I’ll admit, it’s been a long weekend and I’m a bit pushed for content right now. So today I’m going to write about the personal journey I’ve been on – which is the 30-day blogging challenge.
The 30-day blogging challenge is a personal challenge that bloggers set themselves. The idea is that everyday, for the next 30 days, you need to publish at least one blog post a day. As of today, I have been blogging straight for 19 days since the NZ lockdown began on Thursday, 26 March 2020 . I was planning to write about it on day 15 but there was more pressing content to publish (like tax tips!) so here we are.
The idea behind the 30-day blogging challenge is to challenge myself to come up with content to publish on the blog – sort of a way to get the creative juices flowing. From an SEO (That’s ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ for all you non-tech nerds out there) standpoint having more content on the blog means that it will rank higher in the search engine results. I also see it as a means of disciplining myself to remain productive even though I’m not in paid employment.
So yeah, I’ve been doing this for 19 days!!! Only 11 more days to go!
The biggest challenge with blogging everyday is to mix up the content stream. I can’t keep putting up the same type of content everyday, but at the same time, I need to be consistent with making sure that the theme and flavor of the content is in line with the blog’s values.
So some days I will publish on tax issues, other days on accounting issues and occasionally I’ll write about motivational topics. What is consistent about my content is that it is always accessible, easy to read and contains simple to follow steps/advice/tips that are immediately actionable. Oh, and I draw comics into my posts as well. In case you haven’t noticed that.
I have learned a lot of things through this challenge so far. I have learned that when it comes to blogging, content is King. Without any content, no one will be attracted to my blog. I’ve also learned a bit more about reading the ‘social mood’ of the crowds on social media, which has helped me write content which is more targeted to what my readership wants. Most importantly, I’ve learned how to discipline myself to just put fingers to keyboard and write! Even if I don’t feel like writing.
Have I seen or felt the results of my blogging everyday? Oh yes, I certainly have. Facebook has this handy thing where it tracks your page stats over a number of days, and as of today – this is what it looks like:
And I’ve averaged 2000+ monthly views for the month of March and April 2020 (And April isn’t even over yet!). Before this I was only averaging 200 to 400 monthly views. So yeah. I’m feeling pretty stoked that all of you are actually coming here to read stuff I write. Thank you, THANK YOU SO MUCH to all my readers!
That being said, correlation does not imply causation (remembering my academic PhD training here). It could be just that during lockdown, people are spending more time on their devices and are reading my blog more. But even if that is the case, I’m still going to keep churning out content everyday until the end of this challenge. After that, well, I’ll come up with a new publishing strategy which is more sustainable in the long run.
Today is a public holiday here in NZ, so I guess I’m still in my holiday mood and my work brain hasn’t kicked in quite yet. I promise tomorrow I will be publishing more easy, fun and accessible financial pieces for all of my amazing readers out there! Take care, stay safe and keep reading this blog!
Yana LLEWELL
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