Bloggiesta - Because reading is better than real life

Mini-Challenges are the heart and soul of Bloggiesta.

Here you can find links to all of the mini-challenges we’ve had over the past few years. Feel free to visit any and all of them! Use them as resources for doing a little sprucing up between events and definitely make sure to comment on the blogs who’ve put these great posts together.

Remember though that all mini-challenges that provided giveaways at the time of a Bloggiesta event are now closed. Don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of all of the great knowledge out there though!

Challenges listed by event date:

Challenges listed by category:

Organization and Time Management

Amanda from On a Book Bender teaches us how to be organized by scheduling posts, making lists and using templates. (@BookBender)
Trish from Love Laughter and a Touch of Insanity shows us how she uses a Blogger Journal and Calender to stay organized and keep her “blogging brain” with her at all times. (@TriniCapini)
Brianna from The Book Vixen explains how to use a nifty little app called Pocket to save things to read later. (@TheBookVixen)
Joy from Joy’s Book Blog teaches us How to Use Evernote to get and stay organized. (@joyweesemoll)
Suey from It’s All About Books shares some ideas on how to Print Your Blog. (@SueySays)
Need a new way to actually compose your posts? How about giving Windows Live Writer a try. Jacinda of The Reading Housewives of Indiana (@ReadingWifeJac) will show you what that’s all about in this mini challenge: What is Windows Live Writer and How Can it Help You?
Email best practices and solutions. at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? – Email out of control? Not staying on top of it?
Cheat Sheets at There’s A Book – Blogging takes time & I’m sure we’d all love to blog faster. Using a cheat sheet is just one idea of how to save time.
Digital Decluttering hosted by Jessica from Books: A True Story (@BooksATrueStory)
Bloggiesta Master To Do List hosted by Suey from It’s All About Books (@SueySays)
How to Choose Which Bloggers to Follow hosted by Dalene from Date With a Book (@Datesbooks)
Tif from Tif Talks Books: Getting Organized with Evernote and More(@tiftalksbooks)
Shelly from Read Sleep Repeat: Productivity and Organization (@shellysrambles)
Brianna from The Book Vixen: What is Windows Live Writer? (@TheBookVixen)
Stormy from Book. Blog. Bake. shares her time management hints with us.
Kassiah from Pretty Sassy Cool has a tutorial on Getting Organized with Trello.
Amanda from On a Book Bender challenges us to Simplify Blogging.
Brittany from Book Bumblings shows us how to Create a Blogging Schedule.
Belle from Ms. Bookish shows us how to Create a Treasure Trove of Blogging Ideas.
Andi from Estella’s Revenge has some ideas on how to Organize your Feed Reader.
How to Use Mention from Brittany at Book Bumblings
Creating Post Templates for More Streamlined Blogging from Trish at Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity
Time for a Blog Roll Overhaul from Laurie at Bay State Reader’s Advisor
Let’s Get Organized from Jessica at Blushing Book Blog
Aloi from Guiltless Reading: Clean Up Your Email
Brittany from Book Bumblings: Creating and Writing Processes to Stay Organized
Katie from Doing Dewey: Planning Your Posts
Katrina at Bookish Things: Keeping Your Team Organized with Asana
Andrea at The Overstuffed Bookcase: Bullet Journaling for Book Bloggers
Pamela at A Writer’s Tales: Getting Organized with Blog and School
Aloi at Guiltless Reading: Make Your Own Book Map

Blogging Success and Improvement

Tanya from Girlxoxo lists 20 (plus) Discussion Post Ideas to get our creative juices rolling. (@iAteApie)
Jen from YA Romantics encourages us to Step Out of Our Blogging Comfort Zone!(@JenRyland)
Smash from Smash Attack Reads shows how fun and informative it is to Use a Website Grader. (@SmashAttackAsh)
Maria from Once Upon a Story encourages us to Get Personal and write posts about ourselves. (@NoVaLibraryMom)
Jessica from The Bluestocking Society shares with us Six Techniques to Revitalize Old Content from your blog. (@thebluestocking)
Melanie from Melanie’s Musings tells us how easy it is to Give and Get Great Guest Posts. (@MelanieFoust)
Sheila from Book Journey gives tips and ideas on how to Build Your Blog Audience.(@BookJourney)
Does Mr. Linky make you scratch your head in confusion? Kelly from The Book Butcher (@TheBookButcher) will solve all those mysteries in her post: A Mr. Linky Tutorial. No more excuses on staying away from this cool feature.
It’s time to get organized and draw more readers to your blog with Charlotte from Charotte’s Library (@charlotteslib) as she teaches us how to make Themed Pages on our blogs.
We can never talk enough about commenting. Let’s learn more about it… specifically How to Build Readers for Your Blog Through Commenting, a mini challenge found over at Sheila’s from Book Journey (@bookjourney).
How are your sidebars looking? Are they too cluttered? Are they too boring? Head on over to visit Penelope at The Reading Fever (@ReadingFever) for answers in this challenge: Sidebar Help: What DoYou Really Need!
Are you feeling in a bit of a blog fog? Well, languish no longer! Emily from Emily’s Reading Room (@emsreadingroom) has Eight Ways to Freshen Up Your Content!
There’s a brand new (at least to me!) tool out there that makes giveaways really easy. If you want to learn more about this feature, be sure to check out this challengeWhat is Rafflecopter? by Julie from The Competitive Bibliomaniac. (@bambbles)
Clean Up Your Feed Reader at Book Lady’s Blog – Getting out from underneath the feed reader.
Labels and Tags at Beth Fish Reads – Using categories & labels to find what you’re looking for.
Show Off Your Best Content at Tempting Persephone – You have some great content. But can people find it?
Analyze Your Blog! at Bookish Ruth – Have you ever had your blog anaylzed? Now’s the chance!
Blog Directories at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile – Getting your blog listed in several blog directories.
Writing at Mother Reader – Be brave in your writing and push the limits of what your comfortable with.
Stats How-to’s at There’s A Book – Do you know what programs you can use to discover your stats and what the heck do they mean anyways?
Updating! at Devourer of Books – Got some old material? Taking time to update key pages and posts.
Brainstorming Topics at Jenn’s Bookshelves – Got nothing to say (not likely – that’s why you’re blogging in the first place!) but here is an opportunity to brainstorm blogging topics.
Alerts at Emily’s Reading Room – On vanity alerts.
Post Creation at Beth Fish Reads – Creating list and opinion posts.
Through a Visitor’s Eye: An awesome challenge from Amanda at On a Book Benderthat shows how to look at our blog in a new way and how to make sure you have everything you need for visitors. (@BookBender)
Marketing Your Blog hosted by Faye at A Daydreamer’s Thoughts (@daydreamin_star)
The B-Word: Branding from Amanda at On a Book Bender. (@bookbender)
Declutter Your Sidebar: Check out this challenge with lots of sidebar hints and helps from Debz at Debz Bookshelf. (@DebzBookshelf)
Cleaning Up Sidebar Content hosted by Tif at Tif Talks Books (@tiftalksbooks)
Clean Up Your Blog! hosted by Bloggiesta
Commenting and Networking brought to you by Tanya at Mom’s Small Victories (@momsvictories)
How to Host a Giveaway hosted by Kristen from The Book Monsters (@TheBookMonsters)
Brainstorming for Post Ideas hosted by Alysia from My Little Pocketbooks (@lilpocketbooks)
Shannon from River City Reading: Make Your Blog Pop with PicMonkey(@rivercityreadin)
Kelly from Pretty Little Reader: Are About Me Pages Necessary? (@PLReader)
April from The Steadfast Reader: Streamlining Your Blog: Elements of an Attractive and Readable Page (@steadfastreader)
Kami from Kami’s Library Thoughts: Backgrounds for Your Blog (@kamisthoughts)
Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness: Blog Post Bingo (@kimthedork)
Wesley from Library Educated brings us a tutorial on MailChimp. (@whoffs)
Stacy from The Novel Life teaches us how to work with a blog designer. (@thenovellife)
Add Personality to Your Blog from Ali at Ali’s Book Shelf
Kathleen from SMS NonFiction Book Reviews: Rafflecopter Giveaways

Technical Aspects of Blogging

Felicia from Geeky Bloggers Book Blog tells us all about Photo Copyrights in this mini challenge. (@thegeekyblogger)
Jenni Elyse from Jenni Elyse clears up the mystery that is Gravitars and Favicons! (@Jenni_Elyse)
Heidenkind from Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Books helps us deal with the changes that are happening with Feedburner and how to switch to a new RSS Feed. (@heidenkind)
Donna from Girl Who Reads shares loads of tips for setting up Guidelines and Policieson our blogs. (@Girl_Who_Reads)
Rikki from Rikki’s Teleidoscope teaches us some Basic Photo Editing skills in this mini challenge. (@Ailuah)
Kristen from The Book Monsters shows how fun and easy it is to Use Voki to create an animated avatar. (@TheBookMonsters)
Vicky from Books, Biscuits and Tea lists for us the differences between WordPress and Blogger to help you make a decision if you are thinking about switching. (@bookswithacuppa)
How to Create an Image Map from Monika at A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall.(@lovelybookshelf)
Do you have any idea what HTML even means? Would you love to learn a little about this computer code? Then be sure to check out The Top Ten of HTML Basicsbrought to you by Pam at Bookalicio.us. (@BookaliciousPam)
You know when you embed a YouTube video and it hangs over your sidebar, or your blog post? It’s too darn big! Now you can learn how to fix that in this post How To Embed a YouTube Video from Yiota from Splash of Our Worlds (@SplashOOWorlds)
The time has come for you to learn all about SEO! Check out this mini challenge Get Noticed by Search Enginesbrought to you by April from Good Books and Good Wine(@booksandwine)
It’s a perfect time during this Bloggiesta to get mobile! Learn how to do that withFlorinda from The 3 R’s Blog (@florinda_3rs) and her challenge: Mobilize!
If you have a WordPress blog and you need to learn more about plug-ins and widgets, then Jenni from Jenni Elyse (@Jenni_Elyse) and her challenge Plug-ins for WordPress Sites is where you’ll want to be.
The Book Vixen (@TheBookVixen) as added one more mini challenge to the list with a refresher course on how to back up your blog. Check it out here: Mini Challenge: Back Up Your Blog.
Mr Linky at Teach Mentor Texts – Not sure how to use Mr Linky? Not anymore you don’t.
RSS at Puss Reboots – What is RSS and how to make it so your feed is easily discoverable.
Google Forms at Devourer of Books – Do you find Google Forms confusing? They won’t be now.
Buttons and Banners at SMS Book Reviews – How do people make their own buttons and banners anyways?
Back-Up at Farm Lane Books – Do not lose it all! How to back up your blog.
Favicons & Gravatars at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? – What the heck are favicons and gravatars and why you should have them.
Anchor Text at GalleySmith – How to make the most out of your link love.
Copyright Protection at Bookalicious – There is nothing worse than seeing your post on somebody else’s blog. Talking about blog copyright and what you need to be doing to protect yourself.
404 Hunting at Karin’s Book Nook – The dreaded 404 error pages. It’s time to go on a dead link hunt!
Easy SEO Tweaks brought to you by Amanda from On a Book Bender (@BookBender)
Blogger Domain Help brought to you by Monika of A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall (@lovelybookshelf)
Alt Motives brought to you by Samantha from Spamantha (@CyV)
What is IFTTT and How Do I Use It? hosted by Brianna from The Book Vixen (@TheBookVixen)
Link Love: Give Good SEO hosted by Amanda from On a Book Bender (@BookBender)
How to Use Google Analytics hosted by Tanya from Girlxoxo
Favorite WordPress Plugins hosted by April from My Shelf Confessions (@shelfconfession)
Bette Lee from Bette Lee Crosby will help us to update SEO on old posts.
Shannon from River City Reading talks about affordable blog design.
Alysia from My Little Pocketbooks teaches us all about Thinglink.com.
Allison from The Book Wheel teaches us how to make anchor links. (@TheBookWheel)
Come and learn about browser extensions from Brianna at The Book Vixen.(@TheBookVixen)
Shannon from River City Reading helps us to Improve our Disqus Experience.
Alysia from My Little Pocketbooks shows us how to Retrieve Lost Comments from Disqus.
How to Build an Email List from Ashley at Nose Graze
Clean Up Your Email from Aloi at Guiltless Reading
How to Create a Back Up Email from Brianna at Book Vixen
Jeanene at Got My Book: Increase Readership & Engagement with a Wrap-up Post
Chelsea at Books for Thought: Tips & Tricks for Personalizing Your Blog Theme
Ashley at Nose Graze: Exactly What Does Your Web Host Do? (and what are they responsible for)

Social Media and Your Blog

Have you ever thought about making a Facebook page for your blog? Liza from Sockets and Lightbulbs (@brightcdns) has a challenge on How to Promote Your Blog Using Facebook. Now’s the time!
My guess is that by now, everyone’s heard of Pinterest. But did you know it can be for more than just recipes and craft projects? Joy from Joy’s Book Blog(@joyweesemoll) tells you all about how to use Pinterest to Promote Your Blog in this fun post.
To Twitter or not to Twitter… that is the question. Katie from Katie’s Book Blog(@katiesbookblog) has the answer in this Twitter and Your Blog mini challenge.
Make sure people can connect with you at all your online places. A fun way to do that is to add those cute social media icons to your page. Lisa from Adventures of 2.0(@TwoPointOhMy) has a Social Media Icon Tutorialgoing on for her Bloggiesta challenge.
Jump Start Your Traffic With StumbleUpon: Learn how this less well known tool can help you drive traffic to your blog from April at Good Books and Good Wine. (@booksandwine)
Vlogging Challenge brought to you by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews (@CelineNyx)
Amanda Shofner: How to Tackle Google+ (@amshofner)
Tamara from Traveling with T: Facebook For Your Blog? Yes or No? (@rockstar1023)
Wesley from Library Educated: Pinterest for Your Blog (@whoffs)
Katie from Doing Dewey: Using Social Media (@DoingDewey)
Rebecca from Love at First Book: Twitter List Tutorial (@RebeccaScags)
Wesley from Library Educated brings us a how to on social media etiquette.
Amanda Shofner has a challenge giving us even more lessons on Google+. She’s calling itGoogle+201. For last Bloggiesta’s first Google+ challenge, check out Google+101 here.(@amshofner)
Becca from I’m Lost in Books has many Instagram tips for us. (@imlostinbooks)
Suey from It’s All About Books has a Twitter Chat Tutorial.
How to Use Tweetdeck to Organize Twitter from Shannon at River City Reading
Turn Your Pins Into Rich Pins from Terri at Alexia’s Books and Such
Heather at Based on a True Story: Using Later to Schedule Instagram Posts
Roberta at It’s a Mystery: Pinterest-Friendly Blog Posts

Helps and Hints Specific to Book Bloggers

Are you spending too much time on reviews? In this challenge, Melanie from Melanie’s Musings (@MelanieFoust) gives you Five Tips to Write Reviews Faster
D.Ann from Overflowing Bookshelves shows us how to organize our books in a spreadsheet using Microsoft Access. (@dann_writes)
Hannah from Word Lily challenges us to Catch up on Reviews! (@Wordlily)
How about those reviews? Can we make them even better? In this post, Jessica from The Bluestocking Society (@thebluestocking) teaches us Five Ways to Make Your Reviews Stand Out.
Here’s a challenge by Janicu from Janicu’s Book Blog (@janicu) that will have you getting your Goodreads account in perfect shape… or getting started there if you’ve been pondering it and just haven’t jumped in quite yet: Goodreads Challenge.
Kai from Fiction State of Mind (@YogiKai) has a mini challenge about some different blog events and challenges you can find around the book blogosphere. It’s time to get involved and meet people!
What about review and contest policies? Do you have them? If not, Enna Isilee from Squeaky Books (@Enna_Isilee) will teach you all about how to write them over at her challenge: Policies.
Facing Your Edelweiss Fears from Shannon at River City Reading. (@rivercityreadin)
Organize Your Books! at Jenn’s Bookshelves – How do you organize your books? A book lovers dream!
Organizing Reviews: Learn how to use Excel spreadsheets to keep track of your reviews from Lauren at Lose Time Reading. (@losetimereading)
Book Charities: Allison from The Book Wheel has a challenge to encourages us to support some bookish charities. (@TheBookWheel)
How to Become a Book Depository Affiliate: Come and learn from Donna from Book Wookie!(@BookWookie)
Reviewing in Many Places: This flashback challenge from Shanyn at Chick Loves Litwill help you get organized and post your review in lots of places, not just on your blog. (@shanynlee)
Tricks for getting your review posted on Goodreads and Amazon hosted by Shanyn at Chick Loves Lit(@shanynlee)
Write Some Reviews! hosted by Bloggiesta
Organizing Your Books brought to you by Kate and Kristen from The Book Monsters (@TheBookMonsters)
Book Blogging Heroes hosted by Book Bloggers International (@bookbloggersint)
How to Host a Digital Book Club hosted by Rebecca from Love at First Book (@RebeccaScags)
How to Make Goodreads Work for You hosted by Brittany from The Book Addict’s Guide (@bookaddictguide)
50 Bookish Things To Do Before You Die hosted by Allison from The Book Wheel (@TheBookWheel)
Jessica from The Bluestocking Society: FTC Disclosure Requirements(@thebluestocking)
Lettie from Above Average Below Special: Tips and Tricks for NetGalley(@AABelow_Special)
Stacy from The Novel Life: Conferences and Blogging Classes (@thenovellife)
Katie from Doing Dewey has a challenge about requesting ARCs.
April from The Steadfast Reader gives some hints about writing a negative review. (@steadfastreader)
Stephanie from Cover 2 Cover shares her book organization tips with us. (@GoreLenore)
Aloi from Guiltless Reading encourages us to make a book map! (@guiltlessreader) Aloi also has an awesome blogger template giveaway going on for Bloggiesta. Be sure to check that out!
Lindsay from Nighttime Reading Center challenges us to Pin Your Author Interviews.
Stacy at The Novel Life shows us Eight Not-to-be Missed Podcasts.
Katie from Doing Dewey has a plan for tracking our Diversity Reading Goals.
Getting the Most Out of Challenges from Katie at Doing Dewey
Tips on Contacting Publishers from Karen at Kissin Blue Karen

Miscellaneous Blogging Help

Blogging Goals at My Friend Amy – The new year is a perfect time to reevaluate your blog.
Giving a Lending Hand at Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Books – Bloggiesta is about helping each other out. Take some time to meet new bloggers.
10 Things Bloggers Should Not Do at WordLily
Blogging Buddies at My Friend Amy – You should get one!
Elevator Pitch at Books, Movies, and Chinese Food – Do you have an elevator pitch? You should be able to talk about your blog easily.
Blogging Tips at Book Blather – Learn from the authorities. Take time out to learn some new blogging tips.
Google Reader Replacement Options: In light of the announcement that we are losing Google Reader soon,Jenn from The Picky Girl has listed some options for her mini challenge. (@picky_girl)
Getting to Know You: Join Suey from It’s All About Books in discovering one new blogger to connect with during this Bloggiesta event. (@SueySays)
Comment Love during Bloggiesta! hosted by Tanya Patrice at GirlXOXO (@iAteApie)
Coral from Book Bunny PR helps us to write five blog post ideas.
Amanda from Amanda Shofner tells us all about Storify and how it can help us.
Berls from Fantasy is More Fun brings us a challenge all about Flickr! (@BerlsS)
Katie from Doing Dewey teaches us all about Riffle. (@DoingDewey)
Jessica from The Bluestocking Society teaches us how to Create a Blog Style Guide.
Joy from Joy’s Book Blog teaches us How to Make Memes.
Tif from Tif Talks Books challenges us to re-discover some Past Bloggiesta Mini Challenges.
Digital Photography for Bloggers from Sarah at Puss Reboots
Understanding Image Copyrights from Elizabeth at Thoughts From an Evil Overlord
Suggestions and Helps for New Bloggers from Emily at Emily Reads Everything
Tasha from Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Books: Keeping Your Info Private
Emily from Emily Reads Everything: Bullet Journaling

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