#Bloggiesta Finish Line! How Did I Do? What’s Next?

Even though I joined Bloggiesta halfway through the party, I am very glad I did.  This was the most focused time I have spent on my blog since I first set it up.  It was a classic case of the more I learned, the more I realized that there was so much more I needed to learn.  Fortunately, Bloggiesta included over two hundred mostly book bloggers who were willing to lend a hand, share ideas and provide feedback.  I realized that working with a community of book bloggers was an effective way to learn about blogging.  Writers who are avid readers have a lot to share.

In my two-day Sprint, I spent somewhere between 10 to 15 hours on my blog.  How did I do with respect to my goals for the weekend?

1. Participate in the following mini-challenges. Done+
   
   • 10 Things Bloggers Shouldn’t Do
   • Helping Each Other Out
   • Setting Goals
   • In addition to the above, I also participated in three Flashback Challenges
     • Analyze Your Blog
     • Be Brave
     • Blog Directories
2. Post a blog in the Management category.  This will be my official Post-A-Week post. Done
   • It will be published right after this post.  Read it here.
3. I’m also passionate about education.  I need to add that category to my blog. Done
   • I added “Coaching” as a blog category and re-categorized a couple of my posts.
4. Improve my social networking. Done…
   • I don’t think this can every be Done done.
   • I’m now using HootSuite.  I’ve scheduled a tweet to post in the future.  I participated in my first Twitter chat with others participating in Bloggiesta.
   • On the advice of bloggrader.com, I added Facebook “Like” button to each of my posts.
   • I commented on and subscribed to a new blog.
5. Build my backlog based on what I learn this weekend Done (see below)

So, based on what I learned this weekend, I have more work to do on my blog this year.  By the end of the year, I plan to:

• Complete the WordPress Post-A-Week challenge and have at least 52 posts written.
• Get listed in 3 to 5 blog directories.
• Learn more about SEO and make three changes to my blog to improve on it.  Success will be measured by having a clear #3 source of referrals.
• Spend at least an hour a week on WordPress Tag Surfer to find, read and comment on blogs related to mine.
• Consistently reply to comments on a daily basis.
• Promote my blog on social and professional networks to which I already belong.

A big THANK YOU to everyone participating on Bloggiesta!  You are a fabulous community 🙂  It’s been fun.