I never really thought that I would be blogging ( with dyslexia), let alone trying to increase my readership, stats, or trying to get together enough information for a book. So I am happy to announce that I have rejoined the learning world and signed up for WordPress class. I will spend the next few weeks working on assignments that should make my blog a better place for you the reader. I hope to gain some insight and knowledge on how to better focus my goals and increase my readership.
The assignment for this today is to explain to all of you what my goals are for this blog and where I want to be at the end of the year. My goals are pretty simple and are two-fold. First I want to highlight, inform, share and raise awareness of the wonders of the place that I live. West Virginia gets pretty bad rap from other states. It was quite offensive when WVU’s Mountaineers Played in the big twelve, Orange bowl last year and on National TV a sports caster had terrible things to say about our state. Second I would like to at some point publish a regional cooking/ canning book. I find that regional foods from my area are not talked about much and the art of canning/ food preservation is a passion of mine. I want to combine the two and in some way and share great food/ great photos/ and a regional feel to my story.
Route 55 Seneca Rocks, WV
The things that I hope to accomplish with this class are: To increase my Followers to 500 by July… about an increase of about 200. To increase my amount of canning and food posts to 15 over the next three months. To take more and better regional photos. Then finally to get freshly pressed… this a WordPress.com goal.
Home made apple butter
I also want to learn if I need to use a different Theme for this blog so that I could post my cooking and canning under one heading and my photos, stories and family adventurer under other headings. what do you think? I will need all of your help along the way. I will need your feed back and support and maybe one day you all will be able to say that you got to see the before and after of what my blog becomes. So the new adventure begins and I will tag all of my class posts with the numbers 201. So that they will be easy to fallow and I can track them from today to the end of the year when I get to write about what I actually did accomplish. Thanks for following and I hope to post something about my assignment every week so you can see what we are learning.
West Virginia Mountain Mama 
I’ve been following you for a long time, so I can’t help the count, but I’ll see if I can’t get some folks on Twitter interested 🙂
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Dan thanks I think I have set a realistic goal and I know that just taking the class has jumped my visits and I gained to new followers last night..So I am off and running. I wish I had a smart phone so I could be on twitter and link to them but for now I only have the facebook link and I may change that to a blog facebook account just like you did.. but one step at a time
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Most people still prefer to follow me on Facebook instead of the blog page that’s why I end up “sharing” the stuff I post there. I shared this post on Twitter I hope it helps because you have a great blog 🙂
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Blushing and thanks
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Good luck! I have wondering about which theme is best myself. I guess trial and error until we get it right. 🙂
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I have not found very many that work well with a rustic or country feel.. the one I use is about as good as I could find it is actually called adventure. It is a theme for travel that I just happened to work on to get a more country feel with.Let me know if you find some thing that is free and cool
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Will do. You do the same please!
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Congrats on the new venture in blogging! One great way to build your readership is social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.). It helps get your name “out there”. Another great way to gain new readers is through visiting and commenting on different blogs in your interest (WV/canning). It helps build a community 🙂
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Caitlin I am working on adding more blogs to my collection.I do have a Facebook link but I do not use a cell phone( at home most of the time)so twitter maybe out and I am not sure how to add Pinrest? or just dont know how to link it to my blog? so much to learn!!!!
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There is so much to learn and it definitely can feel overwhelming at first, but small steps will get you there!
Google is my best friend when it comes to finding out how to add things to my wordpress page.
Here’s some information on how to add a Pinterest button: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/adding-a-pinterest-follow-button-on-blog?replies=24
Twitter is definitely one of those social media sites where it’s harder to “connect” with other bloggers. There are so many updates, but you could make an account and just access it from your computer as well. (I actually don’t have Twitter on my cell phone because it’s too much to keep up with)!
If I can be any help, let me know 🙂
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wvmountainmama or appalachianmountainmama would define a little better where you are located if you were looking to promote our state. I enjoy your blog because in today’s time we are so far from the things you write about, but we need to not loose where we have come from, the things that have truly made our state a great place to be- her people, her beauty and her resources. I enjoy that you live at a slower pace, love your family and live simple.
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Lisa funny that you liked the WVmountainmama name the title to my first blog three years ago was mountainmamaWV…it is not not available because I still own it on a different site…but I will think about expanding the name some..I also want to redefine my tag one more also…that is my next project thanks for reading Lisa love you all to
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I love your idea of a book of food preserving. My stepmother bottled her apricots for years and they were so much nicer than the canned ones you buy in the shops. She also still makes her own jam which is a big hit in our house. I think where you live looks beautiful and I love the photographs you post.
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I admire your efforts at growing your blog. I am lucky to get a post up when I do. I am a huge procrastinator. I do agree with Caitlin about social media, which boggles my mind, and commenting. Wishing you success on your goals!
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I think Caitlin is right, social media will help a lot. I think you would get a lot of use from Pinterest and Twitter. Can’t wait to see how your learning adventure progresses!
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Wow found your blog on a referral from one I follow. It is perfect timing for me, as I am at point of refocus after just over four years. You give me ideas and inspire me to develop a strategy to move forward.
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Wow I am so happy that you found me…we can work together looking for ideas and still hopefully fine time to get the extra posts in also…nice to meet you
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