Bloggiesta! Day Three! (with updates)

It's day 3 of Bloggiesta!  I will be doing some visiting, some behind-the scenes tweaking here and there, reading through some more of the mini-challenges and task lists.  All of my updates will be included in this post, other than a wrap up post.

If you're reading this, please take a moment to visit my initial post to fill out the short questionnaire there.  It will help me going forward to incorporate some of your ideas.

Ole!

UPDATE 1 (1 1/4 hour):

Tasks completed:

2 reviews written

Bloggiesta is Here! Day Two with updates as I go

Actually, it started yesterday, but with the grandbebes here ... blogging time was non-existent!  Bloggiesta runs through tomorrow, and finding myself behind already this year, this is something I need to work on!  :)

Here's my original post

I have quite a bit to do around the house right now, but I will definitely be working on the blog later today and through tomorrow, so if you haven't joined in yet, you still have time to do so.

UPDATE #2 (and 3):

Hannah at Word Lily's mini-challenge is on 10 things that bloggers should not do.  After reading the article, I thought, "hmmm" .. OK, well I know I don't have the blog optimized for search engines (SEO), and I could stand to do a little more networking on a more consistent basis.  One of the items that I'm not certain about is how easy it is to navigate the blog.  So, based on Jen's mini-challenge on Google forms, I'd like to ask YOU what YOU think about the ease of use here?  Is there anything you'd like to see more of?  Less of?  Please take a moment to fill out the form below to let me know.  Thanks so much!

UPDATE 1:

For Amy's mini-challenge on blogging goals.

Here are my goals for 2011:

1. To post a book review every other day - this gives time for the review to stay on the front page for a while before being knocked down by other posts (doing good with this so far).
2. To move to a custom domain (planned for March or April)
3. To put a schedule in writing and stick to it; one that my readers can count on (for instance, actually having a Poetry Corner post up every other week on Sunday; having a product review day a week; having a children's and/or middle reader review a week, and having an 'about me' post at least once a week)
4. To have templates finished (this is almost done) for my regular posts.
5. To have draft posts ready for those weeks (like this past one) when life gets in the way of actually being able to take the time to write and edit a post - these I can simply go to and click "publish post" for new blog content
6. To average 2 posts a day and no more or less (doing pretty good with this one so far)

Bloggiesta!

I'm a relatively new (less than a year) book blogger .. well, actually, a relatively new blogger .. period.  I've made a lot of mistakes and found myself hopelessly disorganized and scattered.  At the end of 2010, I resolved to myself to start working on things to correct this ... and I have been doing so little by little.  No new review books for a couple of months; joining some challenges that will help me get my review and TBR piles down in a somewhat organized fashion; starting to write reviews and posts and pre-schedule them ahead of time; having some posts ready that are already written for those days when time and/or motivation aren't there to write up something.

Well, I ran across this thing called Bloggiesta, which is being hosted by Maw Books Blog.  Many of you more seasoned bloggers know what it is, but a quick rundown:

Bloggiesta is scheduled for January 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. The beginning of the year is a great time to evaluate your blog, see how you’re doing, and get re-energized for the rest of the year! Some of you may be asking what is Bloggiesta? In short, it’s a blogging marathon.  A opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing.

That's just a quick description.  There are going to be tips and prizes and chat and it covers so many items that you can do to get your blog cleaned up and your schedule more organized!  I'm going to join in; how about you?

Knitting and Sundries has a new look!

Many, many thanks go out to Stacie at Simply Stacie and Kelly at Kelly's Lucky You for hosting "Build a Beautiful Blog Week" where they showcased blogging tips, design tricks and many giveaways from talented designers for blog facelifts, makeovers, buttons, and more!  Visit either of their sites for links to things such as how to easily number your comments and more!!  They also have a list of the great designers that participated in this event!

I was fortunate enough to win a blog makeover from Michelle at Shabby Creations!  Seriously, VISIT HER SITE!!  You can drool over her portfolio of designs!  Check out her Premades, too!  They are only $10!!!!  A mini-facelife like mine is only $80!!!!  She even threw in the sidebar buttons for me!!  She designs for Blogger, Typepad Pro, advanced blogs AND Wordpress (there is an extra fee for installation on the Wordpress platform, but, still, so very worth it!).

I decided not to reinstall the Disqus commenting system for now, but I may go back to it in the near future.

Let me know what you think, and please keep Michelle in mind for your design needs.  It only took her one day from the time I sent her my completed questionnaire until the design was complete!

Hey! Where'd the "carbon neutral" button and post go?

When I logged in to my site this afternoon, I saw that the link to kaufDA.de was broken on both my original post AND on the button. I couldn't open kaufDA's website, either.  Although I checked the button code and did some summary research BEfore placing it on this blog; I can't be certain that their website or code hasn't been altered since then by someone hacking into their website.

Hackers are malicious, and their ways are many and devious.  Many websites and visitors are compromised by malicious code inserted into buttons or links.  Until I see that the kaufDA.de website is stable and that no harm will come to my visitors by clicking the link and/or button or even visiting my page, I have (at least temporarily) taken both the post and the button out of the public and behind-the-scenes section of my blog.

Links that open another window - annoying or helpful? (HTML Tutorial)

OK, so the other day I placed some HTML code in my website that causes ALL of my links to open in another window.  When I did it, I thought, "That way, if someone doesn't REALLY want to leave the site, they can easily just click back."  Useful for visiting the Giveaway Roundups, but as I'm finding, NOT very useful when you click a link WITHIN the blog and you end up with ANOTHER blog window open!  I find it annoying.  I know that when I want to keep a site open, I just right click the link and "Open in another tab" in Firefox.  I'm thinking now that most of you do the same.

So, weigh in for me.  Is it absolutely as annoying to you as it is to me?

HTML TUTORIAL:  If for some reason, you want to have all of your links open up in a new window, go the "Edit HTML" tab on your layout (for Blogger) or the equivalent "Edit HTML" link in your blogging software.  Scroll through or click "Edit", then "Find" in your browser menu (much easier) until you see the following tag: