So this is my third time doing the April A to Z blogging challenge. Basically, the challenge sees hundreds of bloggers from all over the world blog their way through the alphabet. So day one’s post most relate to the letter A, day two’s post to the letter B etc. 
This year, the theme I chose was motivational quotes. I do love a good quote and for the challenge, short posts work the best so it seemed like a great solution.
Here are my thoughts on this year’s challenge:
The New Format
This year, for the first time, the A to Z team decided to abolish the sign up list. Instead, each day, they posted a blog post for the day’s letter where we left our link in the comments and also on the Facebook page.
In theory, it’s not the worst idea. A lot of people complained that it meant extra work for them – it takes like two minutes. Your blog is worth two minutes of your time.
My worry about this way of sharing posts was SEO related. As you probably know, Google doesn’t like spam comments, and leaving links in comments is a good way to get flagged as spam. This worried me as I get a lot of traffic from search engines.
What I Didn’t Like About The New System
Although I had misgivings about the new system, I went in with an open mind, hoping I would be proved wrong and it would work. It didn’t. At least not for me.
Here’s the main reasons the new system didn’t work:
The Spammy Comments I Had to Leave
I’d like to say my worries proved to be groundless, but by about half way through the challenge, I noticed a dip in my search engine traffic. I stopped adding the comments and luckily it came straight back up. This basically meant that most people doing the challenge wouldn’t know I had a new post up.
I’m going to risk it one more time for this post.
Missing Out So Many Blogs
For the last two years, I’ve made it my own personal goal to visit every blog on the list at least once which I’ve done.
This year, I knew I wouldn’t find every blog taking part because there was no central location, so instead I decided to try and find five new blogs every day. Again, this proved to be almost impossible as the same people shared their links while others didn’t bother or posted at a different time to me.
I feel like I missed out on a lot of interaction this year which is surely the main point of the challenge.
The Challenge as a Whole
Aside from the new system, here’s what I loved and didn’t love so much about this year’s challenge:
The Good
- I feel like my theme was well received by both the challenge participants and my usual readers
- I found some new blogs that I really loved and reconnected with some challenge members from past years
- I had all of my posts pre-written and scheduled so everything went out on time
The Bad
- Having to remove links from blog comments is pretty time consuming. I know people do it because the A to Z team advise it but it does no one any favours. Not only does it flag as spam against the person leaving the comments, which I mentioned above, but it flags for the blog they are on too. It’s not necessary – leave your URL in the correct box when you comment and the blogger will see it and be able to return your visit if they want to.
- Mid-April, I had a new book release (terrible timing I know) and I had a lot of client work on. I got so far behind on my commenting on my daily favourite blogs. I hated not being able to do all of the comments, but something had to give. I’m so sorry to all of you who didn’t get a comment back and I thank you for sticking with me.
Will I Do It All Again Next Year?
I love the A to Z Challenge, and I want to say yes, definitely, but in all honesty, if there’s no sign up list again, I probably won’t bother.
What Could Be Done To Improve It?
I get why the organisers don’t want a huge list – it must be extremely time consuming for them to moderate that list. I would suggest a compromise that works something like this:
Stick with the daily posts on the blog, but instead of just having to link drop in the comments, have a daily linky list. That way, you still only get people who are actively participating, but it removes the issues. Not only the spam issue, but the issues so many people seemed to have with leaving HTML links in the comments too.
The Blog’s I Loved This Year
If you’re looking for some great blogs that took part in this year’s challenge, check out some of these blogs that I loved this year.
Patricia Lynne (Flash fiction)
Cresting the Hill (Why midlife’s fabulous)
Boisterous Bee (Let’s see the other side)
Someday Somewhere (Daily quotes)
What Are They (Flash fiction)
Jingle Jangle Jungle (Hits from the 70s)
Shari Elder (Fictional Villains)
My Creatively Random Life (Book reviews)
The Dog Lady’s Den (Musical memories)
Lifestyle of a Professional (Quotes)
Sushmita Malaka (Cocktail recipes)
Words from Sonobe (Malaysia)
Uniquely Maladjusted but Fun (Obscure national holidays)
A Rose is a Rose is a Rose (Flash fiction)
No Love for Fatties (Harry Potter)
Megan Morgan (26 things to hate about writing)
Dandelion Fuzz (no theme)
Keith’s Ramblings (Flash fiction)
A Reluctant Bitch (No theme)
I promise all of you guys a visit to your reflections post.
My A to Z Challenge Posts
If you’re still looking for some other reading, here are my posts from the challenge:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Final Thoughts
Reading this back, it sounds pretty negative – almost to the point of whiney. I’m not going to change it because the hosts ask for honest feedback so that’s what I’m giving.
I do want to point out though that despite the issues, I still really enjoyed the challenge. I love the sense of community and excitement that comes with the challenge and I still felt that this year – granted that was more towards the beginning of the month, but the end of the month, where it kind of stopped was entirely my own fault for prioritising other things you know, like making a living.
Did you do this year’s A to Z Challenge? Did you enjoy it? What do you think of the new system? Let me know in the comments 🙂
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I enjoyed your atoz. Congratulations on finishing it so well. Like u said, it waa tough, and commenting etc took a hit. See u around 🙂
Thank you 🙂
I often wonder whenever I do the challenge how many times my comment gets lost in spam because I use a signature with links to the 2 blogs I’m participating in with the challenge.
Yeah they will probably go into spam. Through the challenge I accept that I will have to look in there and remove links manually because the hosts advise people to do it, but whether or not other people do the same I don’t know. Thanks for your visits 🙂
This was so far the most honest reflections post for A-Z that I came across. I do agree that we need a linky list next time around. Saves a lot of time and inconvenience. Congratulations on successfully completing the challenge!
Thank you 🙂 I don’t really like posting something so negative but I felt like I should be honest about my experience of the challenge
I didn’t care for the omission of the “linky list” but that was only one of the reasons I decided not to do the challenge this year. I actually wrote a lengthy post in March telling my readers why. The only A to Z posts I read were from bloggers whose blogs I read regularly anyway.
It definitely wasn’t the same without the list. I went and read your post (I’m nosey like that lol). I didn’t actually check to see if I gained any A-Z followers – I probably should have!
Congratulations on your third challenge.
Thank you 🙂
Not whiney at all, in fact, most of us have shared the frustrations you described. Next year? Like you, I’ll wait and see. Thank you for including me in your list. I’m honoured to be in such esteemed company.
Thank you – as I’m making my way through other’s reflections, it does seem that many people had the same issues. You’re welcome, I really loved getting to know your characters 🙂
I’d forgotten about the links issue, given that so many participating in the challenge aren’t professional bloggers. That’s a very good point and hopefully, a better solution will be forthcoming next year. I enjoyed your theme but also fell behind and didn’t visit as often as I would have liked to. Thanks for the mention!
Yeah I think the HTML element put a lot off joining in. I really hope so too 🙂
Well, I didn’t put any links in comments because those just irritate the pants off me anyhow (I figure a simple “Happy A-Z” gets the point across,) so I didn’t suffer from that. But you’re sure right that this is sufficiently time-consuming that real life could suffer.
But still, I enjoyed it. I found a good core group of blogs I visited regularly, (hint: I’m only commenting on the reflections posts for that particular group ;-D) and had fun moseying around to see how others handled the challenge. I think it does build a sense of community, even if the ties are sometimes a bit loose.
I really enjoyed your daily dose of motivational encouragement and am STILL ever-so-grateful that you saved me from the embarrassment of premature publication. ;-p
I’m glad I found your blog – I’ll be checking back in.
(Oh, and thanks for the nice words!)
It does irritate me too if I’m totally honest and I agree that mentioning A-Z is enough to let people know where you came from.
I did enjoy the challenge and I found a great group of blogs to read too. Thanks so much for sticking with me through the challenge and I’m glad I could help, even if it was in a slightly unconventional way haha 🙂
Hi Debbie, Being new to blogging, I did not know about the link issue in comments. I could not figure out why many people left them out. Makes perfect sense now. So, if they leave a plain text URL instead of HTML, is it treated just as plain text? Or does that also affect SEO?
Congratulations on another successful A to Z! I loved my first year and will be back.
Emily
My Life in Ecuador
Plain text won’t necessarily flag up but if you comment a lot, you also get penalised for leaving the same comment again and again and it could recognise the pattern. Also, most bloggers will delete it because it looks a little messy but it would be much less of a risk SEO wise for the actual challenge blog.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed your first challenge 🙂
Not in the least bit whiney. Not a bit. I’m sure a great many of us share your views and you went to the trouble to articulate them in detail.
Interestingly, too, almost all of the new traffic to my blog came via the Facebook links.
Thanks for supporting my journey.
Thank you 🙂 Yes, most of mine came through Facebook, even when I was using the comments section.
Congrats on another successful challenge done and dusted! Interesting reflections. This was my first so I am not sure about how last years linking up compares with this years.
I didnt know that putting your post signature in the comment marks it as spam- is that what you are basically saying?
Yes, pretty much. It doesn’t always mark it as spam on the actual blog – once a blogger has approved a few of your comments, it will recognise you and not go into their spam folders, but Google still recognise it as spamming which can affect your rankings on search results.
COngrats on finishing your A to Z Challenge
Thank you 🙂
Congratulations on finishing another year of A to Z. I had more comments this time around and found a lot more interesting blogs thanks to the links than I normally do weeding through the list, but I may be in the minority.
It seems to be like marmite – either we love it or we hate it lol. I’m glad it worked for you 🙂
Honest feedback should not be considered whiny. It has never occurred to me that leaving links might be marked as spam.
Agree with the difficulty re finding new blogs to visit due to the time zone determining who linked up when I visited the main site – glad to know I am not alone 🙂
The overall impact the linkfree format has had on my A-Z is no different from the years there was a linky list.
I hope all the concerns raised here get taken care of in the next A-Z.
Congrats on completing the Challenge!
Best wishes always,
Nilanjana.
I still got plenty of views and comments too I just felt like I didn’t interact with people as much as previous years. One of the co-hosts whose blog I follow has replied to comments saying that all of this year’s issues will be discussed, so hopefully they’ll come up with some middle ground for next year.
I’m not against the link list but the few time that I participated, it was rather long and some people just leave links and not do the challenge, plus, I’m not even where to click. mostly I just click on the blogs with interesting names.
but I do kind of like the no link list because commenting is a little more interactive and some people said the funnies things when promoting their blog.
I enjoy the challenge this year and I also found a few new blogs to keep on visiting.
thanks for dropping by my blog, have a lovely day.
If I find someone who isn’t participating I just don’t bother with their posts. I did enjoy the challenge, just not as much as previous years. You have a great day too!
Congrats on finishing your A to Z.
Yeah, I also wasn’t wild about the new format this year and didn’t visit anywhere near as many blogs as in the past or have as much traffic on mine as I’ve had previous years.
Will probably still do it because I like the challenge in itself, but wish they’d go back to the master list.
Thank you 🙂
Yeah I think the lack of the list really hindered the social side of it!
I am glad to find your blog, after the fact though it is. I am in the process of making an altered book where I keep my favorite quotes so I am going to go back and catch yours from A to Z. I did not know about the spam issues, although I was kind of afraid of that. Fortunately I didn’t have any, but I don’t know if my comments went to spam folders, although I tried to go back and see if the poster left a response to my comment. The huge linky list was overwhelming to me, but that’s just me.
Ah that book sounds great, I hope you enjoy my quotes 🙂
OK so I’m feeling really out the loop, I don’t think I’ve heard of this blog challenge never mind done it, it looks a lot of work to do it properly. #BloggerClubUK
It is a lot of work, but it’s fun so it’s worth it 🙂
Thanks for commenting on my Reflections post, Debbie. You make some interesting points about SEO, which I was not aware of previously. Sue from Sue’s Trifles.
Thank you 🙂
First off, I really enjoyed your theme – it put a smile on my face and I hope you will participate again next year. I agree that the daily sign up list was not ideal, due to the issues over links. I’m sure a lot of people just didn’t bother and that meant I wouldn’t see their posts. I do think the theme reveal is a great feature because it allows you to earmark blogs that sound interesting and follow them throughout.
Thank you so much and thanks for visiting me through the month. If I do it again next year I will definitely be making more use of the theme reveals to find blogs before it gets going
I have not heard of this challenge before but like the sound of it! Will go and have a look (although the points you make look very valid, particularly the one about the links). Its great to have a list of some lovely blogs to visit (will check them out!). #bloggerclubuk
It’s a really fun challenge 🙂 Those are all fab blogs!
I’ve never heard of the challenge! I am amazed, every week I see something new from the blogger world! Will have to have a read now 🙂
#BloggerClubUK
What a great idea, I’d never heard of this before but I look forward to maybe giving it a try next year! xx #bloggerclubuk
I enjoyed reading your A to Z posts but I can how it because a big job. I don’t think I could post every day. Good on you though.l for accepting the challenge. Maybe it will be revamped this time round?
Thank you 🙂 I hope so!
I’m going to check out some of these bloggers 🙂 great post well done on the challenge #bloggerclubuk
I took the challenge like you, third time in a row and I appreciate the fact that you were honest with your thoughts. I am sure even the organizers would appreciate that.
Coming to the daily thread and no sign-up link, I didn’t feel much of a difference. I read folks at random- 5 new each day, followed who I liked and moved on. It worked. Though I agree, differently.
I’m glad it worked for you and that you enjoyed the challenge
I saw this challenge on a friend bloggers site and did think -what a lot of work! I like your link to other bloggers though and will definitely take a look. #BloggerClubuk
The changes do sound challenging, a liny list does sound like the way forward. I’m glad you enjoyed it overall though #bloggerclubuk
Firstly well done! I struggle to find time to blog 3 times a week so every day for a month must be verybtime consuming. It sounds like a lot could be done to improve the challenge. Hopefully they’ll take some of your points on board #bloggerclubuk
I had no idea that this was a sign up challenge previously I just thought it was something you did. A great idea for content!! lol. I am sorry the new system didn’t work. If there is a sign up list then I maybe tempted to take part myself x
Unfortunately I can’t take the credit for this one lol! You should – it’s loads of fun and you’ll meet some fab new people too! x