My toy blog review for 2008 & preview for 2009

As 2008 comes to an end, it’s time to review my toy blog and toy hobby for the year.  I start with my toy blog which just turned 1 year old early this month.  Gosh, time really flies past very quickly!

Wordpress Matters

It is fun blogging about collecting toys and posting toy photos here to share with my readers.  I learnt more about using Wordpress and html codings to achieve my desired design results.  For e.g. I finally learnt to change the background colors of this blog from the default colors.  I also merged my 2 ex-blogs that I started in 2006 (TalkAboutCartoons.blogspot.com & TalkAboutToys.blogspot.com) to this one.   I take one step at a time and look forward to creating more design features for my blog.

Blog Directores and Stats Counters

I went to explore the various well-known blog directories like MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, blog stats counters, RSS feeds and how to add them here.  I remember that I first found the link to Shaun’s blog from a blog directory and then from his blog, I got to know and link up to other toy blogs on my current Blogroll.

Blogrolls

This is the year where I got to know many other fellow toy bloggers here in Singapore.  I added an Action Figures Blogroll to link to their blogs and I’m very happy that they linked back to my blog too.  I enjoy visiting their toy blogs and reading their postings each day and I appreciate their visits and comments too. 

Blogging becomes much more fun when bloggers and readers get to interact and share views with one another.  It is also a fast way of knowing the latest happenings or observations in toy collecting and the toy industry.  In a way it also lets a toy collector know that there are many other like-minded people around, so there’s no need to feel ’shy’ that he or she is still collecting toys in adulthood

Inaugural Annual Toy Awards 2008

This is also the first year where I did my inaugural Annual Toy Awards for my toys collection.  It was inspired by Shaun’s blog postings in December on his list of Top 10 Favourite Toys of the Year.  He encouraged fellow toy bloggers to come up with our own lists or something similar for the year end to share with everyone.  Many of them did and for me, here is my list of winners for my 5 Toy Award Titles.

Blog Plans for 2009

I will continue to improve my blog and postings with more informative articles.  The layout or template might change as I plan to explore better ways to display the various links, photos, articles, videos etc.  Each day as I blog, I’m also learning new things about Wordpress and its technical aspects.  As I gain new experiences with time, I would use them to bring both my blog and toy website to the next levels!

That’s all for my toy blog review for 2008.  I’ll post the 2008 summary of my toy hobby tomorrow!