Image courtesy of Flickr user inf

My new blogging mentor, Kelli from 3 Boys and a Dog has been super awesome about helping me as I set on the path to really learn how to use my blog.  To bring to my readers all the things I love-God, my family, sewing, tutorials and awesome stuff I find as I wander around the Web.  She sent me a starting off to-do list which I’m working on crossing things off.  I thought it might be helpful for other new bloggers who are just starting to learn the ropes like me!

1. Add Google Friend Connect to your blog.  This one is new to me, I’ve seen it on a few blogs but I’m not really familiar with the hows/whys of using it…YET!
2. Go to your Twitter page, and make sure you are following everyone who follows you.  A good tool for this is Social Oomph I found out tonight.  They have an “auto follow” feature which will automatically do this for you.  They have a bunch of other tools as well, but so far this is the only one I’m using.  Also, when you make a connection with someone and get chatting, follow them-I’m sure they’ll have some awesome tweets to share!
3. Whatever your niche is (crafting, frugal blogging, mommy blogging, etc.), go to google and type in the main keyword.  Mine for example, is “sewing”.  The first Google result is Sew, Mama, Sew.  Make sure whatever comes up for you is first in your reader.  I’ve been a long time reader of SMS, so this one was easy for me!
4. Google Analytics.  I admit, this one is another mind boggler for me.  I’m not the most tech savvy person out there (thank God for my friend, Ema, who does all of my tech geeky stuff for me-I’d be lost without her!), and while I know it will be interesting to see where all my readers are coming from and what they are looking at, well, I have alot to learn!
5. Organization.  Definitely NOT one of my strong points.  Most of the time my ADD takes over and I flit from shiny thing to shiny thing without ever accomplishing much of anything!  I’m going to check out Google Reminders today and see what I think of that, as a paper calendar doesn’t work well for me, I forget to look at it.  Do you have a recommendation of something that really helps you stay organized? Please share!
6. Describe your blog in 140 characters.  Kelli says this is not JUST for Twitter, but also for other places that just want a “blurb” about your blog.  I’m still working on this one.  It’s a definite challenge for me!
7. Create a list of keywords you use in your blog.  I’m guessing at this point that this is for beginning to “SEO” my blog-stands for Search Engine Optimization-so people can find me! She recommends www.gorank.com to help decide what keywords to use.  Then use at least one of those words in every post.  Each month, check your Google Analytics and see what words people are using to find you.  Start using THOSE keywords from that point and recheck it once a month or so.

As you can see, this is a pretty good starting point for a new blogger! Kelli has a Blogging Basics series on her blog that I’ll be delving into as well, but I have to finish my to-do list first!