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Blogging every day for a month is tough. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I did my first 30 day blogging challenge back in November 2007. It took place on a site called BT Tradespace and I was joined by a group of people who became very dear friends:- Angela Boothroyd, Anita Hunt, Elaine Sturgess and Charles Conway. We decided for some mad reason to blog every single day during November.
Like I say, blogging every day for a month is tough and we became very close friends. The friendships have survived to this day, and our blogs have gone from strength to strength. The benefits of blogging daily for a month are immense; your co-bloggers become your accountability partners and you boost your online visibility significantly.
When we started with the Zero to Blogger concept in January 2010, it was going to be spread over 31 days. But Warren’s a slow writer and others came along with their challenges and Z2B evolved into something different, something stronger. More on that another day 
Why are you getting all of this back story? I want you to be assured that you are in safe hands when it comes to using these prompts and blogging for 30 days (or 31 depending on what month).
Pre-Blog Checks
Before you set off on your mad blogging adventure you need to complete a few checks.
- You have a list – meaning you’ve joined Aweber or similar
- You have an ethical bribe in place for your newsletter list
- Have ethical bribe loaded into Aweber and your newsletter capture set-up
Resources to help you with the above.
- Zero to Ebook (£14)
- Ebook Toolkit
- Product Creator Pro Review
- Aweber
- Which Pop-Up works best for list building
It helps to install the Editorial Calendar Plugin if you are a WordPress user.
Revamp your about page. You will get a lot of activity and traffic coming to your blog, make sure your pages are up to scratch.
A lot of people think that posting like this is about traffic. It’s rarely about the traffic it’s usually about the discipline and becoming stronger as a blogger. The traffic is just a bonus along with increased subscribers. This is blogging activity is similar to running a marathon, rarely do you run a marathon to get fit (you have to be fit to start with). It’s about endurance, discipline and becoming better at what you do.
Planning your posts
If you get my Zero to Blogger emails, now would be a good time to dig out that editorial calendar that I sent you. Alternatively get a diary and on each day for that month write down an idea. Sure, I’m going to supply you 31 prompts here but there will be things that are essential to your ideal reader in that time span, industry events and other things that affect your reader – this enables you to target your content effectively. Write the event / activity down and schedule them in so that you have a post idea ready for that day.
WordPress allows you to schedule posts, so you can write a batch of posts in one go and schedule them to go live on certain days and at a specific time. You do not have to write 31 posts in one sitting and you do not have to write one each day. Find what works for you.
31 Blogging Prompts
- The Tao of XXXX - this prompt works really well as Tao has a certain air about it and speaks to a certain demographic. The word Tao means way or path and can be used to share a business journey or route. Replacing XXXX with a benefit works incredibly well as business post.
- The productivity tips from a master XXXX – we all want to streamline our processes and work more efficiently and productivity and this type of post works well.
- Simple XXXX fundamentals. Here XXXX can be business or an aspect of business that will appeal to your ideal reader.
- When willpower is trumped by XXXX, this prompt captures the imagination when shared socially
- Simple daily habits to ignite your passion to / for. Again we all love an insight into a businesses or person’s routine. This post allows you to showcase your skills and habits. Done well this post will convert readers into subscribers.
- Effortless XXXX, In my case it would be a post about effortless blogging, for you it might be something you find incredibly simple but others get frustrated with.
- How to be XXXX at any time – how to be marvellous, how to be wonderful, how to be supercagafragilistically awesome… okay, you get the picture
- Life lessons from a reluctant XXXX, perhaps semi autobiographical
- Lessons for XXXXX – with XXXX being your ideal customer
- A business book review – remember to add your Amazon affiliate links in
- Finally, the truth about XXXX - A product review
- The Story of me and XXXX. Share the story of you and how you got into this industry
- Simple XXXX, the lazy person’s guide. Depending on who your ideal reader is you may also want to make that the smart person’s guide.
- How to be XXXX at any age. If you are targeting a certain age demographic this prompt will work well for you
- The myth of XXXX – readers love myth busters, so get controversial and bust one or two
- 10 Simple tips to deal with XXXX – solve the problem in quick and simple tips and of course one can be your product
- The really simple way to get XXXX, again it can be adapted to smart people, crazy people, cat people – whatever you call your ideal reader
- The really simple way to get XXXXX
- Get started: From to Zero to XXXX (I use this one a lot)
- The small-scale approach to XXXX. Again this is a great connecter for small biz
- XX of lessons I’ve learnt in XX years. Lessons learnt can be popular and conversation generators.
- Breaking free from xxxx <—- A great one for promoting your product or service
- The little guide to XXXX
- Surround yourself with smart people. Share a post about the team that you have around you and what they bring to your business
- The ritual of XXXX
- Create a case study of how you helped a customer with a specific problem – make the reader feel the pain of the customer and the relief when the solution was put into place.
- The simplest cure for XXX, a nice keyword rich prompt here
- Secrets of the XXXX industry
- Can’t find a perfect XXXX. Create your own XXXX
- XXXX: The first step to XXXX. The first set of XXXX is your target audience and the second is the benefit they are seeking.
- 31 blog posts you shouldn’t miss. A link post of all your blog posts from the month of blogging
Additional tips and tactics
- Get some guest posts in place – it hurts to write 31 posts, you will be brain fried at times. Get some guest posts as a back up.
- Perfect your call to action – you may need three or four and each post would have a different call to action
- Practice your headline writing, yes you have prompts here but you need to take them and hack them up to suit you and your audience
- Every 7 days collect the links from that week and create a link post good for your SEO and good for readers just discovering your blog.
- How to posts are great for converting but they are not the only post you should be writing – use a variety of different posts
- Images in every post
- Experiment with WordLess Wednesday and Silent Sunday where you only post a link to images
- Look for videos to embed in blog posts to support your advice.
- Get interviews via email. This can be timeless content so even if you don’t use it in your 31 days of blogging then you can use it after. On Birds on the Blog in October we’ll be publishing 31 breast cancer survivor stories, all of these are interviews.
- Be prepared to promote your posts. Install tools such as BufferApp and Hootsuite to make your life a little easier
- Find some accountability partners
I hear a lot of time that quality of posts will go down if you write every day. I don’t think that’s true, writing is like a muscle; the more you do it the stronger it becomes. You write emails on a daily basis, reports for work etc. You write far more than what you think. However if you write rubbish now, your writing will be a heck of a lot stronger after 31 posts. You’ll start to tidy up your writing, your content will become succinct and you’ll improve significantly. The good thing about blogging is you can tidy up posts long after they have been published.
Secondly you are unlikely to have just one ideal customer. You may have two or three. Here’s how you write to more than one ideal customer. Each time that you post you can be reaching a different segment of your audience.
And finally, when you have completed your marathon remember to go over your stats and see what your audience liked and disliked.
Post blogging marathon: Take a look at your blogging schedule – can you now commit to posting twice a week? Maybe three times a week with guest posts and interviews interspersed?
After you’ve completed 31 different blog posts you will need to make some changes on your blog so make sure you have the time to do it.
Sarah Arrow
Director of Special Projects at Sark eMedia
Blogging an issue for you? Social media not quite working how it should be? I started out as a transport blogger for a same day courier company, and grew into a kick-ass blog coach as well as creator of Birds on the Blog (listed 3 times by Forbes as a top 100 website for women).
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Fantastic blog Sarah. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to commit to writing a blog every day for a month! I struggle to write two a week for Evenbreak. But some of the ideas for blogs and titles are invaluable, so thanks for those.
Twitter: evenbreak
Thanks Jane. I think your case studies are very powerful and knowing how much work they take to create I wouldn’t dream of attempting to do a month of those! Even I have my limits
Twitter: saraharrow
Ah yes, the pre-blog checklist, things that I somewhow seem to forget about. What a great post to bookmark when I need to keep flowing and stop me giving up
Twitter: jackiewalker
Yeah the pre-blog checklist came about when I heard the tale of a blogger who got syndicated by a national newspaper. He came home to find he’d had a million visitors in 10 days and no way of finding out who they were, or how he could keep in tough with them. A harsh lesson in being prepared.
Twitter: saraharrow
I’ve done a 30 day blogging challenge twice and it’s hard work. But it’s also quite an eye opener, so well worth it.
If you haven’t done one yet, go for it!
Twitter: german_tutor
Thanks for sharing Angelika, what results did you get?
Twitter: saraharrow
Nothing really the first time, except I found out I enjoyed writing the posts.
The second time round it was better. People were actually reading my posts and I even got new clients because of them.
Twitter: german_tutor
Oooooo I love the list of prompts! I think it might actually get me to blog more!
Twitter: yolandafacio
You should blog more, I love your posts!
Twitter: saraharrow
Scary, scary challenge but one that would do me a world of good.
Twitter: themusclediva
I think you could find a group of fit bloggers to tackle it with you, you’d be able to help and support each other easily and promote each other. It would be a terrific thing for your to do
Twitter: saraharrow
“Post blogging marathon: … can you now commit to posting twice a week?”
Piece of the proverbial that would be by then wouldn’t it?
Twitter: Linda_Mattacks
It should be
Twitter: saraharrow
Very helpful tips! Thanks for sharing such great information – love the blogging prompts!
Twitter: terryleague
Hope you find then useful Terry
Twitter: saraharrow
I have to come back to this time and time again Sarah, it has a wealth of information that needs revisiting one bit at a time!
Twitter: idahorner
Twitter: saraharrow
It’s hard to believe that the Tradespace blogging challenge was way back in 2007 – it seems like no time at all really since we were struggling with that flaky platform and forging new friendships.
I remember that it was your idea and that you’d already begun to establish a solid reputation for being very knowledgeable about blogging and Twitter etc. I was just starting out as a blogger and my first posts were pretty dire (I’m still learning!) but they were much improved by the end of the challenge
It certainly was a challenge but I’d do it again if I had the chance
Twitter: StudyingOnline
It seems like only yesterday Angela, I do seem to have some mad ideas
Twitter: saraharrow
Great list Sarah, thank you. Bookmarked and shared. Dawn x
Twitter: dawnbarclay
Glad you liked it Dawn and thanks for the bookmarking
Twitter: saraharrow
Now that… is what I call a comprehensive post.
31 blogging prompts plus additional tips.
Appreciate the time and effort you put in to these posts Sarah, a great resource for the blogging community.
Twitter: wmwebdes
I was having a mad 4 hours Keith and the urge to write something was overwhelming (this is what happens when you turn your emails off for three weeks)
Twitter: saraharrow
Planning is the key. I ‘dry ran’ a blog for 6 months before upgrading my website last year, and found the biggest problem was not being prepared. When my site went live, I had a few weekly blogs lined up. I now have about 8-10 blogs pretty much developed at any one time, with lots of new ideas to throw in.
Twitter: gbmaccounts
Hi Nick, I was saying similar to a client the other day. they were trying to assure me they had enough content, and I was explaining that their blog will eat that content up really fast and they need to keep ahead of the game. Planning is essential if you are going to blog on a regular basis.
Twitter: saraharrow
I keep dipping in and out of blogging but its never yet stuck properly….
I’ve this moment just finished putting in diary events for posting blogs twice a week through to the end of the year. Most of those also have a vague topic next to them, but I’m conscious many of them are more company news. Will definitely have to use some of this list as inspiration
Twitter: MakeRawChoc
More discipline, less chocolate?
Seriously though Dan, look at chocolate recipes and anything that your target market might like – perhaps images would work better for you? Or a quick chocolate tip on a photo? (hyper-pinnable), experiment, because when you find an aspect you really like you won’t want to stop 
Twitter: saraharrow
Surely the other way round, more raw chocolate…….. then nothing else matters
We do have a recipe section on the site and it’s on my to-do list for developments to the site to pull those in to the blog as well. Using Drupal I have complete control over content types, structure, etc so it’s pretty easy to do. Just need to make the time to do it.
Interesting idea about the tips on am image, never thought of that one, so will have to have a think and see what I can come up with.
Twitter: MakeRawChoc
I’ve found some of my best performing pins are an image with 1,2,3,4 and a note by each number – brand visibility at it’s best
Twitter: saraharrow
I could very well make use of your great list. I’m feeling a little bit of blogging burnout. I’m starting a new blog and it seems I’m at a lost for topics to write. There are so many tidbits running up my head that I cannot seem to organize them. Also, time is my greatest antagonist. I can’t find enough to bring up a post.
All Things Juliet recently posted..Time to Replace Old Bulky TV with Flats on Tilt Wall Mount
Twitter: allthingsjuliet
Juliet, when this happens the only solution is a image post until you can capture all those thoughts and process them
Twitter: saraharrow
Thanks much for this creative advice Sarah. Now I know …. (*lights on*)
All Things Juliet recently posted..Acoustic Guitars – A Perfect Christmas Gift
Twitter: allthingsjuliet
Great list… it gets the juices flowing!
You did your first 30 day blogging challenge in November 2007?? Every November is fiction writing month for me, as I participate in NaNoWriMo. I’ve done that every year since 2005, and plan to participate again this year.
Willena Flewelling
Willena Flewelling recently posted..Set Your Imagination Free!
Twitter: WillenaRose
Hi Sarah,
You have made some excellent points in this article . It is so true if you can write a post teach a lesson or solving a problem . People really appreciate it and will come back to your site. Thank you for sharing your tips and advice. take care Rosemary
Rosemary recently posted..What has my Printers Ink and Irish Facebook Marketing got in common ??
Twitter: workingonthego
Hi Sarah,
I am currently writng a lot of posts at the moment. This week alone I have written 12 for various blogs. I am also doing kind of a 25 day challenge I suppose you could call it. Writing a post for each day of Advent to go alongside my eBook. I will be glad for a rest afterwards
Thank you for your helpful information.
(dofollow)
Anita recently posted..Advent day 5 Rejoice in confident hope
Twitter: NitaJoyDesigns
It’s hard work isn’t it! Well done for undertaking your 25 day challenge – I bet you get some great results
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Sarah Arrow recently posted..Great WP plugins for finding free images
Twitter: saraharrow