Blog Audit Challenge 2020

Welcome back for the final month of challenges for the Blog Audit Challenge 2020!

I hope you did well with the November challenges. Remember to link up your progress reports in the Link Up on the 5th December.

Each month we'll concentrate on a different area of our blogs.

Life is strange for most of us this year with Coronavirus, Lock-downs, etc... If you fall behind with the monthly tasks don't worry. Just catch up when you can. This challenge lasts the whole year.

The Challenges:

January- Plan of action

February- Information pages

March- The trimmings

April- Design

May- SEO

June- Links

July- Quality content

August- Content gaps

September- Developing readership

October- Get social

November- Press and collaborations

December- Know your stats

Monthly link ups

In order to keep us all on track, and give us a way to see each others progress, I'll be hosting link ups on the first Saturday of every month where participants can share their links and discuss their progress.

#BlogAuditChallenge2020

December Challenges

We did it! We're now in the home stretch. Thank you to those of you that have joined me in this adventure over the course of this year. This month we'll be taking a closer look at how we've progressed during the Blog Audit Challenge 2020.

You guessed it, our focus for December is on know your stats.

The December challenges:

1. Check your analytics

Whilst most blogging platforms have their own built in stats section where you can view pageviews etc... taking a more in-depth look at the analytics of your site can work wonders. Google Analytics is free to use and offers some great insight into the workings of your site. Check your stats with them here: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/

Yes pageviews are important. Increasing the traffic to your site should be one of your top priorities as a blogger. Having good traffic to your blog can be a great way to secure sponsorship and other benefits too so the higher the better.

Pageviews aren't the only stat you should be looking at though. Another important stat you should consider is the session duration of your visitors. How long are people staying on your site when they visit? Again, the higher the better. You want to keep your bounce rate to a minimum, and ideally have visitors clicking from one blog post to another... to another.

If you remember we discussed this back in the June challenges when our topic for the month was targeted to links. A good place to check to see what internal links are working on your blog is the "user flow" which will show you the post that brought the visitor to your blog and which posts they then clicked on from there up until they left your site. Once you do this you will then know which older posts you can improve to increase session duration for your site.

You might also like: Want To Increase Your Blog Traffic? Ways To Upgrade Old Blog Posts

With analytics you can go further into demographics of your visitors, interests, location, the technology they use to view your site, and more. All of which is information you can use to improve your blog.

If you're new to analytics, or even if you've used it before, I suggest taking at least the beginners course offered by Google at Analytics Academy. It's completely free, doesn't take much time to do, and teaches quite a lot about the different elements of the analytics dashboard, why they are important and how to use them. You can even earn yourself a free certificate of completion to add to your CV. Here's mine:

Google Analytics for Beginners certificate of completion for Jo Linsdell

2. Use your stats to plan for the new year

Where is your traffic coming from?

Which are your most popular blog posts?

Which are your least popular posts?

How can you improve your bounce rate and user flow?

Is your blog mobile friendly?

What worked? What didn't?

Use what you've learnt during the Blog Audit Challenge 2020 and from studying your blog statistics to build a solid plan for your blog for 2021.

3. Plan your content calendar for January

Map out the blog posts you intend to create for publishing to your blog in January so you can start the new year with a bang. You can of course, plan further months too if you wish.

Take into consideration information like "which days get the most traffic" when scheduling posts for publication.

Also consider how you promote your blog posts and use social media to build your blog brand. Think about what changes you could make, new sites you could try out, etc...

You might also like: 108 Book Blogs To Follow

Free downloads: You can grab copies of all the extra materials for the Blog Audit Challenge 2020 for free here.

Save the Date!

The monthly link up post for sharing your December progress will be on January 2021.

You might also like: Exploring CTA's: Different Types of Calls To Action To Use in Your Blog Posts

Don't forget to promote your participation in the Blog Audit Challenge 2020 by using the following graphic in any blog posts you do connected with the challenge along with a link back to this site.

Blog Audit Challenge 2020 hosted by @JoLinsdell at www.JoLinsdell.com

The Ultimate Guide for Book Bloggers

Disclosure: The FTC Disclosure Provision is a law that requires influencers to disclose when they are being paid to promote a product or service. So please know that if I'm not making money through affiliate links/sponsored content on the post you're currently reading, it's an oversight on my part and will be corrected soon. Read the full disclosure about all the legal stuff here.

Whether you're just considering getting started as a book blogger, are new to the book blogging community, or even if you've been running a book blog for a while, this post is for you!

Welcome to the ultimate guide for book bloggers. It's packed full of information and tips to help you be the best book blogger you can be.

I've divided all the information into categories to make it easier to find what you're looking for.

Book Blogging Community

Link Ups

If you're looking for some book blog link ups to participate in Never Enough Novels has a good list at https://neverenoughnovels.com/2018/04/04/list-of-book-blog-link-ups/. Joining in link ups can be a great way to meet other book bloggers, discover new books, and increase traffic to your own book blog at the same time.

Lovely Audiobooks does a monthly link up at https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/the-monthly-book-blogger-link-up/. It's not just for audiobook reviews either. Any book reviews are welcome. (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active)

Emily the Book Nerd lists 10 link ups for book bloggers in this post at http://www.emilythebooknerd.com/2019/09/10-blog-party-link-ups-every-book.html

Networking

Connect with other book bloggers and get more involved in the book blogging community. At https://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/05/108-book-blogs-to-follow.html you'll find 108 book blogs to follow to get you started.

Are you new to book blogging or thinking about getting started? Still not sure if book blogging is for you? Check out this collaboration post about why we love the book blogging community at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2019/09/why-we-love-book-blogging-community.html

In this guest post hosted by Not So Modern Girl https://notsomoderngirl.com/2021/10/14/make-connections-book-blogging-community/ about How to Make Connections in the Book Blogging Community Carol gives a great breakdown of ways you can reach out and connect more with the book blogging community.

Making Money With Your Book Blog

Fancy getting paid to read books? This post at https://fattenthewallet.com/get-paid-to-read-books-online/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active) by Fatten the Wallet lists 7 sites that pay you to read books. Even better news is that it includes sites for every level so whether you're a new book blogger or a more experienced book reviewer you should be able to find a site for you.

Interested in diving into affiliate marketing? Wonderfully Bookish has you covered at https://wonderfullybookish.co.uk/affiliate-guide-for-book-bloggers/ Includes info on everything from how to disclose affiliate links to different affiliate programs for book bloggers.

You can find more advice about affiliate marketing for book bloggers at https://whatshotblog.com/affiliate-marketing-for-book-bloggers/. What's Hot covers deep links, banner ads etc...

ARCs and Review Copies

That Bookish Brunette gives a nice overview of what ARCs are and where to get them at https://www.thatbookishbrunette.com/arcs-101-guide-to-advanced-reader-copies/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active)

BooksNest covers the basics of ARCs at https://booksnest.co.uk/post/how-to-request-arcs-from-publishers/ and even includes sample templates for what to write in your message to request an ARC from a publisher.

Prefer audiobooks? Check out this post for where to find free audiobooks https://www.jolinsdell.com/2019/09/exploring-audiobooks-where-to-find-free.html

Lovely Audiobooks also has a post about getting free audiobook review copies at https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/how-to-get-free-audiobook-review-copies/

When it comes to review copies it's always best to let authors and publishers know what you will and will not review, and the best ways to go about getting a review. In her post Review Policies: A Blogger’s Perspective Sifa Poulton gives good advice about what to include in your review policy.

The Ultimate Guide to Book Blogging: Tips and Resources to be the best Book Blogger EVER!

Book Blogging How To

Just getting started in your book blogging adventure? Suggested Reads gives a good introduction on how to start a book blog at https://suggestedreads.com/how-to-start-a-book-blog-beginners/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active)

The Uncorked Librarian also does a great overview for beginner book bloggers in her post at https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/book-blogging-how-to-start-a-book-blog/ and has a mountain of other information and tips for book bloggers at https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/book-blogging-tips-and-resources/ A must read! You'll want to click on all the links in the list.

Not sure what to post to your book blog? Book blogging can be so much more than just book reviews. Check out this post I did with 101 blog post ideas for book bloggers for inspiration https://www.jolinsdell.com/2020/10/101-blog-post-ideas-for-book-bloggers.html

Looking to improve your book blog? Join the Blog Audit Challenge 2020 https://www.jolinsdell.com/2020/01/blog-audit-challenge-2020.html

Learn blogging terms in this post https://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/10/blogging-terms-new-bloggers-should-know.html

Find out the ways you can give some love to your older blog posts and increase traffic to your book blog at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2019/04/want-to-increase-your-blog-traffic-ways.html

Effective Call's To Action, or CTA's, guide your visitors to take action. Learn more about the different types of CTA's you can use at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2019/04/exploring-ctas-different-types-of-calls.html

Book blogging can be stressful at times. Blossoms and Bullet Journals talks about how to reduce ARC related stress in this post at https://blossomsandbulletjournals.wordpress.com/2018/10/23/how-to-reduce-arc-related-stress/ (Update 23/5/2026 this site is now set to private)

As with most things in life, you only realise certain things after you've started. That applies to blogging too. Find out what book bloggers which they knew at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/03/what-book-bloggers-wish-they-knew.html

Book Bumblings is always a great source of information but this post listing the book blogging tools they use most at http://www.bookbumblings.com/blogging-toolkit-bookblogwrimo/ is well worth bookmarking. (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active)

Find tips and tricks for a more productive you at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/03/ways-to-super-charge-your-productivity.html

A lot of work goes into creating, maintaining, and marketing a blog. There are a few things you can do to make it easier though. https://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/03/quick-tips-about-blogging-from-book.html

Learn bookish lingo at https://feedyourfictionaddiction.com/2017/02/book-bloggers-guide-acronyms-terms-slang.html thanks to this great list by Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

Vicky Who Reads takes you through the steps of how to write a book review at https://vickywhoreads.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/where-to-start-in-writing-a-book-review-blogging-advice/

Want to go more in-depth about what to do and not do when reviewing a book, then check out this post https://lithub.com/13-common-mistakes-in-book-reviewing-and-how-to-avoid-them/ by Literary Hub about common mistakes in book reviewing and how to avoid them.

Find more info on the what, how and why of book reviews at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2016/09/book-reviews-what-why-and-how-webinar.html

Bored of the same old same old? Find inspiration to get more creative with your book reviews at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2019/06/ways-to-write-more-creative-book-reviews.html and stand out from the crowd.

Learn how to write an audible review at https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/how-to-write-an-audible-review/ courtesy of Lovely Audiobooks

As with pretty much anything in life there are always a few people that spoil things for the rest of us. Book blogging is no exception. Check out this discussion post about trusting book bloggers at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2019/06/book-reviews-can-you-trust-book-bloggers.html

A media kit is a powerful tool that all bloggers should have. Find out more about why and what to include in yours at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/12/media-kits-what-is-media-kit-and-why-do.html

Discover the elements that should be included in every blog post you publish at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2021/08/things-that-should-be-in-every-blog-post.html

Social Media for Book Bloggers

Instagram

Are you part of/planning on joining the world of Bookstagram? Me Otherwise does a fantastic breakdown of the hashtags you need to kill it as a Bookstagrammer at https://www.meotherwise.com/hashtags-for-books-on-instagram-bloggers/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active). She even divides them all into categories making it super easy to find the best ones for your Instagram content. These hashtags can be used on other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook too for you'll really want to bookmark this one!

Not sure what to post as a Bookstagrammer? Check out these awesome ideas from Word Revel at http://wordrevel.com/b101-props-are-not-required/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active). As the title of the blog post states, props are not required.

L.M. Durand shares 5 tips you should keep in mind to grow your Bookstagram at https://lmdurand.com/5-things-you-should-keep-in-mind-to-grow-your-bookstagram/

Unbound Pages has some good tips to help you schedule a month of Bookstagram posts in one day at http://unboundpages.com/how-to-schedule-a-month-of-bookstagrams-in-one-day/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active). Perfect for those of you without a lot of free time.

Alison in Bookland gives insight into whether to use a personal or business account for your Bookstagram at https://alisoninbookland.com/2019/08/07/is-is-worth-making-your-bookstagram-account-into-a-creator-account/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active)

The Riverside Library has an amazing post that breaks down Bookstagram hashtags by post type at https://theriversidelibrary.com/2019/09/03/100-bookstagram-hashtags-by-post-type/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active) making it super easy to find the right hashtag for your post.

Pinterest can be a powerhouse for driving traffic to your book blog and one great way to leverage it is to be part of group boards. Reading in Stilettos has done a great post breaking the lists down into categories at https://readinginstilettos.com/pinterest-group-boards-for-book-blogger/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active). The post includes; general book related boards, book review boards, book blogger boards and group boards with specific book themes.

New to Pinterest and not sure where to start? In this post at https://bookishhedgemom.com/using-pinterest/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active) The Bookish Hedgemom takes you through the various steps she took to get started in her beginners guide to Pinterest for book bloggers.

Another good post about Pinterest for beginners is by My Bookish Banter at https://mybookishbanter.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/pinterest-101-how-to-get-started-on-pinterest/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active)

Twitter

Cat on the Bookshelf gives a great list of hashtags for book bloggers to use on Twitter in this post at https://catonthebookshelf.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/the-guide-to-twitter-hashtags-for-new-book-bloggers/

Facebook

Lovely Audiobooks discusses being a book blogger on Facebook at https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/facebook-for-book-bloggers/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active) A great introductions to Facebook pages and groups.

Youtube

Part of the Booktube community? Get a more professional look and learn how to add your logo to your YouTube videos at https://www.jolinsdell.com/2018/10/how-to-add-logo-to-your-youtube-videos.html

Goodreads

New to Goodreads? Book Bumblings gives a good introduction in how to get started at http://www.bookbumblings.com/goodreads-101/ (Update 23/5/2026 - link no longer active)

The Ultimate Guide for Book Bloggers: Everything you need to know about Book blogging

You might also like: 101 Blog Post Ideas For Book Bloggers

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This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning, I get a commission if you purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Read the full disclosure here.

2020 Challenges: October Update

October has definitely had it's highs and lows. The major low point has been health related.

I've been ill for a few weeks now. I literally left the house once in weeks but that's all it took. A simple walk in the park. We were outside, wearing masks, and kept our distance. I got ill anyway. The joys of an immune system that struggles.

Anyway, due to the current situation it was more complicated to get in touch with my doctor and unfortunately I tend to downwards spiral quite quickly.

After almost a week I managed to get tested in a drive in. It took a while as for most places you need to book online first but none had spaces available. In the end I found a drive in where you could just show up and wait inline.

We got up at 5:30am and were in line by 6am. The line was already huge by then. Test was done around 11:30am and then just had to wait for the results. All this without getting out of the car. It took them 30 minutes to do the test and give me my results. The good news is that I tested negative for Covid (relieved!). The doctors at the drive in were all super nice and did a great job. These people are amazing!

The bad news is I'm still ill. I'm on some antibiotics and hoping they do some miracle work soon. Unfortunately all these Covid cases make normal healthcare harder to get at the moment. It's all a bit complicated this year.

All this means I've basically been in bed all month with a fever, cough, and other symptoms. I also completely lost my voice. Fingers crossed things start getting better soon.

You might also like: Blog Audit Challenge 2020: October Challenges

The Blog Audit Challenge 2020

This is a challenge I created aimed at improving our blogs. You can find full details here in case you missed the introduction post.

I do have some awesome news to share. Last month I told you about how September saw the highest number of views to my site since it's creation. Well, October did even better! I'm thrilled with the results. Over 30K pageviews in just one month. That basically means my monthly traffic has doubled since the start of the year (January had just over 15K). I hope you're noticing an increase in your own traffic too.

Now on to the October goals. The focus was to do with getting social.

The October challenges:

1. Increase traffic to your blog

Task 1 : I've been trying to share my content more on my Twitter and my Pinterest (my main social media profiles). I really need to get better at sharing more often to my Facebook page though. I did make some progress with that in the first week of the month but then all my health problems started.

Task 2: I already have several click and share buttons to multiple social media channels on my blog posts. I do plan on updating them though. G+ still features as one of the main share options.

I personally love Sumo.com and use it on this site as it allows for image sharing as well as plain text. It's free too! The only problem is that recently it stopped working for sharing the image on Twitter. I'm not sure if this is due to a Sumo update or a Twitter update. I'll need to look into this some more in the future.

2. Increase engagement on your blog

Task 1: Comment on other blogs.

Again based on the first week of this month, I was back taking part in comment threads in Facebook groups and on Twitter. This really helped increase the number of comments left on my posts. It was great to be back with my blogging friends in these thread too. It's a nice way to keep in touch with them too.

Task 2: Link to other blogs in your content.

I need to improve on my external linking. Once I'm better I plan on going through my older posts and updating with relevant external links to make them better.

Task 3: Make sure your social media channels are set up and that you're interactive with your audience.

I tend to stick to Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. The latter of which really needs some more work. I don't use my Facebook page as much as I probably should. I've also been thinking about getting my Instagram profile back up and running. I already have an account I just haven't used it in a while.

Task 4: Share your content.

This is something I'm working on. I started making video pins and gifs for sharing on Pinterest. I plan to do more of these for other blog posts too. Alternative graphics and media makes a post more pinnable.

The Audiobook Challenge

This challenge is was created by Eline from Lovely Audiobooks. I'm doing it as a year long challenge.

Zero new audiobooks to add this month.

The Audiobook Challenge 2020 Progress Report

Audiobooks listened to in October:

The A to Z Reading Challenge

Next up is the A to Z Reading Challenge.

Just one book added this month.

Books read this month:

C- Chocolat by Joanne Harris

You might also like: 101 Blog Post Ideas For Book Bloggers

Armed with a Bingo

I'm also doing the Armed with a Bingo challenge.

Chocolat lets me tick off another square for this challenge too. I'm also making progress with the first book in the Assassin's Creed series, Renaissance, which will get me the 500+ Pages once I'm done. I'm currently at 133/516.

Books read this month:

Chocolat by Joanne Harris (a book with a food included in the title)

You might also like: Exploring Audiobooks: Where To Find Free Audiobooks

How are you doing with your 2020 Challenges? Are you taking part in the Blog Audit Challenge? Have you read any of these books? Join the conversation in the comments section.