#AtoZ Reflections

AtoZ Challenge is officially over and I must admit, I didn’t do a good job this year. I had too many distractions and not enough commitment to my AtoZ goals. Here are a few thoughts:

• AtoZ is a massive commitment–a themed post a day for a month; at least five daily visits to new bloggers as well as responding to comments. In past years, that has been a couple hours a day. That is why I again tweaked it to work for me, which meant I published about a post a week on a theme I started last year.
• Why did I do it that way? Very rough data I collected before I adopted my modified approach showed that when I posted every day, I ended up with fewer visitors than usual! I usually get between 1000-1500 a day. In April, I got between 900-1300 per day. Speculation: Too many posts? One theme that may or may not appeal to people? Hmm…
• AtoZ April was a low month for comments–the opposite of the blog hop’s intention. Again, easily my fault: I didn’t comment on as many blogs as the administrators suggest which meant lower engagement.
• Overall, I probably attracted only about 10-15 new bloggers throughout the month. I visited about 5 a day, but only a few days a week.
• Not surprisingly but disappointingly, my April visitor count was at least 20% lower than March as were comments. Again, I attribute this to my lack of engagement, and also that I was gone for a week at the end of April.

I like blog hops (like Alex Cavanaugh’s #IWSG) that introduce me to like-minded writerly folks, build my viewer base, and open me up to new writing ideas. This year, I participated less than usual so take the blame for my lackluster results. Still, I couldn’t get myself motivated to do more. I’m not sure I’ll join next year.

How about you? Who had great results with the #AtoZ Challenge? Was this a good way to spend your time?

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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice,  a columnist for NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, Against All Odds, Summer 2020. You can find her tech ed books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning