Beyond Behaviors

When I started blogging (www.stevenguyenonline.com) back in February 2006, I originally started with Joomla CMS. But it was just too tedious to post blog entries and the various “modules” became too confusing. So, a year later I switched to a new domain name (www.beyondbehaviors.com) and a new content management system, Wordpress.

Today, 10 months into using Wordpress and having a refocused blog, I’m much happier.

In looking back on what I’ve done through blogging and thinking about what I would like to do here are some goals for 2008:

1. Improve my blog design - Beyond anything else this has been and continues to be my biggest struggle. I really love the design style of Collis Ta’eed of FreelanceSwitch. There’s just something really cool about his designs. Sadly, I cannot afford to pay for a web designer like Collis to do a custom designed theme for Beyond Behaviors. I can afford free though so if any designer is interested please let me know. Alas, I’m just a tiny fish in a big blogosphere with a few visitors (me and my wife).
2. Improve my blog ranking on search engines (Google) & Technorati and increase my site links to social bookmarking sites (StumbleUpon & Tumblr) - Having a higher Google ranking and site links to StumbleUpon and Tumblr will enable visitors and those interested in personal development and emotional health to find my blog easier. I believe that Beyond Behaviors offers quality contents with a psychological and crisis management perspective that isn’t offered anywhere else.
3. Increase the number of daily visitors and RSS subscribers - When I started blogging, I didn’t care about visitors. Who cares about visitors when you have a blog or website, right? Wrong. I have since realized just how important having visitors are to my blog and how much more visitors can bring to a site.
4. Increase the number of comments per post - Along with (hopefully) an increase in visitors, I’d love to have much more interactions and dialogues with my visitors and readers. I think that my refocused blog will help to keep readers engaged and contribute their voices and perspectives. So PLEASE leave comments (constructive, engaging, and insightful ones are best).
5. Post more comments on fellow bloggers’ sites (e.g., Zen Habits, ThinkSimpleNow, Life Optimizer, Skelliewag, lifehack, DailyBlogTips, NorthxEast, ProBlogger, and CopyBlogger).
6. Maintain quality content about Personal Development, Emotional Health, and Transformation on Beyond Behaviors - Just a little over one month ago, I decided to shift gears and talk more about uplifting topics like achieving your best, emotional well-being, and transforming your life. I plan on sticking to this new focus and hope that visitors will find the site more positive and more infused with energy and excitement to help them achieve emotional health and be their best.

If you enjoy Beyond Behaviors, please subscribe, link to this site from your blog, Stumble it or Tumblr it, stop by and post comments, and tell your friends.

Last of all, thank you to everyone who has visited, commented, and offered feedback and suggestions. A special thanks to those who have linked to me. It has been a wonderful 2007, with lots of changes sprinkled here and there, most notably that I started Beyond Behaviors in February 2007, my wife and I left Saipan in July 2007 and moved back to Dallas, Texas to be closer to family, and I found a great job in September 2007 working for Collin County Community College.