If you have a blog and want to learn how to make it better you should check out Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge.
Darren is the creative force behind two of my favorite blogs, ProBlogger and TwiTip. ProBlogger is a must read for any blogger as it traces Darren’s steps as he transitioned from having a day job to becoming a full-time blogger. TwiTip is a relatively new blog that focuses on getting the most out of Twitter.
I remember when Darren first ran the Better Blog project in 2005 I was just getting serious about building my website and wanted to turn it into a money making machine that I could live off of. Thanks to the great resources that Darren and the participating bloggers revealed I improved my online IQ dramatically over that month.
It’s great to see that the project is back on this year and I’m sure it will be bigger and more valuable than ever considering how popular blogging has become and what a following Darren now has!
Here is how Darren explains the project:
“Each day from 1st April until the 1st May I will make a post here on ProBlogger that is part of the challenge.
Posts will be designed to each have two aspects to them:
- A teaching component (theory)
- A practical component (a task/homework)
The idea is that often teaching remains in the realm of theory and doesn’t actually prompt those digesting it to DO something. This project is more about DOING than learning. I hope you will learn, but to be honest if you’ve been blogging for a while some of what we’ll cover many will have heard before – but this project will give you a framework and hopefully some inspiration to put what you know into action.
Some of the tasks will be similar to previous years tasks and some will be new (some things never change so there will always be some overlap). Some tasks will be more relevant to some bloggers than others so you may not choose to do all of them but they will be on a variety of areas of blogging including writing content, interacting with readers, finding new readers, design, tools etc.
This 31 days are designed for beginner and newer bloggers but many of the tasks will be relevant to intermediate and more advanced bloggers also.”
If you want to participate you can sign up here. I’ve already signed up and look forward to getting started!
I’ve said it once, I’ve said it twice, and I will continue to say it again, BLOG BLOG BLOG!!!
If you are new to the world of online marketing, have a new business, or are just trying to get your online presense known blog and comment on blogs.
Thanks for the info, although sometimes I blog so much I feel like I know everything I’m always open and looking for new ways to improve!
I think this is a great idea that will help my blog. I signed up and can’t wait to start on April 1st.
I signed up for 31 Days. I also read some of the 05 version and tried out a few ideas. I like your blog and this is third article I read today. Will be back.
Here’s some feedback about entering your blog for the first time. Darren says it’s a good idea to watch someone use your blog. Anyways, I came on your blog from twitter. First saw eye catching ad, then my eye went to the bright blue bar to find article. couldn’t find. went back to twitter confused. Tried again. This time saw summary. scrolled down too far to subscribe. Scrolled up a bit and saw intro to article. Read excellent article and recommended your twitter site to techy hubby. In summary, i think the article is the first thing that should catch a first time reader.
i Want one