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Lost Your Blogging Mojo? 7 Never Fail Strategies To Ace The Ultimate Blog Challenge
Been struggling for blogging inspiration? Lost your mojo? Are your efforts a little Wheaties instead of Fruit Loops?
Shizam!
Have I got the answer for you!
It’s called the Ultimate Blog Challenge (UBC) and it’s running this month. The goal is to write a post every day in April.
No, I haven’t lost my mind.
It really will turn that frown upside down.
You see when you do something regularly it builds momentum. The fact that you’re in it with 700+ bloggers urging each other on doesn’t hurt either.
Still feeling a little overwhelmed or declared me seriously whacko?
What if I share seven never fail strategies to guarantee you’ll ace the UBC?
Got your attention?
Ok here they are…
Know Your Reader Avatar
An avatar is a graphical representation of a person or character. To write for your avatar you need to be able to answer…
Who are you writing for? What are their needs, wants and deepest, secret desires? What problems do they desperately want to overcome? Which words and phrases do they use?
Describe them in as much detail as possible. Give him or her a name.
Survey your readers to make sure you’re on the right track. If you’re like me you might even get your avatar’s image created through Fiverr.com.
The better you know your avatar the easier it will be to know what they’d like you to write.
Select A Theme
Choose a theme for the month.
You could share a recipe a day, a marketing tip, discuss a different aspect of graduate career development. There are a million different themes to choose from. Simply pick a theme your avatar would love to hear more about and get started.
Mindmap
The good ol’ mindmap… a long standing method of coercing the brain into devising a diagram of words, ideas and concepts around a central category. Mindmaps can be used to create a series of posts that lead into one another, encouraging the reader to keep visiting for the next instalment.
Mindmapping with pen and paper can be very therapeutic but if it’s not your style definitely check out the free, online tool Bubbl.us.
Content Outlines
Before you start typing or recording your blog post always have a content outline. They’re fantastic for keeping your post on track rather than dilly, dallying around.
What is the key message you’re aiming to convey? What are the important aspects you need to discuss? Know the answers in advance. Even better, have several outlines ready to go for your next batch posting session.
Batch Post
When I mentioned the importance of momentum above I wasn’t kidding. Once you’ve got momentum it’s so much easier to keep going. That’s why you should definitely consider batch posting.
Research says that when we are distracted from or change tasks it takes twenty minutes to regain focus. If you are writing a post, change to finding images then hyperlink and publish before writing another post you’ve already lost a mountain of time.
Set dedicated time aside and crunch out as many posts as you can. You’ll be amazed at what you get done. (Oh, and you can thank me in your new spare time).
Headline Swipe Files
Rather than talk about swipe files have a look at => How to Create a Blog Post Title That Gets Serious Traffic [101 Ideas].
You never want to copy someone’s work but you can certainly be inspired by and apply a concept, idea or headline to your niche.
And just in case you feel 101 headlines won’t be enough here are 17 Crazy Places to Get Jaw Dropping Headline Ideas, and a further 512 blog post ideas.
Content Curation
Don’t think you have to create all content yourself from scratch. No, that doesn’t mean copy and paste slabs of other bloggers’ writing onto your website.
Content curation focuses on selecting the best information and resources available on a niche or industry and sharing it with your readers. The curator will often make a brief comment then link to the item discussed.
Some of my favourite examples include Social Media Examiner’s ‘This Week In Social Media’, SillyGrrls’ ‘Blog Love’ and Vmac+Cheese’s weekly roundup named simply by date.
So How ‘Bout It?
Do you still think I’m nutty or has a glimmer of belief and expectation appeared within you?
Why not take action now?
If you read this post and thought ‘damn, why didn’t I see this earlier’ it’s not too late. Head to Ultimate Blog Challenge and sign up!
If you’ve been ‘around the block’ before why not share your best tip for rocking UBC in the comments and help out a newbie!
Nice seeing you here again! I love catching up with all my UBC buddies. Great tips to help everyone get started and make it through the month.
Thanks Shawn! I completely adore the UBC community – everyone cheering everyone!
This is my first time doing the UBC for this blog (I did it a few years ago for a now dead blog), and so I’m looking for all the inspiration possible to keep myself going!
Thank you!
Congratulations and best wishes Gwynne! The 512 post ideas should have you covered 😉
This is my 3rd UBC, and this post is nothing less than inspiring! I love using a theme for the challenge – it’s like a roadmap making the destination seem closer and the road more scenic. I’ll be coming back to this post as a resource.
This is my 3rd UBC thanks for all the great tips on how to keep the momentum going. I have managed to complete the past two so I should be able to do this one too!
Woohoo Beth! You’re a pro!
This is my first time doing the UBC and I’m really inspired by the content from the participants! This is a great post and I love your strategies for keeping our content focus on our readers.
Thanks Chivon! Glad you found it helpful. I struggled in my initial attempts but getting clear on who your readers are makes a world of difference.
This is my first UBC so I’m pretty excited about participating and I love the idea about writing posts in batches. Very helpful tip! This will definitely help me to save on time and get more done. Thank you!
Loved your post yesterday Jocelyn! Discovering new blogs is one of the best bits of UBC.
Best wishes for batching – let me know how you go!
This is my first UBC and I am loving it! Your tips are great and have gotten the wheels turning in my head. I am loving this challenge and its only day 2 🙂
So glad you’re enjoying it that much Kirsten! That’s why I keep returning 🙂
Nice post! You’re clearly a veteran 🙂
Gosh, thanks Martha! I was a newbie too once so I know how helpful a few prompts can be.
Great analogy and explanation of UBC. Very clever dear.
BTW…thanks for your comments.
Thanks Liz! Keep striving towards your Hay House goal – your work is VERY important.
thanks Caylie…I appreciate your encouragement
I love your tips, Caylie and I love your blog too. This will help me since I have a tendency to lose interest in blogging if it means ‘blogging for business’ but know that I need to find a happy medium with it. Great to see you again in the UBC! I got a lot out of it last time even if I didn’t end up blogging every day!
Thanks so much for including my list of blog posts!
No problem Amy! Thank you so much for creating it!
Great tips to keep bloggers motivated , I personally prefer Fruit Loops over Wheaties ;0)
Thanks for commenting Eleanor! To be honest I don’t eat cereal but if I did, I’d definitely pick the fun, brightly coloured option 🙂
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