Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Tiara Talk: Two months, baby!

Let's talk...about Typing Tiara.

I can't believe that I have already been blogging for two months, it seems like just yesterday that I posted my first review. Already I'm beginning to feel like a real member of the blogging community, albeit at times I feel as if I'm still on probation like the other bloggers are still waiting to see if I'm going to be hanging in there for the long-haul but I can live with that.

I've learned a lot from these past two months considering it was just on a whim that I restarted Typing Tiara; I loved reading and I wanted others to discuss books with so reviving my blog seemed like the perfect solution.

One of the most important things I've learned is that while I must be doing something right to have gathered fifty blog followers I have a long way to go. While my followers might like what I have been doing so far it is not working out as well for me personally. My current schedule is regularly kicking my butt; I can't keep up with the pace that I set for myself as you guys might have noticed from the occasional missed post. Particularily brutal is my review schedule where I am supposed to post book reviews on Sunday, Monday, and Friday. And there are a few of the non-review posts that I'm considering retiring such as Wishing on Wednesday. [Unless you guys enjoy this post, in which case you need to tell me!]

What does this mean for Typing Tiara?

I'm going to be changing things up. I'll still be posting of course, I'm not giving up that easily! But one thing that I've learned from the other bloggers is that I absolutely have to find a posting schedule that works for me if I'm going to keep blogging, which I really want to do. I love the community, I love writing my reviews and other posts. So first and foremost I'm going to be trying out different posting schedules until I find one that I can live with and around. I'm also going to be working on networking more as I've learned the importance of it, which of course means creating a button for Typing Tiara.

Most importantly I've learned that no one can do it alone, that's why the blogging community is so impressive. So I'm reaching out to all of you guys like I promised to do with my first Tiara Talk post a few months ago. I want your ideas for improvement, what you guys would like to see and read about. So tell me, please! Comment here, e-mail me or even hit me up on Twitter. But do please try and be gentle. :]

4 comments:

  1. Hey Ash, just found your blog which is super cute. I'm a fairly new blogger too (well, 5 months) and it was pretty tough getting going, so I thought I'd share some of tips with you that really helped me.

    1. I reckon 2 reviews a week is plenty. I've seen people post more, I've seen people post less. but personally I think 2 is a good number.

    2. Your GFC gadget needs to be more obvious. Your footer is really not a good place for it! If you want more followers, it needs to be really prominently displayed in one of your sidebars.

    3. weekly memes. memes such as waiting on wednesday at breaking the spine, follow friday at parajunkee and in my mailbox at the story siren are great ways to get fun and easy content for your blog. You do a lot of these already from what I can see, but like, your own version? if you link up to the meme of them (in my mailbox goes up on a sunday at the story siren for example) it's also a great way to network and get more exposure for your blog. I'd definitely recommend trying one or two, even if you don't do them every week.

    4. Networking. you mentioned you want to try and do it more, and I can't recommend it enough. I networked alot when I first started (mainly through the memes mentioned above) and I definitely think it helped me.

    5. be flexible. if you don't meet your schedule, nevermind. I don't always meet mine, and some days I don't do anything blog related at all, not even reading other blogs. The important thing is not to get annoyed with yourself when this happens. blogging should be fun, not a chore!

    Hope they help a bit..it's stuff that took me a bit of time to pick up and I'd've loved to have known this stuff when I started!

    The Cait Files

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  2. WOW.

    Thank you for all of the great tips. I had actually just been talking last night with some other bloggers about switching from Literary Loot to In My Mailbox and decided it would be a great move for Typing Tiara.

    As for reviews I have been going back and forth on how many of them I should post. Trying to do three a week is a challenge for me, a challenge I know I'll fail miserably at when school starts up again in August. I like the idea of doing two a week and hope that I can manage that but if I can only do one I'm going to be okay with that too.

    It's funny that you should bring up my GFC gadget though considering I just moved it there late last night, originally it was on the right sidebar. I was just trying out different arrangements for aesthetics. I'll probably be moving it back because it is rather hard to locate I imagine for visitors.

    Again, thank you so much for the advice. ALL of which I am taking into consideration. And for saying that my blog is cute. :]

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  3. Hi Ash!

    Thank you for taking the time (and gathering the courage) to comment on my blog :) I'm a new blogger too (I'm two and half months old)

    Cait's advice is great. One thing that helped me was to participate in memes and the blog hop. It's hard work, but worth it. The top meme's that I participate in are In My Mailbox, Waiting on Wednesday (if I can), and Follow Friday. I do two reviews a week. I let my review stay up on the blog for two days before putting up a new post so that the review get's more time to be viewed by other bloggers.

    I also joined New Books for New Bloggers. The community is great there :) Also, check out Parajunkee's View. This blog has saved my life. Not only does Rachel host Follow Friday, but she also has blog advice every Thursday. You learn insider secrets, like how to put up a button on your side bar :)

    Also, comment! comment! comment!

    Have fun. Being shy is okay. Just take it one step at a time :)

    ♥ Trish
    Just a YA Girl

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  4. Hi Trish!

    You're welcome. I just had to comment because it was something I had been putting a lot of thought into myself.

    I'm planning on making the transition to doing In My Mailbox starting this Saturday, really looking forward to it. I've tried Follow Friday once before, I'm not sure why I only did it that once. I'll check it out again though. As for reviews I'm planning on doing two a week for the most part too. Probably on Sundays and Thursdays to balance out my week since I do Tiara Talk on Tuesdays and IMM on Saturdays.

    I just joined New Books For Bloggers a couple of days ago and I have been following Parajunkee's View for awhile now. She gives some of the best tips. Her blog advice has been life-saving for me at times. :]

    As for commenting, I'm working on getting better at it. I definitely want to be able to reach out more to the blogging community. So far I have just adored almost everyone I've met.

    Thank you! <3

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