…my 30 Day IBP (Individual Blogging Plan)
Meet Alison Golden, my challenge buddy
Alison Golden is a Warrior Woman
The internet drives my husband Tom crazy. I’ll be talking about Alison Golden and he will say, “Who? How do you know her?” I will patiently answer Alison is a world traveler, originally from England, the one who writes a blog called The Secret Life of a Warrior Woman. (Check it out here.) Tom will ask again, “Is she a real person or some mystical cyber-cloud haze?”
Since this happens often I will take a deep breath and say, “Yes, Alison is very real, she now lives in California with her husband and two young kids.”
For those of you over 65 years old, who grew up before there were computers or satellites to give us GPS directions…, you will understand. And yes, Tom still uses maps with yellow highlighters. (Though in his defense, I always trust his directions over GPS.)
I try to straddle the digital divide. I love it when someone as lovely as Alison comes along and says, “Let’s follow Chris Brogan’s advice and do a 30 day blogging challenge to see if we can grow our blogs and increase our traffic.”(click here for the discussion).
Alison and I met during Johnny B. Truant and Lee Stranahan’s Question the Rules course. Warrior Woman meets Mother-with-lots-of-bullet-holes was a natural. Plus Alison is very funny.
Sept. 21 is the Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. It is also World Storytelling Day in the Southern Hemisphere. So combining the momentum of a natural balance in the universe and the gift of storytelling it is a perfect day to begin our blogging challenge.
Individual Blogging Plan (IBP)
In true Special Education IEP tradition, here is my IBP (Individual Blogging Plan)
Timeline:
All Goals will be achieved in 30 days starting Sept. 21, 2010
Current Level of Performance:
Climbing Every Mountain is two months old. According to Google Analytics (Assessment tool) my visitors range from a high of twenty a day (2 times) to 0 (1 time). Today, my new AWeber (assessment tool) says there are 15 subscribers. I’ve posted about 2-3 times a week with most posts about 1000 words. Many posts have no comments, “America the Beautiful” has the most comments with 52 (of course half of those are my responses).
30 Day Short Term Goals and Objectives:
1. I will double the number of subscribers (30):
a. Thanking my existing subscribers who are the true believers. *sending kisses* I will ask them to use social media and tell their friends about our blog. *more kisses*
b. Using AWeber, I will figure out how to automatically contact each subscriber when a new post is made. *I know, I know…remember the old part, I’m still learning.*
c. In my posts, I will post a weekly count, and encourage new readers to subscribe.
d. I will learn how to make “bullets” so this is easier for my readers. *did I mention I was the most technologically inept person on the blogosphere?*
2. I will blog everyday
a. I may write shorter posts of 300 – 500 words, instead of the longer 1000 word posts.
b. I will use Photo Dropper, to speed up finding pictures while continuing to learn how to upload pictures from our family photo album and camera.
c. I will have my first guest post and one interview. *this is sooo exciting*
d. I will ask my readers for blog topic suggestions. *What do you need?*
3. I will build an interactive community.
a. If my content is wonderful, readers will comment and share their own stories, help each other solve problems and get connected.
b. If my post topics are useful, the number of comments and linkbacks will increase and we will reach more people.
c. If our community grows, commenters will suggest other related blogs and resources.
Evaluation
At the end of the 30 day challenge, I will ask for feedback from everyone about their experience.
Related Services and Support
1. Alison, my blogging challenge partner.
Alison is going to be my guidepost to help me keep grounded. She is not a special education person so she will have valuable advice. If we believe in inclusion, we need to be able to communicate with people outside our inner circle. She is a blessing as well as a fellow traveler.
2. Technical Support
I’m going to be needing a lot of technical support. But like all special education, we often don’t have what we need so we learn to be “creative,” right?
3. YOU
I’m counting on each one of you to add your suggestions and feedback. Email me any time. [email protected]
Call to Action
Are you going to join us? Even “partially participate” (couldn’t resist) by reading the blogs and telling your friends? Get brave and comment?
Keep Climbing: Onward and Upward
All the best,
Mary
This is day 1 of the Chris Brogan Every-Day-for-30-Days Blogging challenge. See what my challenge partner Alison Golden of The Secret Life of a Warrior Woman: is blogging about today at http://alisongolden.com/