Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Labeling Your Posts


Do you label your posts? You know that little box at the bottom that says "Labels for this post:"
Well, for some strange reason I decided early on that I wouldn't trouble myself with that little doohickey. Just a bother, I thought. Now I wish I had done it from the very beginning. I'm having to go back over 300 posts to make it easy to retrieve information.

Take a bit of advice - if you haven't already, then start labeling your posts. You never know when you might want to take a peek at what you've already written on a certain subject. If only not to contradict yourself! Ha

38 comments:

Lydia said...

This post makes me glad that I approached labeling with some neuroses from the beginning of my blog!

You might not go back to the ghost post...but your reply to my comment, the info about Galena HS? So weird, but one of my Wooster classmates was one of the vice principals at Galena for some years. I heard he retired, maybe before your daughter's time.
D. Reynolds ring a bell with her?

sas said...

excellent suggestion!

i am obsessed with nomenclature :)

i would recommend a 'tag cloud' as this makes it really easy to find posts.

Trish and Rob MacGregor said...

I know exactly what you mean! I started doing it several months in. Wish I had done it from the start!

harmony said...

great suggestion. I know that it would make it much easier to find earlier subjects if I had done that in the first place.
Have a great day.

Tess Kincaid said...

Yup. It's a good idea. Makes it easy for others to find more posts on a topic of interest, as well.

Unknown said...

Pretty sure I do, but now the cloud of doubt has set in and will have to go back and check to be sure!

Hilary said...

A wise idea to start early. I didn't start out with them and once I did, I didn't go back to earlier posts to label them. You can still save yourself the trouble of going over old posts with said labels if you're using them as a means to find key words in past posts. All you need to do is use the search window at the top of every blog and throw in the key words you're hoping to find. The page should refresh showing every post which mentions that word or phrase. I find it pretty handy sometimes.

GYPSYWOMAN said...

oh, so very true, girl!!! and hilary is right, too - you can always use the search window [which i also do even with the labels] - but a great idea from the start with the labels!

Cheryl Ann said...

Great idea! And, no, I haven't labeled mine yet!

whalechaser said...

Me too! After six months or so I decided it would be a good thing to add those labels.
A quick way to do it is to go to the dashboard, select posts, select edit, then just add the labels in the list that shows up.
It is a lot easier than going to each post.
Whale

The Good Cook said...

I've been doing it from the start - but it's way easier to do with ingredient lists!

Joanne said...

I always thought it was more clutter on the blog, but now you've got me thinking ... Actually what a great idea, I just never looked at it closely. Oh, I've got my work cut out for me.

Reya Mellicker said...

I don't label my posts because after they're published, I really don't want to find them again! Is that bad??

Onwards and upwards: never look back!

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

Fortunately, I labeled from the get go and have no idea why! My labels weren't that in depth, but it sure does help when going back..good tip!

Kathy's Klothesline said...

Oh, so that's what that is for....

Verily I go. said...

OH MAN !! Oh well! xo.

Mental P Mama said...

I did it from the beginning, and I'm so glad I did!

DJan said...

The real reason I didn't start with them is the same reason I pile things up on my desk: you have to decide what labels are appropriate, because simple whatever-appeals-at-the-time doesn't work very well. I've given some thought to labeling, and I might go back and do it while I'm still under 150 posts. Thanks for the reminder.

Brian Miller said...

snap! i wish i would have thought of this sooner...

Mike said...

I kind of have sort of a photographic memory. I know which month to look at if I am looking for something! I try to ignore my first 50 posts anyway!

Shrinky said...

It was David MacMahon who got me into that, and to be honest, I didn't quite get the point of it at the time, I just went along with it to humour him really. It proved so valuable when I closed my old blog down, oh boy did I thank my lucky stars that I had, then!

Poor you, good luck with the wading through.

Marguerite said...

Labels are very important, not only to find your own previous posts on certain subjects, but they serve as keywords, for anyone on the web, looking for a particular topic. Let's say that Jane Doe in Kansas is looking for a good gumbo recipe,and enters gumbo into a Google search, then all of my gumbo recipe posts will come up on the search results, regardless of when they were posted!

Rosaria Williams said...

Great point! Noted!

CrazyCris said...

I started with this from day one... but when I see the amount of labels I've got for my posts I think I should go through them and try to make fewer categories...

Linda Pendleton said...

I've been labeling all along on both my blogs. Also helpful is the "Search Blog" gadget.

TheChicGeek said...

I've contradicted myself, Nancy...LOL
Hey, I have a right to change my opinion on a subject. Often it is the insightful feedback from our readers that cause us to see an issue in a new light....gets us thinking. That's one of the beautiful things about blogging :)

And yes, label your posts! It makes it easier for our readers to look back too and find something they want to think about again.

This is a great post! I'm glad you are labeling it :D
Love to You, Nancy!
xxO
Kelly

Elizabeth Bradley said...

Yeah, a friend gave me that nifty tip way at the beginning of my blog.

Anonymous said...

I'll start on that!

Chris Wolf said...

oops. well, better late than never.

Meeko Fabulous said...

I used to do this religiously . . . Not so much anymore . . . Maybe I'll go back and start . . . Just cause you said so . . . :)

Brenda Susan said...

Yes, I luckily caught on to the need for labels early on. When You want to do that fun "as I said here..." thing & link back to an earlier post.

Loving your blog even tho I've been re-miss in my posts recently.

ds said...

Too true. Though I forget to go back and double-check sometimes. I didn't know there was a search function built into the blog (thanks, Hilary!). Must investigate...

Cloudia said...

Good blogging advice.


Aloha, Bloggy Friend!


Comfort Spiral

AiringMyLaundry said...

I used to label posts but I rarely do anymore.

Bagman and Butler said...

I usually label but sometimes I forget.

Land of shimp said...

That is good advice, I haven't labeled anything, personally.

You know what though, truthfully speaking? Unless I'm searching an information blog, I don't click on other people's labels. It's a very rare sort of post that makes me say, "I need to know the background story on this before I comment..."

That isn't to say I find labels boring, or bothersome, or anything of the sort. I just...unless it is a continuing saga of something, I rarely check them.

However, come to think of it, on political blogs, I do read a lot of the labels. I'm sure that says something about me, not sure what :-)

PeacefulWmn9 said...

Yes, I do. 300?? You've got your work cut out for you, my friend :)

xoxo

Nishant said...

would recommend a 'tag cloud' as this makes it really easy to find posts. Work from home India