Friday, May 6, 2022

A to Z Reflections


Please note that I didn't also grab the "winner" badge!

While I did get posts up for over half of the letters, I didn't do them all.

So let's look at the questions on the Official a-z blog post.....

One thing I learned is that I need a definite theme instead of just going with whatever pops into my head. And the letter J kicked my butt. Couldn't think of anything *good* to write about. That being said - I have a definite idea for next year and already have 12 good topics that just flew off my fingertips. Go figure.

And I noticed that April 2023 has 5 Sundays which only leaves 25 days to post....I'm sure the A to Z masterminds will figure that out! I vote for just leaving out the one letter you don't like the most.

I was bummed that I missed all three #AZChat events. I should have set a reminder on my phone.

I give many heartfelt kudos to the A to Z team, since this couldn't have been an easy job, visiting ALL the blogs and keeping things running smoothly. Applause!! And Anjela's graphics were excellent - I hope she stays on the team!

I had 1363 visits to my blog in the last 30 days - which I feel is quite impressive for me. I haven't checked my stats since like last August, so I don't really have a good grip on any growth. But I won't complain about numbers!

I'm not making excuses, but April turned into a crazy busy month for me, so while I did visit a lot of blogs from the Master Sign Up list, I didn't get to hit up very many during the actual month. The one thing that I did notice then - and I brought it up to the A to Z Team, is that some blogs required you to sign in using Facebook or Google in order to comment. Whole lotta nope! And some had no place to comment at all!

I might be biased, since I love my Blogger blog, but some blogs just weren't nice to look at or easy to navigate! And call me weird - why would you ~not~ want the date on your post??
I usually get sunrise pics of this tree, but this is a combination sunset / headlight shot!

I digress...

What needs to change? More info for us who have lost their clue.....! Maybe I missed it, but even after all of these years of doing the A to Z Challenge, I'm still not sure where to put the hashtag! Does it need to be in the blog title or just in the post? It looks like other people commented on the AtoZ blog post with their link for the day - should I have done that?

I won't leave my link of the FB page, since its a public page and there are nosy people in my family who would see my comment. They don't know I blog here (they do know about my Halloween blog and associated social media, tho) and I prefer to keep it that way! They're the type of people who just don't understand why I will write where anyone and their mother can read my business and would leave stupid comments. I know I could moderate or delete them - I just don't want to feel like I have to watch what I say when this is my 'safe space'.

What needs to stay the same? I never know how to answer this question. Keep the blog hop going! I'm sure there are tweaks & improvements that other people will suggest, but I'm happy with how things are.

6 comments:

  1. Howdy Lisa,
    I totally agree with you with some blogs are not nice to look at, some are just too impossible to figure out or need a roadmap to find where to to comment or are just too busy all the way around. I also can relate to the nosy relatives who have more time on their hands making nasty comments... although I think mine have finally moved on and leave me alone. Even though they totally don't know why I write. I am trying to get caught up through the road trip and visit some posts of blogs I never saw during April. It was just way too busy to post and visit and comment.
    Cheers,
    Reflections from A2Z 2022

    Barbie

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  2. Lisa I think you made great points and suggestions. Hosting a community of any size is not easy. I raise my hat to the team. I wish Blogger and Wordpress had better connection because the frustration of spending 10 or more minutes and then not being able to leave a comment is (frustrating!!!).
    Glad to hear you already have ideas for next year. I always take on too much in April but the good thing is everyone is understanding.
    Happy blogging.
    Moonie reflections

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  3. Count me in as someone who found some other blogs hard to navigate. If I can't figure out where to post a comment or even what your A to Z entry is I am not inclined to leave a comment.

    Congratulations on completing the challenge!
    --
    Tim Brannan
    The Other Side | The A to Z of Conspiracy Theories

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  4. Some blogs were a bit difficult to navigate... I usually have my A-Z hashtag in my title just to make things easier (for people to know which post to click on and for when it goes to Twitter). As for leaving the day's link on the A-Z blog: it's not necessary, though I have found that people come from that link to my blog (my analytics indicates this). When there are 5 Sundays in April, one will be used (I think at the end of the month, if I remember correctly from the FAQ page) to finish out the letters. Congrats on completing the challenge, even if you missed a couple of letters :-)

    Ronel visiting for A-Z Challenge Reflections 2022

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  5. I agree with you on so much. Like you, my blog is incognito, so I avoid all privacy-harming boosting activities that could draw more of an audience to my blog. That's okay with me. I blog for myself. I'm definitely planning next year better. I did not get to visit as many blogs as I wanted. That's why I'm hitting up all the Reflections posts. See you next year!

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  6. Out blog walking and found myself here, it's always fun to meet new bloggers. I've done A to Z, though not in recent years. I stopped because I was always disappointed at the large number of people who clearly have no intention of visiting others blogs or leave comments. Like you I much prefer Blogger/Blogspot over some of the other formats. I disliked taking time to read someone's blog and then finding they don't have comments open...therefore they get traffic, but don't reciprocate because they don't know who was there. I didn't feel like the team back then did a good job of weeding those people out, or the ones where you have to sign into another format etc I made a point of visiting a certain number of blogs each and everyday and the traffic I got to my blogs was nothing in compared to the number I visited. Are people better about it now? Congrats on finishing the challenge.

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