2010 Blog Improvement Project: Week 1

The first task for the Blog Improvement Project is to come up with a To-Do List of achieveable tasks to complete during the duration of the project regarding the design and content of my blog. A link was also provided called 50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level by Chris Brogan to help with ideas, as well as a link from the Harvard Business Review called How to Write To-Do List That Work. Since I am new to the blogging world, I have already started doing this unofficially by surfing through other blogs, especially book blogs, and I have pulled from Bloggiesta as well. This project will make it official!

1. Finish writing an About Me page.
2. Make a "Reviews by Title" page, like at Reading with Tequila.
3. Include a copyright footer in the layout, which is described at bookalicio.us and myfreecopyright.com.
4. Backup Blog as explained by Farm Lane Books.
5. Decide if I need a privacy policy and create one. I saw it on some random book blog that I can't seem to find again, and it looked like a good idea at the time.
6.Organize Google Feed Reader, as directed by The Book Lady's Blog and Fizzy Thoughts.
7. Decide if I really need to bother with Twitter since I don't have and don't want a cell phone.
8. Set up Google Alerts, as described by ProBlogger.
9. Get my blog listed in blog directories, as explained by Infant Bibliophile.
10. Set up subscription form / buttons for email and multiple readers / social sites. Widget Blogger teaches how to post an email subscription form, as well as a social bookmarking widget.
11. Add blog URL to email signature and Facebook profile.
12. Edit past book reviews for a specific template. This is a work-in-progress as I try out different ideas I come across when writing my next book review.
13. Add comment-inducing questions to past posts.
14. List blog in Yahoo!, Google, Bing, and claim in Technorati.com.
15. Enlarge and possibly redo blog badge.
16. Try out a drop-down menu similar to what's shown at 25 Hour Books.
17. Create more specific labels for posts.
18. Design a unique rating system for book reviews.
19. Redo my "elevator pitch" and thus my header picture to reflect a more book-centered blog.
20. Make a calendar of my posting schedule. I keep missing memes I have started because I forget what day is what!21. Write posts ahead of time and store as drafts. I can do this for Movie Cast Mondays, Waiting on Wednesday, and My Favorite Reads.
22. Add the multi-tab widget I found at Bloggerstop. My Blogger Tricks has good directions, too.
23. Add the three-column footer widget from My Blogger Tricks.
24. Implement a floating feedback button and back-to-top button, again from My Blogger Tricks.


This looks kind of ambitious, but I figure what I can't finish for the Blog Improvement Project I can always save for later.