Week 1 in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is over and we’re almost a quarter of the way through the challenge. 11,029 people are subscribed participants and the feedback has been very positive so far – thanks to everyone for your participation.
I just wanted to update readers on a few aspects of the project:
Links from the Weekend – firstly I know a lot of you had a long weekend for Easter and may have missed the last few days tasks. Here’s a quick recap on the last four days:
- Day 4 – Analyze a Top Blog in Your Niche
- Day 5 – Email a Reader
- Day 6 – Must Read Advice from Successful Bloggers
- Day 7 – Write a Link Post
Forums – before launching this challenge I mentioned a forum area for registered members to interact. We had a few challenges in setting this up but I’m happy to say that those registered for email notifications will get an invite to join the forums in the next 36 hours.
Workbook – one of the frequently asked questions that I’ve been getting about 31DBBB is whether I can produce a workbook at the end of the challenge that people can use to continue working through the tasks after the 31 days are over. While I’d not previously considered this there does seem to be some demand for it. I’m willing to put it together for sale at a small price (I want to be able to cover the time I put into it – I’m thinking around $10) IF people are interested.
Here’s a poll to gauge whether people are interested.
It’s Going Too Fast! – one of the other pieces of feedback I’ve had is people saying that they feel like they are falling behind. My response has been for people not to stress too much. While I’m going to keep pushing out tasks and challenges each day for the 31 days there’s nothing to stop you slowing down and tackling tasks at your own pace. Quite a few people have been saving the emails that I’m sending and are doing 2-3 tasks a week instead of 7. The workbook idea is also emerging out of this desire for people to move at their own pace. Also – I’m going to try to mix in a few smaller tasks (Day 8’s will be a 5-10 minute one for example) for those of you needing a breather.
Is it too late to Join? – lastly, I’m hearing a few people saying that they missed the start. While the main group of participants are up to Day #7 of the challenge, the way I’ve designed it is that people can start at any time they like. The day you enter your email and first name on the signup page you’ll be taken to the start of the process. You’ll be a bit behind the main group but not alone as hundreds of people are signing up each day.
Excellent, excellent recap. I appreciate this and your series as it has been an immense help to a new blogger like me. I’m sure you get this all the time, but nonetheless I still love everything you’re doing here.
Thank you. All I can say really is thank you. I’m in awe of your inept ability to keep preaching the same material. And this material works too. I’m sure you get this all the time, but nonetheless, I’m in love with this series and this site in general.
I’ll buy the workbook for ten bucks !!
Anyway, the workbook is a good idea as people will be able to follow the guide in their own pace…
Darren, I think WE should say thank you to YOU for doing this.
I’m really ashamed not to know you more before that! Now, I have no wonder why you are so successful in your blogging.
1. You provide real quality content.
2. You help others succeed.
3. You are not afraid to share or recommend other peoples posts.
4. You rock!
I’m really glad that people like you still exist on the blogsphere where what most of what we see is selfish people trying to through some crap page to get some Adsense revenue or won’t share a link not to lose their PR and stuff like that!
Awesome, keep up the great work, I’ll follow you up on this challenge and whatever else is coming up!
I am amazed at how much my blog’s traffic (and my own blogging passion) has benefited as a result of this project. I have only posted three times in the last 8 days, but still saw both the most traffic for one day and the most traffic for one week. In fact, I reached that point with more than 30 hours left in the week.
The communication with readers, focus on social media, and just overall fresh perspective I’m coming at my blog have been amazing. I’m excited to see what else this week holds!
Great work darren!! It is amazing to hear that 11,029 subscribers are following you, and I am proud to say that I am one among them!!
Your tips does help me improve the way I present my blog. I made many changes to my blog in the past week.
Thank you very much for starting 31DBBB!!
I’ve been enjoying all of the advice and challenges. The workbook idea sounds great. In my opinion the I’ve been falling behind as well a little, so I’d advise you to turn this 31 day challenge into a permlinked series that you can create a special category for or whatever and over the months I’ll be able to complete all of the tasks at my own pace, since many of us don’t have the ability to devote so much time of the week to our blogs.
However, overall I’ve been learning a lot from the posts. Cheers!
This has been a busy week of blogging, But I have learned so much and have also seen a slight increase in my stats.
Besides the obvious benefits of this week’s task, it has kept me focused on writing content and promoting my blogs. I have spent much less time wandering aimlessly on the internet, checking my stats, earnings and looking at Facebook, etc.
I have been keeping a notebook of tips for future use, but a workbook, would be wonderful! And I would certainly pay $10 for it.
Thanks Darren for sharing your knowledge with all of us!
Darren, thank you. The series has been eye-opening and very useful for me so far. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.
For anyone who hasn’t signed up already, I highly recommend it. In addition to improving my blog I’ve met some wonderful new people via email/blog comments/the facebook group etc :)
I wouldn’t buy the book. I WANT the book, and I think buying the book would be like me paying back for the information you’re giving away so freely.
But for me it’s kinda difficult to buy it, due to banking issues in my country. Sometimes I hate living in a third world country.
Keep up this work man. It is very much appreciated!
Thank you for the wonderful series of posts thus far. The benefits of the program are already starting to show!
This program help me a lot have fun.
Thank you for putting this together. It’s set me thinking about things in some slightly different ways. I have stockpiled some posts and am just getting a bit more of the freshness back.
It’s been only one week and I’ve already experienced tremendous success and made some great contacts. This challenge is timeless and would benefit any blogger no matter when they started. Looking forward to interacting with more of you and completing more challenges.
I might be interested in a workbook, but I’m not sure what exactly it would be….
Happy Easter team!
So for this week I learned some new things from problogger.net ,hoping for more useful info to come .
Perhaps everyone could follow along easier if there were no weekend tasks? Stretch out the 31 posts over six weeks, Monday thru Friday. That way we can catch up on the weekends and get a breather too.
This 1 week update list is good for those who missed out the start of this 31 Days to Build A Better Blog. Btw, I’ve followed all the post in this week, I’ll be following the rest tutorial. :)
Regarding the workbook, I’m not sure yet..so..let’s see how in the end of this program..:)
Regards,
Lee
I am one of the many who is falling behind. I’ve got most of the work done, I just need to do the link post and go back and get an elevator pitch.
Thanks for the recap.
Some of the things you recommend, I’m already doing so I’m able to mostly keep up.
I haven’t read all the articles from the reading day, but I received a great tip out of the first one by Seth Godin about blogging on the weekend.
My hits are going up and my comments have increased. I’m a happy blogger.
Rita
P.S. I’m also going to ask famous people for e-mail interviews more often. I’m a journalist so I get a pretty good response when I put Journalist Request in the subject line of the e-mail.
I have friends who begged off from joining this program because they would not have internet access during the Holy Week. Thanks for making it clear that they can still sign for this program and work at their preferred pace.
Re Workbooks. Why not make them an integral part of the forums. Something that can be accessed online like blog posts? Then everybody on the program can have access to it. Alternatively, they can download it, print it or just read it online. Just a suggestion though.
Thank you Darren. I would not come here so often if the tips you provide were ineffective.
But I had almost 400 new visitors in the last two days. Thats very good for me new blog Zen Life.
Thank you again and I am looking forward to learn more.
Regards Michael
Week 1 was a blast and the solutionbrewery (http://development.tobiasopdenbrouw.nl) is doing well! I’m going to take next week’s development work (and this week’s reading on MVC, jQuery and Silverlight from my niche blog co-blogs) to crank out a ‘pillar’ post at least.
Thanks so far – looking forward to the new tasks.
I never got to the marjority of the links from day 6. Yet I think this is one of those courses I’llw ant to revisti.. As having gotten to a certainplateau, which will happen more than once, I’ll surely feel the need to revisit these assignments as my knowledge base and my readers grow. This is not a static process. so, having voted ‘maybe’ for the book, as I write I see the wisdom of having such a book!
ah, the female mind.
delicate
Thanks. I like the workbook idea. I’m a bit behind (still working on the pre-task) as April has been nuts both at home and work (not actually a pro-blogger).
Realistically won’t start until after taxes (US 4/15) and even then probably won’t keep to the same pace. 31 one tasks more than 31 days, I imagine.
The book will be very useful for beginners as well as regular bloggers.
-Mahesh.
Darren,
Thanks for the recap. I
I’ll try that again… my little one was helping and push the enter key…
I am still reading through the links you gave us (Day 6). Wonderful stuff.
Love this challenge!
The workbook would be great. I feel like I am just scratching the surface and trying really hard to keep up with the task each day. I’d love to go back over it when I get time and the workbook would be useful.
ha ha ha – I have to agree that it does seem a bit too fast, but that makes the workbook such a good idea – then we can go at our own pace, maybe even over 31 weeks!
The workbook idea is priceless. $10 is really a steal! I’ll take it… definitely count me in!
This has been a great ride so far and I appreciate your sharing of some of the feedback with us. It has been a whirlwind week but a lot has become apparent to me since I joined and I am grateful for the challenges.
Thank you!
I can understand people saying it’s going too fast. It definitely is for me, because I am so caught up in my work right now that I shamelessly neglect my blog at the moment. But I don’t stress about it, because as you pointed out your posts are not going anywhere. I will just look them up and do the tasks as soon as I have more time again.
And I think the book would be a great idea.
The workbook is a great idea, but I’d make one suggestion. You said the challenge was designed for people who have blogs already setup as opposed to people wanting to launch a new blog. I think the workbook with a little extra front-end content could bridge the gap and make a great “First 30/31 days of a blog” type guide. What do others think of that?
This week has been great and although I don’t have my link post up yet I don’t feel to far behind.
I’m really excited about the forums and can’t wait for that email and I would buy the workbook. I have a few other blogs collecting dust I’d like to spruce up and think the workbook would be a great help.
Thanks again.
I’ve fallen behind having been doing the Easter thing and all, plus it’s school holidays. Yeah yeah – excuses excuses. Like a couple of people above have mentioned my traffic has increased since this started and I look forward to reading more about others experiences with this. The forums will hopefully be a good way of keeping connected.
Thanks.
I am one of those who fell hopelessly behind after day 3, but then I never intended to blog daily in any case, and I have been saving all the emails so I can work through as I have time. I like the idea of the workbook, I imagine as downloadable PDF.
Cheers Darren, appreciate the effort anyway.
Jeff
A workbook would be a fabulous resource and worth every penny. Truly, you are gifting so much information for free and I for one, appreciate it greatly.
Your teaching style is comprehensive, yet tangible. You’re hitting it right at the level where I am at and even the things I ‘know’ already – well, it’s always a good thing to go back to basics and remind yourself of the simple things that work isn’t it? I would never be so arrogant to skip over something claiming that I know it all.
So thank you Darren, for giving of yourself, your time and your energy so freely and I’m definitely up for buying a workbook from you too.
As long as you promise to spend the money on something nice for yourself ;)
I’m skimming and saving your posts to tackle when I have more time. I’m pleased to say, though, that many of your suggestions are things I do already, and regularly! It’s nice to have confirmation, and reminders of ways to fine-tune the different processes. I appreciate all the work you’ve put into this.
Great Idea .. so we have to buy and encourage that .. go on
I think the workbook idea is great. At $10, what a deal.
Thanks for all the help
To be honest this should be 62DBBB, we should get 2 days to complete a challenge. For bloggers 24 hours is not enough.
I am loving the 31DBBB challenge! I am learning so much about marketing my blog (EmergingEdTech.com), and plan to use these techniques on a regular basis from here forward. Outstanding stuff – thanks Darren!
I think the workbook is a *great* idea! And since I’m trying to help other folks get started blogging, their being able to buy a copy of the workbook would be a huge help to them!
Thanks for running this and all the work involved in putting it together – I’m finding it tremendously useful as well as motivating.
Very good recap! I do feel like I’m falling behind, as had several very busy days and was unable to really tackle the day’s assignment, but I was going to print them out and work at my own pace. I meant to say thank you for all your hard work!
Great series so far. I’m picking up new idea tidbits, and I’m excited to see how many of the ideas I had already implemented in my blog.
Workbook recap is surefire winner of a product, great vision! Although I haven’t been shocked with novel information (yet), I’m glad I subscribed to the series to witness firsthand how your business plan plays out (so far it’s looking excellent). It’s valuable to read what I guessed were good blogging moves confirmed by someone with a lot of web writing experience.
Kudos.
ps, I’m sure I’m learning more than I realize (didn’t want to come across as too smug)
Yes I would buy a book Darren.. but would prefer to have it as a refresher for another 30 days to get me back on track.
If at all possible I think the buzz from joining in with everyone else and taking part at the time is very powerful.
So thanks for having activities that are quick to do .. and let us catch up.
I am really enjoying the program, but would love a bit more time because even though I am doing the assignments on the day you send them, it might be 2 or 3 days before the blogs post because I have content scheduled with guest bloggerrs, and don’t want ot adjust the schedule I have committed to them but want to share what I have written.
I probably wouldn’t buy the workbook, because I can simply go back to the posts I have bookmarked. But I am loving the program so far!
Thanks for this program. I recommended it to a number of people I work with, and I’m participating myself. I’m doing each lesson when I have time, but I’ll definitely complete the course.
I am really getting a lot out of 31DBBB, Darren. I am not putting any pressure on myself to do everything daily as I think one approach might work better for some than others.
For me, I would like to see all 31 Days and then plan out a revamp of my blog. If I could sum up my approach, it would be that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Based on this, a workbook for $10 would be a very useful tool.