Bloggiesta has come to a close. I have accomplished what I set out to do plus some. When I first started on Friday, I had only six to-do list items. They soon grew and I ended up with 11.

The major thing I wanted to accomplish was to get my new theme in place. It has been a work in progress since before Christmas. My old theme was buggy and caused some problems with commenting for some of my readers, among other things. I’m glad that it’s finally implemented and ready to go. I love it!

I’m the type of blogger that continuously works on my blog. If I see something I don’t like, I change it or fix it right then and there. That’s probably why my Bloggiesta to do list was only six items long at first. I also think that’s one of the main reasons I’ve never participated before. But, as I took part in this weekend of blogging fun, I soon realized that Bloggiesta was more than just improving my blog, it was about community. I enjoyed going to other people’s blogs and cheering them on, participating in the awesome mini-challenges, and helping out those I could. I also enjoyed receiving help from those more knowledgeable than I. I learned quite a bit!

I loved socializing with my existing blogging buddies and meeting new ones! It never ceases to amaze me how vast this blogging community is, whether you’re a book blogger or not. I just love the sense of camaraderie you get from knowing that you share blogging in common.

It has been a fun weekend. I’m glad I took the time to participate and I look forward to the next one in six months. I already have a mini-challenge in mind and some tasks that I’d like to accomplish then too.

Thanks, Suey (It’s All About Books) and Danielle (There’s a Book), for all your hard work in putting Bloggiesta together and making it as fun as it was! You guys are great! And, thank you, Natasha (Maw Books), for dreaming up Bloggiesta in the first place!

Discussion

For those of you that didn’t participate, what do you think of the changes I made to my blog? And, for those of you that did, what are you most proud of accomplishing this weekend?

Today is the first day of Bloggiesta! I’m excited to be participating. In the next three days, I hope to accomplish the following:

For My Blog

1. Work on the backend of my blog. I’m upgrading my theme because the current one has some bugs.
2. Figure out a better solution for my sidebar widgets. I like sidebars that are clean and minimal and mine is getting too clunky.
3. Add a button for Pinterest and Tumblr.
4. Figure out how to get my cover photo for my Facebook fan page to look right.
5. Figure out a plan for the next year of what I want to blog about. I’ve had a hard time blogging this past year as just a book blogger and I want to decide what I want to blog about once and for all.
6. Reorganize my Google Reader. I feel bogged down with all the blogs I follow. I can’t possibly read them all and subsequently, I don’t read many of them. I want to make it more worth my time so I can be more social yet still have time for other things as well.
7. Read all the mini-challenges and participate in the ones that are pertinent to me.

Bloggiesta Socializing

1. Participate in all the Twitter chats.
2. Visit at least 10 new blogs.
3. Visit at least 15 To Do List posts.
4. Respond to and visit all the bloggers that comment on my Bloggiesta posts.

PS–If you want to participate in my mini-challenge, you can read it here.

Welcome to Bloggiesta! For those of you who don’t know what Blogiesta is, it’s a short blogging marathon hosted by Suey from It’s All About Books and Danielle from There’s a Book. This year, it takes place March 30 – April 2. The purpose of Bloggiesta is to cross off your blogging to-do items, improve your blog, make goals for the next year, and interact with other participating bloggers.

I get to talk to you about plugins for WordPress blogs. From the inception of my blog, nearly five years ago, I’ve had a WordPress platform, so I know a lot about WordPress and how it works. I was around before plugins and widgets. Boy, was it hard to update your sidebar unless you knew how to change the code! Now, it’s easy with plugins and widgets. (Heck, you can even make your own sidebar element by using the Text widget. You just need to know a little HTML to do it.)

Widgets and plugins allow you to spiff up your sidebar by adding interactivity between other sites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads) or just by including extra info you want your readers to see (e.g. blog button, archived posts, subscription buttons).

To use widgets and plugins, you first need to know how to install a plugin. To install plugins, do the following:

1. In the Dashboard (Admin panel), click Plugins | Add New.
2. Search for the plugin you want, like Twitter Tools (to integrate your Twitter feed with your blog).
3. In the results list, click Install Now next to the plugin you want to install.
4. Once it has installed, click Activate Plugin.

Most plugins will require you to select the settings you want so that the plugin appears/acts the way you want it to. Those settings will either be created as a brand new menu option in your Dashboard (Admin panel) or in the Settings menu. Just follow the instructions to select the settings for the plugin. Once you’ve done that, you need to add the plugin as a widget so it will show on your sidebar. To add the plugin as a widget, do the following:

1. In the Dashboard (Admin panel), click Appearance | Widgets.
2. Find the name of the plugin you installed and drag it to the Sidebar panel and place it where you want it to show on your sidebar.

Once you have your plugin on your sidebar, you may have to select some more settings. Again, just follow the instructions.

Be aware that all plugins don’t work as widgets for your sidebar. For example, Akismet, the best plugin you could have on your blog (in my opinion), is used to catch SPAM from posting as comments on your blog. Once it’s installed and activated, it’s ready to go.

If you’d like to participate in this mini-challenge, I need you to do the following:

• Install the plugins that you’ve been wanting to install for a while. (Check the comments for good plugin recommendations.)
• Make a comment about the types of plugins you use on your blog, what types of plugins you’d like to use on your blog, or any questions you may have about this post. (If you want to know how to make your own widget, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to help in any way I can.)

Update

I have recently discovered that plugins are only available for self-hosted WordPress blogs. If you have a blog through wordpress.com, unfortunately, this post won’t pertain to you. But, you still have a whole host of widgets available to you, including the Text widget! I’d still check those out as they may be very helpful to you and your blog. Let me know if you have any questions.

I’ve decided to participate in Bloggiesta 2012, which takes place March 30 — April 1. I’ve wanted to participate for the last few years, but I haven’t had the chance. Bloggiesta is hosted by Suey at It’s All About Books and Danielle at There’s a Book.

If you decide to participate, you can expect:

• to spend time that weekend (as much or as little as your schedule allows) working on your blog;
• to create a to do list to share on your blog and link up with other participants;
• to hopefully participate in several mini challenges and learn something new;
• to connect with other participants through blog hopping or twitter;
• to make new blogging friends;
• and, to come away at the end of the three days with a spiffed up blog!

You can sign up here.