31 Days to a Better Blog: A Workbook for Success

When ProBlogger launched their 31 Days to a Better Blog series earlier this year, I jumped at the chance to participate. I had recently recommitted to my blog–even hired Kirsten Wright to redesign the site, help me build my new strategy and provide additional content for the site–and thought this would be a great way to complement my renewed push for this blog’s success.

I wrote about how the very first step to a better blog stumped me and asked for the help of my audience–and then followed up with the results two weeks later. I didn’t follow the process on a daily basis as prescribed, but rather read the steps in batches. I skipped over some of the tasks when work or other committments got in the way. I saved the emails and told myself I’d get back to it and repeat the process in full when I could set aside the time. That time is now.

Darren Rowse, the ProBlogger himself, has created an eBook with all the tips in one handy place. I purchased it myself for a few reasons:

1. The tips were helpful when I first read them, but part of the beauty is that the tips are–mostly–concrete steps a blogger can take over and over again to improve their blog. Once upon a time, you may have written a list post, for example, because of Darren’s advice; isn’t it that much more valuable to repeat that style post again and again? That list post might have helped your traffic. What if you got in the habit of always writing one list post a week? I like having all the tips in one place so I can quickly refer to it and incorporate the assignments into my editorial calendar on a regular basis.

2. I’m old fashioned and I love dead tree media. I subscribe to magazines–even some that put all their content online for free. I love holding paper in my hand. Darren has written about what you can do to improve your blog when you don’t have Internet access, but before I read that post, I was putting that into practice. When I fly, I usually buy a Wall Street Journal and a magazine. On the first leg of a roundtrip flight, I’ll read and make notes about articles or facts that jump out at me. When I’m on the return leg of the trip, I’ll write (or sometimes, type) a blog post about the reading material that caught my eye–and simply add links when I’m back online. A few months ago, I printed out a couple of the blog posts Darren wrote for the 31 Day challenge–and took them on a plane to read them and brainstorm ideas for my blog. With the ability to print out the book with ease, I see this as something I could do on a regular basis when I’m traveling: print out a couple days of challenges and work them into my blog.

3. Darren makes a lot of money off his blog. The more I can learn from his experience, the better.

4. I was curious. As a writer, I’ve never really thought about writing an eBook before, but I started wondering, “Would it make sense for me to run a series and then publish it altogether?” I haven’t come up with a plan for that just yet, but it’s something I’m thinking about for the future. I wanted to see how it came together and how I might emulate the model of blog-to-book later.

5. I wanted to support Darren’s work. The ProBlogger site is a valuable resource for me as a writer and I was happy to show my support the way it counts.

Convinced the book would make sense for you, too? It’s only $19.95, which as Darren points out, is 64 cents per day of tips and tasks. It’s a pretty reasonable price if you take the assignments to heart and use them to help your blog over and over again.

Think of it this way, too: If you learn these suggestions and make them a regular part of your routine, you will put yourself in a position to begin selling advertising for your blog–or to increase your current advertising plan. That’s part of my personal goal with the workbook. I want to start advertising on my blog, but I’ve been kicking myself that I haven’t had a single 30-day period where I’ve posted every single day. I’m working on that now and, with the help of these tips and an editorial calendar (a tip from Darren, but I first learned from Kirsten), I think I’ll be ready to start selling advertising before the end of July.

I like the ProBlogger site in general–and this book in particular–so much that I decided to sign up for the affiliate program. So yes, I have an interest in encouraging my readers to buy the book, but I wouldn’t bother participating if I didn’t think it was worthwhile and, as you’ve read, I myself am working through the tips again and again myself.

Click here to read more about the book and find out how your blog could benefit from this valuable tool. More than 14,000 bloggers have taken the Challenge.

If you’re ready to buy the book, please do so by clicking the Buy Now button below.

If you do purchase it, I’d love to hear from you about your specific goals in taking on the 31 Day Challenge, which method worked for you (one task a day, one task a week, tasks in batches, etc.) and if you have any additional tips. Post a comment below or find me on Twitter.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 8:20 am and is filed under Business and Career Development, New and Old Media. The entry is tagged under blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.