“Nothing I write ever compares to what’s going on in my mind.”

I love that quote because I think it epitomizes what most bloggers feel.  We have so many wonderful ideas, thoughts and plans for our blogs and we sometimes (or often) fall short of the image we create in our minds.

Today, we are going to give you five general goodness tips for your blog, plus we will link you to five tips we’ve given you in the past.  We hope you will use these tips to guide you towards achieving the blog you have pictured in your mind.

Five new blogging tips…

Check your links – We all write posts and include links to external sites or even to pages within our own blogs.  Sometimes these links go defunct, get removed, or get relocated.  While it may be a huge undertaking to check all of your posts one by one there is an “app” for that!  Visit Broken Link Checker and enter your sites url. You can search for district broken links or all occurrences of dead links. Depending on the size of your site this may take a few minutes. When you’ve collected your data go in and remove or update any links that no longer work.

Participate in a Link-up – The best way to get people to visit your blog is to let them know you have something worth looking at.  Blog link-ups are a great way to spread the word about a great post you wrote. Here at AWB, we do a link-up every Sunday called Voulez-vous Partager which is French for “Will You Share?”  Each week, we invite you to share your best post from the previous week.  But…we’re not the only ones!  Many blogs offer link-ups in a variety of different styles, genres and frequency.  Visit some and share your links today!

Leave a Comment – You know how good it makes you feel when you receive a comment on your blog.  Return the feeling by leaving comments on blogs that you visit.  Plus, it’s a great way to start building bloggy friendships.

Attend a Blog Conference – Blogging conferences are a great place to go to get content ideas, technical help, and to build friendships and partnerships with other bloggers.  From BlogHer to Blissdom to Bloggy Boot Camp, conferences run the gamut of sizes, prices and topics.  We’re partial to #AWBU because it is small, intimate and focuses not only on improving your blog, but with connecting you with other bloggers from around Arkansas.  We’ve just opened registration for AWBU13.  Check it out!

Step Away from Your Computer – Seriously! The best way to develop new content is to experience life. If you spend your whole life behind your computer screen you will never be able to bring new and exciting things to your blog

And now, some tips and ideas you may have missed in the past…

5 One-minute Ways to Clean-up and Organize Your Blog – Back in January we ran {Kick-start My Blog} which was aimed at helping you clean-up, organize and revitalize your blog.  Check out our 5 one-minute tips – or better yet; check out the entire Kick-start series.

Turning Pro: How to turn your blogging skills into a new career – Stephanie McCratic of EvolvedMommy shares some great tips for taking your blog from a hobby to a career.

Getting the Most out of SEO – SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is a term bloggers love to throw around but not many of us truly understand what it is or how to make it work for us.  Jasmine Banks of The Brokins teaches us how to get the most out of SEO.

5 Types of Blog Posts That Will Spice Up Your Blog – Variety is the spice of life and Jacqueline Wolven give us some posting ideas to add spice to our blogs.

10 Reasons You Need a Facebook Fan Page – Hopefully, you have one but if you don’t, now is a great time to make one! Check out our post and get motivated to start a Facebook fan page!

We hope you enjoy the activities we have planned for this month. We will be watching your blogs intently as they grow and transform. We will be providing a linky at the end of each Better Your Blog post so that you can keep up with the others as well. And don’t forget to provide us with feedback, because it will help us to create posts, themes and challenges that focus on the things you want and need to learn!

Also, if you participated in our February Matchmaking, you have been sent an email with your Blogger Match. Use these tips to help your Bloggy Match Better Her Blog!

Will you be Bettering Your Blog this month? If you have not signed up with our Linky, do it below so we can keep up with your progress. Please link to your MAIN page and only sign up once.