Was creating more content one of your New Year's resolutions? Joining the Ultimate Blog Challenge is one of the best ways I know of to kick start a blogging habit. The challenge started on January 1 – but it is not too late to join in and reap the benefits of regular blogging including increased traffic to your site, credibility and a network of entrepreneurs who are willing to spread the word about your content.
When I talk to clients about the Blog Challenge — many resist because they think it will be too hard. To help encourage you to take the leap, I thought I would share my 5 best blog challenge hacks with you.
1. Enter Anyway – Many people end up not entering the blog challenge because they are afraid that they won't make the 30 posts necessary. I'm going to let you in on a secret here (shh… don't tell anyone.) The Blog Challenge is a self-challenge. Of course, you'll reap the biggest benefits if you post daily, but there is no penalty if you don't meet the goal. You'll still benefit by entering even if you don't get all the posts done.
2. Use Social Media There is an active Blog Challenge community on Twitter. We use the hashtag #blogboost. When you finish a post, share it via twitter with the hashtag #blogboost – other Blog Challenge participants will retweet it for you — or even comment on your post. Make sure you have a plugin installed on your site that allows for easy social media sharing. Sociable is a great WordPress plugin for sharing blog posts.
3. Get Involved – Set aside 10 minutes a day to search for #blogboost in Twitter – retweet some of the posts, read some posts, leave comments. Sharing and being social is a great way of networking and meeting new people.
4. Share other people's posts – a quick way to write a post is to share other people's content. Here is a post I wrote on how to create a post sharing a video. You can also do a wrap up post highlighting of some of the most interesting posts you've run across during the past week.
5. Use One Blog Post Again and Again Make your content count. You can use the same content for multiple posts if you re-create it in different formats (think audio, video…) Here is a video I did as part of a paid program that shows you exactly how to do this…
See… the Ultimate Blog Challenge doesn't have to be overwhelming. Join us… and see your blog and business grow in 2012!
Cheater! 😀
Great tips! Thanks for sharing.
It is a nice challenge – and it’s great to see what’s possible. I am (nearly) there, and “just” blogging on the side next to a 6 day fulltime job.
What I also love about the challenge – you get to read heaps of great blog posts from other challengers, that otherwise you wouldn’t have seen.
Michelle, thanks so much for sharing this. This is my third time participating in the challenge and each time I gain so much from it, even though I (gasp!) haven’t reached the 30 days in a row goal yet. I love the motivation you provide and your insight that we benefit by just entering and making strides forward with blogging. I couldn’t agree more!