Accountability Journal (MDBP)

This journal is part of the Million Dollar Blog Project.  The purpose is to publicly state my goals for the project and describe how I will reach these goals.

I intend to report my progress at a minimum of fortnightly, however this could increase as I get up and running in the project.  The reports will take the following format:

1. What I did since the last report;
2. What I learned; and
3. What I plan to do before the next report.

The entries are listed with the most recent first.

Friday 9^th March, 2012

Action since last report

• I’ve written 3 blog posts
• Now following more than 100 people on Twitter
• Started adding more design elements to blog template

What I learned

• How to use Mail Chimp to schedule email notifications to subscribers
• Installing widgets to customise blog template

Plan

• Write 3 more blog post ready for launch
• Connect with 100 more people on Twitter
• Set a Social Media editorial calendar to help schedule updates

Sunday 19^th February, 2012

Action since last report

• I have set up Facebook and Twitter accounts and begun connecting with other educational people
• Written the ‘About’ page for the blog
• Decided on a theme template for the blog
• Made a basic Top Notch Teaching banner

What I learned

• How to make a landing welcome page for Facebook
• How to set up a page in Facebook
• How to use the features of Paint Shop Pro to make a banner

Plan

• Purchase the theme template and begin designing
• Write 3 blog posts ready for the launch
• Connect with 100 other people to follow on Facebook and Twitter
• Write 6 updates (Twitter & Facebook) per day

Sunday 5th February, 2012

Action since last report

• I have named my new blog, bought the domain name and set up a web host.
• Registered for the MDBP

What I learned

• That it takes time to work on a new project and that it’s hard to find the time
• How to buy a domain name and web host and then set up WordPress

Plan

• Confirm my tagline and design a logo
• Sign up with supporting social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest
• Begin designing the blog, find a theme and customise it to suit my needs

Monday 23^rd January, 2012

Action since last report

• I’ve posted a blog post about possible topic choices.  I narrowed this down to two; education and organisation.  Have now settled on the topic of ‘education’. 
• I left a comment on ‘Think Traffic’ expressing my interest in joining the project.
• I’ve compiled a list of possible names for my new blog.

What I learned

• That it’s hard to find a name for my blog that isn’t already taken.
• Not to use numbers, hyphens or difficult to spell words in my domain name.
• That my goal should be “progress, not perfection”.

Plan

• Finalise my blog name and acquire the domain addresses.  When this is done, officially register for the MDBP.
• Define my topic further by finalising the sub topics (no more than 8).
• Explain my topic inthe following formats: 3 – 5 words, 1 sentence, 1 short paragraph, a few paragraphs.

Sunday 8th January, 2012

As this is my first entry in my journal I don’t have anything to report since last time J.  So I’m going to dive straight in and list some things that I would like to achieve before my next report in 2 weeks’ time.

• Sign up for the project at Think Traffic.  Read through 5 blog entries to date on the project noting any pertinent information.
• Start to think about a topic choice for my new blog.  Narrow this down to 2 possible choices and then critique these choices.  Look at the pros and cons of the topics and consider if I have the expertise to blog on the choice.
• Develop a timeline for the next 3 months of when I want to achieve different aspects of the project.

Okay, I think that should be enough to get me going.