Blogger help needed!

[Doodling Dogs]

Hello! This week in the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog, we have to find someone who has never viewed our blog before and have that person give us their first impressions.  I would love for anyone who has never seen my Doodling Dogs blog to come over and check it out!  I am completely open to any and all advice and have pretty tough skin 🙂  You can either email me your thoughts at doodlingdogs@gmail.com or leave a comment here.  

 

Thank you very much!  

[Rebecca Braglio]

Looks good – but you may want to put some social media icons on the top so people can follow you on twitter and Facebook.

[Doodling Dogs]

Thanks for the advice!  I now have a Twitter and Facebook icon 🙂 

[Helen Collins]

I love the header, how did you create that?  Very interesting posts as well, I like Breed of the Week especially.  You have just added me to your followers 🙂

[Andrea Thomson Viner]

I’m a little late to the discussion, but here are my thoughts:

• I also like the header!
• The “You Might Also Like” feature is excellent. I had planned on stopping by just to look, but those footers always snare me! So I ended up commenting on your post about names. This is a great way to get people to explore your site and interact, and I need to figure out how to do it!
• In addition to the About Us info on the sidebar, I think you need an About page that goes into more detail about what you are doing with the blog and the mix of personal anecdotes, breed information, etc.
• Doodling Dogs–the name. I’m a little bit confused on the name. When I saw just the name floating around the BlogPaws community, I assumed it was a blog about drawing dogs, or one by a cartoonist/dog love. I’m not suggesting you change the name, but I think it would be helpful to explain it in the About Us area of the sidebar or on an About page.
• I would also add StumbleUpon as a share option at the bottom of your posts, since so many of us are now using it. I, for one, am more likely to Stumble posts than to post them to my Facebook page.

 

I have a question for you also:

• I noticed that I was able to post a comment on your site by linking my WordPress account to Blogger. Do you know if there’s a way that blogs from Blogger and WordPress can follow each other (besides an email RSS feed)? That would be really helpful to follow some of the blogs I’m discovering on this site!

[Doodling Dogs]

Thank you!  I plan on updating my header for all of the seasons and holidays 🙂  I happen to have a very tech savy boyfriend who creates my headers for me and I couldn’t tell you exactly how he does it, because it is a little too tricky for me!

Glad to have you as a follower! 

Helen Collins said:

I love the header, how did you create that?  Very interesting posts as well, I like Breed of the Week especially.  You have just added me to your followers 🙂

[Doodling Dogs]

I am not sure if there is a way for WordPress and Blogger to follow each other.  I am not too familiar with WordPress 🙁  

 

I do completely agree that my about page needs some serious work.  I like the idea of explaining the doodling dogs title on the about page.  I wrote a post awhile back about the title, but should probably have that link somewhere where readers can easily view that and understand the meaning of my title.  I have been meaning to work on my about page for awhile and just haven’t had the time lately.  I also plan on updating my pages about Sadie and Leila as well.  

Thank you for all of your feedback!  I really appreciate you taking the time to check out my blog and giving me your thoughts 🙂 

Andrea Thomson Viner said:

I’m a little late to the discussion, but here are my thoughts:

• I also like the header!
• The “You Might Also Like” feature is excellent. I had planned on stopping by just to look, but those footers always snare me! So I ended up commenting on your post about names. This is a great way to get people to explore your site and interact, and I need to figure out how to do it!
• In addition to the About Us info on the sidebar, I think you need an About page that goes into more detail about what you are doing with the blog and the mix of personal anecdotes, breed information, etc.
• Doodling Dogs–the name. I’m a little bit confused on the name. When I saw just the name floating around the BlogPaws community, I assumed it was a blog about drawing dogs, or one by a cartoonist/dog love. I’m not suggesting you change the name, but I think it would be helpful to explain it in the About Us area of the sidebar or on an About page.
• I would also add StumbleUpon as a share option at the bottom of your posts, since so many of us are now using it. I, for one, am more likely to Stumble posts than to post them to my Facebook page.

 

I have a question for you also:

• I noticed that I was able to post a comment on your site by linking my WordPress account to Blogger. Do you know if there’s a way that blogs from Blogger and WordPress can follow each other (besides an email RSS feed)? That would be really helpful to follow some of the blogs I’m discovering on this site!

[Helen Collins]

Wow, lucky you!  I was determined to make some changes to my blog so found an excellent tutorial as to how to create your own headers so now I have some seasonal headers too.  My next challenge is background! 

Doodling Dogs said:

Thank you!  I plan on updating my header for all of the seasons and holidays 🙂  I happen to have a very tech savy boyfriend who creates my headers for me and I couldn’t tell you exactly how he does it, because it is a little too tricky for me!

Glad to have you as a follower! 

Helen Collins said:

I love the header, how did you create that?  Very interesting posts as well, I like Breed of the Week especially.  You have just added me to your followers 🙂

[Dawn]

Andrea,

It looks like you can follow other blogs in WordPress.com- http://en.support.wordpress.com/following/ .  I don’t see the option in my self hosted WordPress site.

Andrea Thomson Viner said:

 

I have a question for you also:

• I noticed that I was able to post a comment on your site by linking my WordPress account to Blogger. Do you know if there’s a way that blogs from Blogger and WordPress can follow each other (besides an email RSS feed)? That would be really helpful to follow some of the blogs I’m discovering on this site!

[Doodling Dogs]

I love the background you have now! 

Helen Collins said:

Wow, lucky you!  I was determined to make some changes to my blog so found an excellent tutorial as to how to create your own headers so now I have some seasonal headers too.  My next challenge is background! 

Doodling Dogs said:

Thank you!  I plan on updating my header for all of the seasons and holidays 🙂  I happen to have a very tech savy boyfriend who creates my headers for me and I couldn’t tell you exactly how he does it, because it is a little too tricky for me!

Glad to have you as a follower! 

Helen Collins said:

I love the header, how did you create that?  Very interesting posts as well, I like Breed of the Week especially.  You have just added me to your followers 🙂

[Helen Collins]

Thank you very much, it kind of happened by accident!

[Sue Yellen]

I’m not a professional blogger. Your blogs are great and informative.  The only question I have is if you receive free products for professional review, do you need to disclose that in your post?  I have never been asked as a professional to view a product so this is truly a question rather than a critique.  Sue Yellen

 

 

[Dawn]

A few years ago the FTC revised their guidelines to include bloggers.  I disclose how I received the product I am reviewing regardless of how I obtained the item. This article is really good about guidelines and it’s recent- http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/are-you-disclosing-what-you-need-to-know-about-ftc-rules-and-social-media/ 

 

 

Sue Yellen said:

I’m not a professional blogger. Your blogs are great and informative.  The only question I have is if you receive free products for professional review, do you need to disclose that in your post?  I have never been asked as a professional to view a product so this is truly a question rather than a critique.  Sue Yellen

 

 

[Sue Yellen]

Thanks, Dawn, for the link.  I agree with the ethical aspects and truly appreciate the documentation. 

Dawn Miklich said:

A few years ago the FTC revised their guidelines to include bloggers.  I disclose how I received the product I am reviewing regardless of how I obtained the item. This article is really good about guidelines and it’s recent- http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/are-you-disclosing-what-you-need… 

 

 

Sue Yellen said:

I’m not a professional blogger. Your blogs are great and informative.  The only question I have is if you receive free products for professional review, do you need to disclose that in your post?  I have never been asked as a professional to view a product so this is truly a question rather than a critique.  Sue Yellen

 

 

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