Eighth Annual Diabetes Blog Week!
What inspired Diabetes Blog Week? For those of you who haven’t participated before, Diabetes Blog Week was originally inspired by a fiber-blogger event called Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. When I participated that first year on my knitting blog I loved the way it united the community, and I knew I wanted to try to do the same for the DOC.
How does Diabetes Blog Week work? The main idea for Diabetes Blog Week is that bloggers sign up to post about a set topic each day for a week. This way, readers can jump around the DBlog Community and get a big variety of different perspectives on a single topic. The hope is that new DOC connections are made, and that our voices are raised to spread a little more diabetes awareness.
When is Diabetes Blog Week? The eighth annual Diabetes Blog Week will take place next week, from May 15th through May 19th.
Where can I find the Diabetes Blog Week topics? You can find the topics for next week on the Topics and Posts page. They’ve been posted in advance, just in case you want to start drafting your posts this week. (But please remember not to publish your post until that specific day!). Use the topics as a starting point for your post each day and see where it takes you. Write as much or as little as you like. There are no right or wrong answers – just read over the topic and start blogging! I’ve also included a wild card topic. If one day’s topic doesn’t inspire you, feel free to post about the wild card topic instead.
Who can participate in Diabetes Blog Week? DBlog Week is open to anyone who blogs about diabetes – be it Type 1, Type 2, LADA, gestational, etc., and it’s also for parents, spouses, loved ones and caregivers to someone else with diabetes. If you blog about diabetes in any capacity, please join us! The more perspectives that are shared the more connections we can make and understanding we can foster. If you don’t have a blog but have thought about starting one, now is the perfect time. There are free blogging sites (such as Blogger or WordPress) that you can use to get started.
Can blogs done by groups, organizations and companies join? I like to make Diabetes Blog Week as inclusive as possible, so yes, group blogs and professional blogs are welcome to join. However, the posts must be written by a blogger with a diabetes connection. Also product plugs / advertising will not be allowed. Posts that do no adhere to this policy will be removed from the master link lists. (More about those lists below.)
What if I can’t write posts for all five days? The idea for Diabetes Blog Week is that everyone who signs up to participate will post on all five days. Although that is the goal, I absolutely understand that life sometimes gets in the way, so if you end up falling short of five posts that’s okay. Diabetes can be stressful enough, so let’s keep DBlog Week fun and stress free.
How do I sign up? Once again, I’ve created a form to submit your information. Fill it out and you will be signed up and added to the Participant List within 24 hours. There is a space on the form for you to let me know if you have any questions, and you can also email me at any time at DBlogWeek@bittersweetdiabetes.com.
Will there be a master list of posts for each day? There sure will! Before things kick off on Monday will add daily Link Lists on the Diabetes Blog Week topics page. Once you’ve published your post each day, be sure to add it to that day’s list by entering your blog name and the url of that day’s post. This way we’ll have all posts linked in one central location, which makes it easier for people to hop around and read all of the posts. Please do not “pre-post” your links – links may only be added on the day that we’re blogging about that topic, and your post must be live on your blog when you link it. (Early posts will be deleted from the list.)
How about a button or banner for my blog? Why yes, of course! If you’d like to display the button or banner on your blog you’ll find the HTML Codes below – just to make things a little bit easier. Highlight the code in the box, then copy and paste it into the HTML section of your blog’s sidebar or post or where ever you want to display the graphic.
Grab the Banner
Grab the Button
What if I want to tweet or Facebook about Diabetes Blog Week? That would be awesome, you can use the hashtag #DBlogWeek.
What else do I need to know? Great question. I’ve tried to cover everything, but I’m sure I missed something. So please leave any questions in the comments section below or email them to me at DBlogWeek@bittersweetdiabetes.com. I’ll be sure to answer you as soon as I can.
Thank you all again for the outpouring of support during the last seven Diabetes Blog Weeks, and I’m thrilled to be doing it an eighth time.
