A steady stream of trackback spam sent me to Typepad's setting to disable trackbacks on 58 pages of posts. While I was working behind the scenes, the myriad of settings sucked me in. Before I knew it, I had opened up SEO, picked a new design, and revamped my categories. Each post now has Facebook and Pinterest buttons for easy sharing.
Some settings are easy to change or rearrange - others are a bit more complicated. My biggest mess? Categories. Five years of posts have been renamed, combined, deleted, and more specifically labeled.
If I were to begin a blog again (friendly advice for aspiring or novice bloggers) I would come prepared with category titles. Specific ones. Not just "Children", but Child #1, Child #2, etc. Not just "Performances", but ballet, music, theater, etc. Not just "Reading", but books for children, books for moms, etc.
If I were to begin again, I would make categories for each major holiday, not just "holidays".
Instead of "seasonal", I would separate this into the four seasons.
If I were to begin again I would give more thought to posting more frequently in specific categories rather than weekly dump posts that run the gamut.
If I were to begin again I would give more thought to providing only photos of performances rather than video clips, (because I am uncomfortable leaving up clips on YouTube longer than a few months). I delete them, and leave blog readers (including me and my own family) staring at black boxes that were once videos.
Something else I learned? How to sign-in to comment on someone else's blog using the Typepad sign-in instead of pretending I am with Blogger. It took me five years to get around to asking my husband to figure this our for me!
I am not yet done reorganizing, but my online chronicle has come a long way with a few hours of work. Click around and take a look! Hope it's a little easier to find what you are looking for!
