z Challenge is fast approaching. Time to do a Blog Check Up! I've encountered many blogs that need a few minutes of tender loving care. Here's a seven-step checklist to help you:

Step 1- Using a computer (not a phone or tablet), surf to your webpage. Not your admin area, but the page that the public sees. Do you like the way it looks? If not, note what you want to change. Use the A to Z list to surf to three other blogs (any random three), then surf back to your own. Do you still like how it looks? (This is a color test.)

Step 2- Click on your links. Does your Twitter icon go to your Twitter page? (As opposed to going to "https://twitter.com/http://twitter.com/username" If you think I made that example up, you haven't clicked on as many Twitter icons as I have. I found that error 42 times last year.) Check your Facebook link, Pinterest link, Instagram link, etc.

Step 3- Even though I just discussed clicking your links, I'm going to make this a step onto itself. Check your Goodreads icon. (Skip this step if you don't use Goodreads.) People come to your blog to connect with YOU. If you have a Goodreads icon and it goes to Goodreads.com instead of to your Goodreads profile, that isn't helping you or your blog. (Unless, perhaps, you're getting paid for that click.)

I see many people making this mistake. Go to https://www.goodreads.com/user/edit and click on Widgets. There you will find pre-written code that will link your guests to you. It gives you various options to suit your needs.

Step 4- Can your blog be followed? You just joined a massive blog hop. A majority of bloggers who make this commitment do so because they want to be found, heard, and followed. The marketing blogs will tell you to create an email list for your blog army. That's certainly good advice.

I'm going to toss in that you should offer at least one other method. Why? Because some people will visit over 300 blogs in April. They do not necessarily want 300 new emails a day, a week, or a month. However, those same people might follow your blog with services such as:

·         BlogLovin'

·         LinkyFollowers

·         Networked Blogs (limit of 200 blogs that a person can follow, requires Facebook)

·         Google Friend Connect (only on Blogger, possibly being phased out)

·         Wordpress Reader (only those with a Wordpress account can use)

·         RSS feeds (several options for those people who use that service, but must be set up correctly)

Step 5- Site rating. Look over your blog posts. If you have adult material, you need to note this up front. Most importantly, you NEED to have an AC label on your link at the challenge sign up page OR YOU WILL BE REMOVED.

What is adult content?

·         Excessive Violence — If your blog reads like a how-to guide for Hannibal Lecter, you have excessive violence. If you've written the A to Z guide of how to beat up anyone, make bombs, and kill without detection, you have excessive violence.

·         Nudity for sexual purposes — If you write erotica, you have adult content. This gets tricky with art blogs. If you fall into a gray area, ask the challenge hosts for a ruling before April.

·         Strong and frequent harsh language — If the F word is being used as a verb, or it is used more than three times in a blog post, that is considered adult content. If your every blog post drops at least three curse words, that is adult content.

Adult Content blogs are not written for children. The purpose of the rating is to protect the young and those sensitive to such topics. Those people are not the core audience for such blogs, would not follow such blogs, and possibly present legal trouble if they land on adult blogs. The hosts and their volunteer teams take on the responsibility of keeping the challenge safe and legal for everyone. Please be respectful of this.

Step 6- Check your site on a mobile version (smartphone, some tablets). Can people still access your social media? (If that's important to you.) Do you like the look of your blog?

Step 7- Is your blog a blog? There's always someone trying to get their "click to buy sunglasses" site in the linky. Guess what? They get removed. The difference between a selling website and a blog that has some items for sale is all about content. There must be actual posts with actual content that people want to enjoy.

There are plenty of good people who are willing to help you get your blog ready for the challenge. This is the time and place to ask.

J Lenni Dorner is a speculative fiction and reference guide author who blogs at: http://jlennidornerblog.what-are-they.com

This is the fifth year that J is taking place in the A to Z Challenge, and the second year serving on Arlee's team. 

Share and Advise

It's nearly here. Sign up time. I know a lot of veteran A to Z participants will be putting their names on that list next Monday. I hope you'll announce it and link from your own blog to this blog on that happy day. But there will be people new to this great event and they could benefit from some advice.

The first year I participated in A to Z, I had only been actively blogging for a few months and trying to grow my audience. I had lots of doubts going into that first year. I was busy in my personal life. I was teaching full time and my daughter was still in high school playing softball which meant attending games two or three times per week. Our firewall at work didn't allow access to blogs so I couldn't do A to Z work even during my lunch break.

I also didn't realize how important it was for my sanity to schedule my posts ahead of time. Or how much easier it would be to create my posts if I had chosen a theme. By the time April ended that first year, I felt frazzled and like I'd failed the challenge even though I managed to post every day. For a short while there, I hated blogging. Only my stubborn determination to never quit something I started kept me going until the end. I ended up getting no writing done on my work in progress and visiting only a very few bloggers every day.

My second and third years went much better as I followed the advice of other bloggers. Things like settling on a theme, scheduling posts ahead of time, and keeping posts short. Though still a challenge, A to Z was fun instead of agonizing. Last year I took on the responsibility of being a minion for Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh and this year I joined the A to Z team to help everyone else have fun. I couldn't have arrived at this point if not for the advise shared by others.

So when you shout out to the world that you've taken on the Challenge, share some advice for the newbies to this April tradition. Tell them what helps you make it through the Challenge. Even something very simple, like 12 cups of coffee per day, may be the thing that helps someone else enjoy April as much as you do.

Are you ready with some advise? Keeping that theme a deep secret until the reveal post? How many years does this make for you in the A to Z?