Blog Challenge Wrap-up: Would it Help Your Business?

Even though the July challenge is over, there will be another challenge in October. Should you consider participating? I had one main goal: to extend my reach. Let’s look at what I gained:

  1. I grew my Facebook page ‘likes’ from 70 to 101; this enables me to use the ‘promoted posts’ feature on Facebook.
  2. I added three new subscribers to my mailing list.
  3. my Klout score (a measure of influence in social media) grew to 47 – an increase of 17 points.
  4. Additional comments on my blog should help my google ranking.

What did it cost?

  1. Participating is free. You make a commitment to post 31 times during the month, and comment on 2 other blogs daily.
  2. The time commitment is substantial. Although I repurposed some material, and scheduled a guest post weekly, writing a completely new blog post could take me up to 2 hours. And there was additional time to read and comment on a minimum of 2 blogs/day.
  3. Some of my VA’s time; she found and added an appropriate visual to each post.

What I learned:

  1. Guest posts are a great way to expand your reach, because your guest blogger promotes the post to their list also. 
  2. There was a definite ‘fatigue factor’; I had only one ‘unlike’ on Facebook, and no unsubscribes to my email list, but readership dropped off as the month progressed. My theory is that daily posts created information overwhelm.
  3. Having the posts written & scheduled a week in advance was the best strategy for me. I did this prior to going on vacation, and it worked well. When I returned, however, I had a horrendous week (my husband had surgery, then a setback which landed him in the ER for a full day AND I had to make several trips to Santa Barbara to get my mother’s house ready to sell AND of course the washing machine picks that week to go kaput.) Everything had a good outcome, but I missed 6 days of posts.

Would I do it again?

Maybe, but not until next July, which is usually a slower month for me. And I would begin to write/schedule posts a month in advance, so there was less pressure during the month of the challenge. See yesterday’s post for the tool I used to plan and keep track of my posts.

If you would like to participate in an upcoming blog challenge, they are held quarterly; find out more here.

If you’ve read this far, I’d love to hear your comments on what you liked about what I posted this month and/or suggestions for improvement. Use the comment box below.

Comments

  1. Julie WAHM Solutionssays

    Great to see your stats. I knew I would likely not hit 31 posts this month due to other factors, but it definitely helped me stay on track and post more often.

  2. Kerry Gorensays

    I, too, experienced some challenges. But some great lessons learned. Planning a month ahead is a great idea. And the guest posts, as well…a great idea. I think I’ll start now by planning the October challenge with your great suggestions in mind. Thanks !!!

  3. Thanks for this post! As the next challenge starts in less than a month, I’m deciding whether or not I want to participate again. My goal was similar to yours – to expand my reach. However, unlike you, I didn’t look at my opening stats (how was I ever going to decide if I expanded my reach??!!). So . . . I’m going to commit to participating in the UBC again in October . . . and I’ll be taking your advice – guest posts, schedule some ahead of time, and WATCHING MY STATS!!

    Thanks!

    Lisa

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