New to SITS? Welcome!! Go read this to get started.
The first week of our Summer Challenge is coming to a close. We thought we’d use today to highlight the wonderful collaboration and ideas we’ve seen in blogland over the last several days. It’s the daily participation from our community that makes this event so successful!
Day One: We talked about the importance of the elevator pitch as a way to articulate your blog’s purpose to your audience. Caroline from Smarty Pants Mama and Jennifer from Momma Made It Look Easy both wrote great posts that incorporated the use of the perfect elevator pitch for their blog.
Day Two: We shared list posts that we’d written, and learned that writing list posts is a great way to provide your readers with information that is easy to read. We saw TONS of examples of great list posts in Day Two’s forum, but Kim’s list of 14 coffee recipes over at Money And Risk, and Cheryl’s list of the 12 most common symptoms of Asperger’s Syndrome at Little Bit Quirky are just a couple of our favorites.
Day Three: We discussed how promoting individual blog posts on a variety of social media sites (other than simply Facebook and Twitter) can increase readership. As follow-up to this, Shayna from Life Forward broke down the in’s and out’s of the social networking site, Digg, for us.
Day Four: We studied successful blogs in our niche and thought about what we could do to improve our own blogs by using other sites as inspiration. Cameron from Ingenue Mom analyzed Dear Baby, a blog in her niche, and discovered ways she could take her own blog to the next level.
Day Five: We vowed to pay special attention to readers by being responsive (via comments, email, reciprocal blog visits, etc…) and by making personal connections.
Day Six is today! Don’t miss out on a great list of 27 must-read tips and tutorials about blogging over on BlogFrog.
Finally, we wanted to share some very exciting news with our community:
This coming Thursday, July 29 from 4:00-5:00 pm MST, we will be hosting a live UStream chat with Darren Rowse! Pay close attention to the SITS Girls Twitter and Facebook accounts in the upcoming week as we will be passing along all details there.
Before signing off, we wanted to take a moment to highlight our Summer Challenge community leads and share a little about their blogs. Without these amazing women, there is no way we’d be able to accomplish as much as we have!
Lynda is an amateur writer and photographer living in Fort Worth, TX with her husband and two young sons. In 2010 she is participating in Project 365 while chronicling her adventures learning photography and photo-editing. Her website, Daily Window, is a personal photographic scrapbook which also features a variety of photography tips along with easy to follow editing tutorials.
Rachael is a wife and mother of two boys from Bellingham, WA. Between juggling loads of laundry, a 4 year old, and a 10 week old, she tries to focus on her biggest passions: reading and writing. Rachael has done some freelance writing online, but she mainly writes at Scientific Nature of the Whammy, a blog focused on nurturing the spirit through writing and community and exploring the moments that make life a joy.
Jen Havice is a forty one year old recovering people pleaser and sometime domestic goddess who works part time, rides horses, and rants about the state of the world on her blog. Due to a strange lack of interest in her early Italian Renaissance art history education from employers, Jen has put her writing talents and literary aspirations on the front burner. She enjoys picking apart the absurdities of everyday life on her blog, When Pigs Fly.
Erin is a sometimes clueless, stay-at-home-mom of two boys (3 years and 8 months) who routinely destroy her world. She follows her bliss by inspiring women to live with passion, joy, and purpose on her super groovy blog NirvanaMamma.com.
Kathy, aka Mama Kat, jokingly refers to herself as an attention craving poodle on her blog, Mama’s Losin’ It. This blog is a wonderful mix of humor and heart from a woman who owns and operates her own daycare business. A former English teacher, Kathy is also the creative mind behind Writer’s Workshop, a weekly meme in which her readers select and write a post based on a variety of prompts that Kathy provides, and then link to her blog in order to increase their web traffic.
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It’s Saturday, y’all, and you know what that means. Time to share your favorite post from the week! To mix things up a bit, head over to our Facebook fan page and add a link to the post you’re most proud of this week or maybe even a post that you just enjoyed reading.
Tickets for Austin and St. George, Utah, our final Bloggy Boot Camp stops for the year, are on sale now! Don’t wait to buy yours. We’d love to meet you in person!
And, as always, when you see this:
I have been doing my best to keep up! Here is my attempt at my 1st list post: http://kdcevents.blogspot.com/2010/07/6-great-ideas-for-summer-party.html
Happy Saturday SITS Sharefest
Thank you guys for the challenge. I had so much great time during the week.
I enjoyed reading <a href="http://www.moneyandrisk.com/living-well-on-less/deals/14-coffee-recipes-and-7-other-ways-to-use-leftover-coffee/"Kim's coffee recipes.
Weren’t those ones great!?! Totally made me hungry.
Happy SITS Saturday!
Great links…hope to do the challenge one day!
Twitter: jiminycricketoo
says:
Happy Hot Saturday to everyone! I’m doing the challenge, not sure I’m doing it well but I am trying.
Twitter: SITSGirls
says:
That’s all that matters! The challenge is really just about doing what you can, when you can. I’ve certainly learned the hard way that there will never be enough hours in the day.
And that’s OK!
I was so touched when I was last on here I got several emails from women wishing my baby well. I run an orphanage and one of my babies was very sick–he passed away yesterday morning–and it was so wonderful to know people cared and were sending prayers and thoughts my way.
Thanks you SITStahs!
Twitter: SITSGirls
says:
There community that surrounds the SITStahood is an incredibly strong and caring one. We are all lucky to be a part of it.
I’d also like to pass along my thoughts and prayers to you. Such a terrible loss. Be well.
Oh my gosh Amy that’s terrible!! So glad some women reached out to you and so sorry for your loss.
The challenge looks great…maybe next time. got too much on my plate right now! But when don’t we.
Stopping in on Saturday afternoon. Off to read some blogs…
This is amazing! I’m really enjoying being a part of this. I know a lot of the above websites and love them. I look forward to looking at the others.
Thanks!!
I have been doing so bad at checking in!
I am enjoying reading about the blog challenge…wish I could have joined, but just can’t at this point. Great stuff though. Have a great weekend
I hope you guys learned a lot from this challenge!
Happy Saturday!
Krizia
I’ve been trying to link up my twitter with my fb fan page all day to no avail. I think I’ll give up for a while and go play with my son who just got home from summer camp.
Happy Saturday!
Twitter: thepanamamama
says:
I am so behind on the challenge! Happy weekend everyone!
Happy Saturday everyone!
Thanks so much for the tips!
Everyone’s doing a great job! I wish I could participate bût I’m learning bits and pieces vicariously!
I appreciate you recapping because I haven’t had a chance to follow!
Tiffany
http://www.pedicurestopuddles.blogspot.com
I hope everyone is enjoying an amazing weekend! I would love it if you’d stop by my blog and say hello! I’ll return the favor.
Blessings,
Teresa <
I need more time in the day…or less hours of nonstop momma duty!! Which ever!
Just don’t sleep. I mean…how pointless is that!?!
Mama Kat,
It is funny you should say that, I never DID go to sleep last night! I was trying to get a web form from Aweber set up, and I got it up and running but still have work to do on it!
Funny too, since I didn’t sleep late, we actually made it to church on time!
Suddenly, I am feeling a little sleepy (as she stretches and yawns)!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I’ve been so behind on all things blog this week. Hoping to get back in the swing soon!
Thanks for all the support ladies!!
Remember-EVERY WOMAN HAS A STORY!
http://www.suniedawn.com/1/post/2010/07/every-woman-has-a-story.html
SunieDawn
Dysfunction In The Heartland
http://www.suniedawn.com
What a day! I finally made it to take a look at the wrap up. I have been new to SITS this week and am pleasantly surprised at how I look forward to my daily check in to see more cool blogs. Thank you for keeping me sane!
Last Post: http://thebristolproject.blogspot.com/2010/07/thank-you-card-thursday.html
Twitter: SITSGirls
says:
We live to serve!
So glad that you’ve joined our community. We are always thrilled to hear from our newest members.
What a great idea! I’m really enjoying this site!
Happy Saturday ladies!
So many great blogs and tips, so little time! Making time to do three things with social networking daily.
Last blogpost: http://artgardendiva.blogspot.com/2010/07/make-your-own-salad-dressings.
I’ve been busy doing other things and haven’t been keeping up with my SITStahs! I love all the changes around here. Reading through the summary helped me to see where I am with my blog. I am able to tick off a few things that are complete and that keep me on track with the daily tasks from Darren’s book. So Cool!
My list post is linked below. I hope you like it. It’s a list of 10 photographs to make you wonder and smile
It seems like people (bus drivers) the world over are behaving badly towards people wearing religious headgear. I noticed my own mixed feelings and set out online to see what I could find to help me sort through why I was experiencing so much discomfort at the sight of a woman covering her face.
Bring your sense of humor please!
I am so lucky to have just had a most amazing day on so many levels.
Sigh….hot today! Summer seems to be going so fast!
Such an amazing week!!! LOVED kicking off the #31dbbb with all of you
Hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend!
xo,
Linds
I didn’t participate , but what a lot of great blogging tips.
Is this ladies only? :O
Twitter: SITSGirls
says:
Absolutely not, Tony! We’d love to grow our male readership, so please feel free to visit and participate anytime.
You may see a lot of verbiage targeted towards women, but one of our many goals is to increase our Y chromosome factor. You help us do that.
Still here! Great tips, thank you SITS!!!!!!!
I think it’s fab that you’re doing this weekly wrap-up for those of us who aren’t able to follow day by day. I did a list post for another site, Madame Noire last week and I’m planning one on my blog this week.
this was a great week! I love reading everyone’s blogs!
I have been out of the blogging world for THREE WEEKS!!! It’s good to be back, but it seems I have A LOT of catching up to do! However this is something I can look forward to…unpacking…now that’s another story.
I appreciate the Little Bit Quirky post!
Finishing up our anniversary weekend. One more day of relaxing:)
Twitter: laurasidestreet
says:
Wow lots of great tips and advice…I lvoe the daily featured blog and advice
Have a great sunday ladies
Laura x
http://www.sidestreetstyle.com
Happy Sunday Ladies!
It’s cold and grey here in Toronto Canada – the perfect day to catch up inside and have a lazy day!
Enjoy!
This 31DBBB is just so fantastic. The collaboration is just amazing and I’m loving finding new blogs and at the same time trying to improve mine. Thanks for all the hard work you all are putting in to this
Twitter: noudles04
says:
Been out of the blogging world for a while. Glad to be back! Hope everyone is doing well!
Twitter: MakingLemonade1
says:
I have a great giveaway from Sew Girlie going on, and not many people have entered.
I hope you’ll stop over and enter– you’ll have a good chance at winning!
Have a beautiful Sunday… we’re melting here on the east coast…
I am falling behind on my blog reading! I need to spend some time this week playing catch up.
BACK FROM FAMILY VACATION. NO ELECTRICITY. NO PHONE SERVICE. IT WAS AMAZING!!
Even though I wasn’t able to participate in the challenge, I’ve been enjoying all of the amazing posts written by the bloggers who have. I particularly enjoyed the lists on Tuesday.
I’m glad that the summer challenge devoted a day to the art and etiquette of connecting with readers. It’s a challenge to keep up with comments, but is also the most rewarding part of blogging, I feel. It’s disappointing when a fellow blogger responds with an “auto-reply” or comments with a generic comment like, “Nice post” or “Great idea”.
I recently participated in a few blog hops and was delighted to find some new amazing blogs. I left detailed, thoughtful, and complementary comments, and have been a little surprised at how few replies and follow-backs I’ve received. The blog hops were “follow-back” specific, so I’m really puzzled.
Anyone else had this same experience?
Jenn
Twitter: SITSGirls
says:
Summer can be a difficult time to connect with other bloggers. Many times, people become consumed with their families and simply are not able to spend as much time on the computer. Thankfully, we are headed back into fall soon and things should correct themselves.
We also have a commenting event planned for SITS this fall where we address the very same topic you did in this message, Jenn. Hopefully, we’ll also be back to feeling the comment love again soon!
Doing laundry, cleaning the house and ealing with very cranky babies. Happy Sunday!
Twitter: greenearthbazar
says:
Happy Sunday!
Thank you so much for mentioning my coffee post. I’m glad y’all enjoyed it.
I’ve learned as much from everyone as I have from the 31 DBBB challenge. It’s been fun finding out new things.
Twitter: SITSGirls
says:
Absolutely our pleasure, Kim! Because you have been such a great contributor to the 31DBBB, we definitely wanted to spotlight you!
Twitter: editorialicious
says:
Hi there! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekends! My only regret is that it is almost over!
Twitter: fromtracie
says:
It has been so interesting to follow along this challenge and see some of the important steps to blogging that I had never thought of before.