Blog

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Blog Goals – Feb 2015

Background

I just started my blog on September 17, 2014 during the Blogging 101 (Zero to Hero) workshop. Then I followed that right away with Blogging 201 (Branding and Growth) in October as well as Photography 101 during November. In December, my posts focused primarily on Christmas music. Now I’m taking Blogging 201 again in February to help me kick off 2015 by enhancing and growing my blog further.

I have really enjoyed blogging much more that I expected. I had been thinking about doing a blog for quite a while when I started it almost 5 months ago now, and it’s quite a surprise to see how it has evolved so far. I thought now would be a good time to do this 2-week Blogging 201 challenge again since it helped so much last time. This refresher might enable me to extend my blog more with another kick start to refine my brand, build my audience, grow my traffic, and resurface older posts.

To help determine realistic goal targets, I analyzed the current status of my blog as well as site statistics summary over the past 5 months, and the results have been extracted from here and are now available in a separate related Blog Statistics – Feb 2015 post, if you are interested in such details.

February Goals

Assignment #1 (Set Three Goals) asks us to consider what we want to accomplish with our blog, and identify three concrete goals that we want to achieve. Therefore, I would like to accomplish the following goals by February 28th.

  1. Expand readers and traffic. Reach these specific targets measured by my blog site statistics: 450 posts, 4500 views, 150 followers, 250 comments, and 800 likes. Also, grow blog access via social networks by expanding followers to 25 on Twitter and 15 on Facebook.
  2. Extend my content. Increase range and diversity of my posts beyond music so that there will be more travel, photo, recipes, writing, and other blog topics that will interest more readers and realize the focus described on my About page.
  3. Enhance my brand. Review my site for possible improvements in blog title, tag line, theme, sidebar widgets, and site organization. Provide renewed focus for older content, such as music and photos. Participate in weekly photo challenges.

I appreciate all my followers, their comments, and enjoy reading so many great blogs. Also, it has opened new areas for me, such as composing articles, writing stories, sparking interest in photography, and even reading poetry. And of course, there’s still the music and I want to keep making continual improvements as I refine my blog’s brand and extend its growth and reach a wider audience.

I’m looking forward to my blog reaching another level with thanks to the Blogging University staff and all my fellow bloggers. Thank you for helping me reach my goals.

If you’re curious, you might like to see My Blog Goals and Blog Goal Achievements posts from the earlier Blogging 201 workshop in October 2014.

 

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100 Followers

Great news. Recently I reached another milestone with 100 WordPress followers on my blog.

100 FollowersAlso there are 116 Email subscriptions, 7 on Facebook, and 10 from Twitter. Currently, I have had 1,951 Visitors with 3,633 Views (average 1.9 views per visit) with 690 Likes (or 19% Liked) and most views per day of 72. I have created 362 Posts and 51 Pages, and received 208 Comments.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the interaction for my blog on Twitter. My Twitter posts have been favorited and/or retweeted by these music artists, thus sharing my blog with their followers: Fiona Joy, Tim Glemser, Gary Girouard, Brad Jacobsen, Tim Neumark, Laura Sullivan, Stanton Lanier, Kevin Kern, Brian Crain, Christine Brown, Doug Hammer, Amy Lauren, Vin Downes, Birds of Chicago, David Nevue, Thad Fiscella, Ron Korb, Mannheim Steamroller, and Scott D. Davis.

I have received Twitter replies from: Laura Sullivan, Christine Brown, Doug Hammer, Gary Girouard, Brad Jacobsen, Tim Glemser, Tim Neumark, and Amy Lauren. The following have even followed me: Philip Wesley, Doug Hammer, Gary Girouard, Brad Jacobsen, Tim Glemser, and Vin Downes. You can listen to music via Spotify from these artists by clicking on the links for their names.

I have really enjoyed my experience over the past 4 months since I started my blog on September 17, 2014 in the Blogging 101 workshop. It’s wonderful to meet so many interesting people whose blogs I get to read every day.

Thanks for following, reading, and listening. I also appreciate you letting me know what you like, and your interaction with  comments. This helps when I conduct my monthly blog statistics analysis.

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2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for my blog.

I’m amazed at the progress with my new blog after just 3 1/2 months. I just started it on September 17, 2014 in Blogging 101, extended  it with Photography 101 throughout October, and enhanced and grew it further in November with Blogging 201.

I have created 316 posts which had 3,200 views by 1.595 visitors, including 639 likes and 191 comments, and now I have 96 WordPress followers as well as 106 email subscriptions.

I would like to thank all my visitors and followers, and I appreciate all the interaction with your likes and comments while reading and listening to my blog. I have really enjoyed this experience and all the connections it has created. I’m looking forward to 2015.

Click here to see the complete report.

Doug Hammer
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Doug Hammer

Listen to piano music by Doug Hammer.

Album

Haiku (2015) – 15 songs, 49 min

More music by Doug Hammer: albums, videos, and links …
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Merry Christmas!

Well, now that Christmas is past, I am resuming my normal posts today. I hope that you all enjoyed this holiday season, and that my music provided an appropriate background during the month.

I created 120 music posts during December, and they are all available in the “Music Calendar – Dec 2014“. The “Christmas Summary” lists all the Christmas music posts in date sequence. Also, I summarized the Top 25 most viewed Christmas music posts at “Christmas Favorites“.

My apologies if it might have seemed like Christmas spam at times, but I wanted to offer a diverse mix of familiar music to enjoy and new artists to discover that you might not be familiar with. I figured that followers could simply ignore them if not interested. Of course, this Christmas music will all be available next year on my web site to enjoy again, along with any new updates.

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Welcome (Blog)

I hope you enjoy your visit to my site – reading, listening, and watching … and come back often.

Menus

Use the menu tabs above to access posts and pages in the Music, Photos, Travel, Writing,  Recipes, or Blog sections. There is an About section with additional information about this blog and me, helpful tips about using the Menu, Sidebar, and Phone, as well as a Contact form.

Music

There is a lot of music available on my site to listen with Spotify and watch related videos on YouTube.

Check out my personal playlists.

Some alternate Music Players may be used instead of “Spotify” to select highlighted artists or albums.  Additional information is also available about using Spotify.

Photos

The Photo Gallery highlights some of my photos, including a lovely panoramic full Morning Rainbow. My 10 most popular photo posts are listed in Favorite Photos. A Photo 101 Calendar displays all 21 photo blog posts during the Photography 101: A Photo a Day workshop in Nov 2014, organized in calendar format with day of week, date, and theme/title. There’s a Photo Summary that lists all photos in reverse date order.

Travel

Travel posts feature photos from an 8-day Viking Rhine Cruise from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Netherlands, as well as an extended 2-week Germany Trip with visits to Munich, Salzburg (Austria), Romantic Road (Nördlingen, Dinkelsbühl, Rothenberg ob der Tauber), Leipzig, and Berlin.

Writing

Writing posts includes my Poetry assignments in the Writing 201: Poetry course in Feb 2015. Best Stories features a few articles with stories, short quotes, and thoughts about my grandchildren, children, and parents.

Feedback

I would like to know what you like and what I can do to improve your experience. Comments and likes are encouraged on posts and pages, and general feedback about the web site and suggestions for improvement can be provided on the Contact form.

500 Likes
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500 Likes

Great news. Today WordPress notified me that I have now passed another milestone with 500 Likes on my blog.

500 Likes - Large

Currently, I have 2,359 Views with 503 Likes (or 20% Liked). I have created 237 Posts and 49 Pages, and received 187 Comments. There are 86 WordPress followers, 96 Email subscriptions, 6 on Facebook, and 5 from Twitter. The most views per day was 72, and today so far there have been 51.

 

I have really enjoyed my experience over the past 3 months since I started my blog on September 17 in the Blogging 101 workshop. It’s wonderful to meet so many interesting people whose blogs I get to read every day.

Thanks for letting me know what you like. This helps when I conduct my monthly blog statistics analysis.

Christmas Music: St. Olaf Choir Ensembles
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Christmas Music: St. Olaf Choir Ensembles

Here’s a daily Christmas Music post featuring St. Olaf Choir Ensembles.

I hope you enjoy the music, and it gets you in the holiday spirit.

Go Tell It On A Mountain by St. Olaf Choir Ensembles  (2010) – 21 songs, 1 hr 7 min

What Child Is This? by St. Olaf Choir Ensembles (2010) – 20 songs, 1 hr 3 min

Highlights from the St. Olaf Christmas Festival by Mantitou Singers (2010) – 17 songs, 58 min

Photo credit: Amazon album cover

Christmas Music: Doug Hammer
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Christmas Music: Doug Hammer

Here’s a daily Christmas Music post featuring Doug Hammer on piano.

I hope you enjoy the music, and it gets you in the holiday spirit.

Christmas Albums

Christmas Lights (2015) – 18 songs, 1 hr 9 min

Noel (2008) – 17 songs, 1 hr 15 min

Photo credit: Christmas Lights @ Amazon (album cover).

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Photography 101 – Menu Tab

I have added a new Photography 101 menu under the Photos tab, which provides a calendar summary of all my photos posted for the Photo 101: A Photo a Day workshop.