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69 Comments

  1. K.A. Magrowski
    March 27, 2013 @ 10:27 am

    Thanks Victoria…if I can master one of these tips, I will consider myself light years ahead of my current blogging skills!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 1:02 pm

      Hey, thanks!! Just becoming aware of all these little things really changed the way I looked at my site… and the ways I wasn’t taking care of the tech end…

      Reply

  2. Sandi
    March 27, 2013 @ 10:45 am

    “In case you hadn’t noticed, brevity is not a strength I have.”

    Yes, dear, but you’re fascinating and entertaining, even so. 🙂

    This post is a) a great rant and b) helpful for folks who are seeking to compete with you for world domination. I used to be a .org WP’er, but it was way too complicated for me (as I may have said) since I do not have your ambition to be spectacularly awesome.

    BUT! I totally get the blogging obsession. I spent years obsessing, turning everything in my world into a post. It’s FUN. It’s a RUSH. It’s AFFIRMING. So I hope you are vastly enjoying that. 🙂

    And tell your spouse that in a few years, it might get better. 😉

    Thank you for being fabulous.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 1:31 pm

      You went to spam jail… I guess to keep me on my toes whether I can tell the difference between cheap handbags and real people…

      It did occur to me that world domination would be that much easier, if I didn’t give anyone a hand-up… but my rage at doing all these things wrong outweighed it.

      I DO enjoy blogging, but not in a relaxing way. AT ALL. More like the most stressful enjoyment ever. Not sure where the draw is…

      Reply

  3. Alex @ northstory
    March 27, 2013 @ 11:02 am

    Seriously this was a better ab exercise work out than time at the gym this morning. I am not laughing at you, I am laughing WITH you b/c God knows that I haven’t even touched the SLUG issue yet. Never mind half a years worth of non-existent picture naming. Oh and there’s that &&^%^%$#!! watermark issue.

    Reply

  4. Lynne
    March 27, 2013 @ 11:47 am

    First of all, I am going to kiss Alex on the lips for introducing me to your blog. Then I am going to kiss you on the lips for writing this post. Then, you both are going to think I am a lesbian, batting on the other side of the fence… and I will be ok with that.. because that is the best damn blogging post I have ever seen. Ever.
    The slug who isn’t doing anything about my slugs. OMG, is it too early for tequila ?

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 1:05 pm

      I love you too… MORE than you even know. We could start a commune.

      Although frankly, I’ve been pretty annoyed that the ONLY thing in my boards on Pinterest that people repin? Is your shower curtain…

      Reply

      • Lynne
        March 28, 2013 @ 8:59 am

        My shower curtain ?! LOL. Well thank goodness they aren’t just pinning all those naked pictures instead 🙂 My muffin top is outta hand.

        Reply

        • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
          March 28, 2013 @ 9:49 am

          I’m really not kidding… 40 repins? I feel like yelling at them that they have to share the love around.

          What IS with the spam?

          Reply

  5. Jo Ann Phelps
    March 27, 2013 @ 12:11 pm

    Loved it! Concluded my first year in January! First year taught me that I am an abused writer who keeps coming back for more! There should be a shelter for those of us who are writing at 3:00 a.m thinking we are changing the world! Epic stuff!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 1:10 pm

      There have been times I needed counseling for the anxiety this project has given me. No joke… The gap between what I THOUGHT a blog was… and what it ACTUALLY is? Well, you know…

      Reply

  6. Garden, Home and Party
    March 27, 2013 @ 12:24 pm

    You’ve always had the gift of words, this post has to be written especially for me! I needed this more than anyone (maybe that’s just because I assume everything is “just for me”). Seriously, I really found this helpful, so much so I’ve printed it to reread and try some of the steps you’ve given us. Wow, you really have been doing your homework, I guess that beats my method…whine to son until he does a task for me. I’m making it a personal goal to try some of this stuff and to read more and learn more. If nothing else it will break up the boredom of just inserting pretty rooms on the page.
    xo,
    Karen

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 1:15 pm

      It was totally just for you.:)

      I’m GLAD you got something out of it… while writing it, I really wondered if this was a necessary contribution to the how-to-blog canon…
      If you run into questions—email me!

      Reply

  7. Garden, Home and Party
    March 27, 2013 @ 12:25 pm

    Oh, and Happy Anniversary!
    Karen

    Reply

  8. Danielle
    March 27, 2013 @ 1:32 pm

    Brilliant! I’m pretty sure you are on your way to world domination, but Paul’s eyes might still glaze over since he’ll be known as Mr. World Domination.

    All joking aside… this is truly great and I learned a lot. Like that you haven’t even been blogging for a year?! Also, I had no idea about the ALT Text or Slug. I got super excited about Yoast and then I cried. Then I got super excited about Inspect Element and then I started to hyperventilate. So in summary: I felt ignorant, cried and almost passed out… yup, that pretty much sums up having a blog.

    Seriously, great post! Can’t wait to hear more.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 8:39 pm

      Laughing at Paul being Mr. World Domination. And also “ignorant, cried and almost passed out…” I was a little afraid everyone was going to say—DUH. We ALL knew this. What took you so long?

      I never noticed you had a tag fetish? I will have to check out some of your past posts to see if I feel better about myself.

      Reply

  9. Kevin R
    March 27, 2013 @ 1:48 pm

    Excellent info, Lynne! Look forward to reviewing it when I get home !
    Regards.
    Kevin.

    Reply

  10. Kevin R
    March 27, 2013 @ 1:49 pm

    Sorry… I meant Victoria !!! My bad !

    Reply

  11. Helen Morris
    March 27, 2013 @ 3:02 pm

    Delightful post. Yes I made it to the end and now I have stopped laughing will take proper note of all the things I do wrong. I love your ‘my blog’ photo. I will be back and because your blog thinks I look fantastic I have left a comment and will share your post.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 8:41 pm

      THANK you! You really do look fantastic…

      And I love the “my blog” picture too. It’s WAY more accurate than anyone who’s close to me realizes. I don’t remember the last time I really attended to someone speaking to me at length, if there wasn’t something on fire.

      Reply

  12. Sue
    March 27, 2013 @ 3:15 pm

    New fan Sue here. I have been through the wringer about all of the above too, so loved this post, and even though I learn something correctly, then I read another way to do it, and get all messed up and have to hit the Revert button. I have just been doing tags more lately. Thank you for the tip to Tag on the lighter side. Have a Hoppy Easter.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 8:46 pm

      Ah, well… I hate to crush your tag-love. I know how GOOD it feels to just go wild with them.

      SO glad to meet you! 🙂
      Happy Easter!

      Reply

  13. Amanda
    March 27, 2013 @ 5:03 pm

    Wow! I was actually going to skip this post as I’m so not tech savvy, but I’m super glad I didn’t. Thank you soooooo much for those tips. I’ll definitely be keeping them in mind for my future blogs. Have a happy Easter Victoria. Xo maybe a blog free Easter 😉
    Mandyxo

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 27, 2013 @ 8:44 pm

      That’s the thing with the tech stuff… it’s not really fun… so can be easy to bypass. Glad it was useful!!

      Reply

  14. Lisa
    March 27, 2013 @ 6:30 pm

    Best wishes as you start your second year in the WordPress universe. Thanks for spelling out your tips for best practices using images and tags.

    Reply

  15. Lindsey
    March 27, 2013 @ 8:09 pm

    I found your blog a couple weeks ago and I am surprised to find out you’ve only been at this for a year. I really enjoy your writing and projects and I think the site design is great and easy to navigate. On the other hand I’m not surprised to find out you’ve only been doing this for a year – you have a very original and authentic voice which is hard to find. Anyways, just wanted to say good job, keep doing what you are doing.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      March 28, 2013 @ 9:39 am

      I read this last night… and I thought that if I gave my answer some time, I’d be able to think of a way to say thank you… in a way that explained HOW much I appreciate your comment.

      Mostly I just came up with: THANK you. Your comment really, really, really made my day… probably my month, if nothing else really exciting happens.

      Reply

  16. Glenn Walker
    March 28, 2013 @ 3:39 am

    You rock, Victoria, thank you for these tips!

    Reply

  17. Heather
    March 28, 2013 @ 12:51 pm

    Hi! New follower over from PSMM. I enjoyed this first post quite a bit – you are funny (in a great way!). Looking forward to eventually meeting you in person. As a DIYer, I am excited to see your projects!!!

    Reply

  18. A City Girl
    April 1, 2013 @ 8:47 pm

    I have studied like a good little student, I have NOT uploaded Yoast (thank goodness), I have been more thoughtful in correctly labeling my photos, I am not being so zealous on my tags anymore and I been putting in alt text on my photos. I haven’t done the slugs yet though so you can’t give me an “A” LOL.. I will take a B cause this junk is not as easy as people think it is.

    I was wondering if you learned anything about track backs? I noticed that I have a LOT of trackbacks each day so I looked them up to see what they are and they appear to be a good thing so I approved one. OMG what did I do that for? The subsequent days I have had 20 trackbacks a day and I am very suspicious of them, especially since they are from other countries…mainly Russia. Have you any blogger guru insight into this? How do I know the difference between a good track back or a bad one?

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 2, 2013 @ 11:35 am

      Hmmm… I really don’t know anything about trackbacks, other than they’re notifications about links to your site… I assume what you’re approving is just it appearing on your page, or not? Since you can’t control if other people link to you.

      What kind of sites are they? I mean, I know you don’t speak Russian, (well maybe you do) but can you tell anything?

      It does seem kind of seems suspicious, but I really have no idea!!

      Reply

      • A City Girl
        April 2, 2013 @ 11:42 pm

        So I assume you are not getting them? hmmmm.
        LOL no I don’t speak Russian. The content is always the name of one of my posts and the name of their website. I thinks its bad so I am going to delete them permanently….
        Thanks…

        Reply

  19. Jim
    April 2, 2013 @ 3:29 am

    Oh crap, just when I thought it was going OK someone comes along and pulls back the curtain.
    🙂

    Jim

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 2, 2013 @ 11:28 am

      That’s the thing… there is ALWAYS another curtain. I am afraid of what comes behind the next one.

      Reply

  20. Emily K.
    April 3, 2013 @ 12:31 pm

    Um. Mind = Blown. Time for my tags and slugs to get a major makeover!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      April 3, 2013 @ 2:04 pm

      Amazing, isn’t it? How you can think you’re doing it all “right” only to find out how terribly wrong it is…

      Reply

      • Emily K.
        April 3, 2013 @ 9:38 pm

        You are so, so right. I’m hoping to go self-hosted in the next few months, but I am DREADING IT SO MUCH. Because I am terrified of the new digital labyrinth I’m going to be forced to navigate. Sigh. I’m excited for Part 2 of your post!

        Reply

        • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
          April 4, 2013 @ 10:14 am

          once you get here, you’ll be so glad you moved!! the trip might be a little rocky, though. 🙂

          Reply

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