How To Create A Challenge On My Blog

30-Day Content Challenge to More Traffic, More Leads

30-Day Content Challenge To More Traffic, More Leads

Why Should I Write Content?
The Content Challenge Rules:

Pick A Number (set a goal)
Choose Your Content
Stick With It

Prep Like A Boss

Your Content Schedule
Pick Your Weapon (content)

Creating content sucks. (Especially for 30 days!)

Sitting down for several hours to knock out a blog post, video, podcast, etc. isn't always the most fun thing to do.

In fact, if you go in without an outline for the content, it quickly becomes a burden.

I typically create one piece of content (blog post) per week because my time is limited and I believe quality beats quantity any day.

But, I've decided that's going to change.

I'm going to pump out one piece of content per day. (Whether that's a blog post, guest post on my blog, guest post on someone else's blog, a podcast, or a video.)

Side-Note: No matter what your business is, you'll benefit from creating content regularly. Just be sure to follow these guidelines for starting with topic clusters, and you'll have no problem creating the RIGHT KIND OF CONTENT.

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If you follow HubSpot's guidelines, you won't have to dive deep into keyword rankings and long-tail keywords – which don't matter much anymore.

Here's how to get started.

Why Should I Write Content?

It's easy. Because it works.

You see, I launched Flight Media Blog back in July of 2013. We were getting roughly 900 visitors/month by November, but I knew we needed more .

So, in January, I decided to produce content every day , and we went from 814 monthly visitors to 8,575 visitors by the end of the month.

A whopping 1,053% increase in traffic! In ONE month!

Of course, after January, we slowed down to 1-2 blog posts per week and our traffic hovered to a steady 6 ,000 monthly visitors . (Still an 737% increase from November.)

Caption: Before and After 1st Challenge

On top of the traffic, our email newsletter subscribers skyrocketed from less than 30 to over 1,000 in the first 4 months.

The Content Challenge Rules

Starting on the 1st of whatever the upcoming month is, I'm encouraging everybody reading this blog to take the challenge.

Push yourself to create content every day (or 5 days per week) and see how much it transforms your numbers.

If you're getting 1,000 visitors per month, what would you be able to do with 5,000? (We're participating too – setting a goal of 50,000 visitors by the end of the month, conservatively.)

So, here are the rules:

Pick a number. How much traffic are you currently getting and how much are you looking to achieve? Without a goal, you'll be shooting into the dark – thus, de-motivating you. ( Here's how to stay motivated .)
Choose your content. Content is anything that provides value to readers. Whether that's a blog post, guest post on another blog, video, or podcast, make sure it's providing value. (We highly recommend video – even using just an iPhone works!)
Stick with it. This is probably the most cliche rule, but the truth is that being average won't cut it anymore. The average business blogs several times per month. The average person would say this sounds too hard and give up before trying. And the average person experiences average results. Don't be average.

Prep Like a Boss

I'll be honest. This isn't an easy task.

It takes massive preparation to do something like this, so you don't burn yourself out.

(When I first attempted to challenge myself with content production, I had no plan and it burned me out . Which is why I haven't done it since.)

So, to make this easier and give you a better sense of direction, I'm going to share all the resources and strategies I use along the way.

The first step is your schedule.

Your Content Schedule

A schedule was the largest thing I lacked on my first try.

My team and I wrote on-the-fly and didn't have a structure.

This is very important, because it gives you a guided route for the entire month.

If you don't pre-plan the topics and titles, you'll end up have a week of straight "numbered lists" (i.e. 7 ways to.... 9 Things You Should.... 4 Bloggers to be Following... Etc.).

I like to keep my article titles and topics in a Google Spreadsheet, so I know what's coming up and what type of content needs completed.

Caption: 30 Day Blogging Challenge Schedule

Pick Your Weapon (Content)

If you're new to blogging or want to get a better idea of different kinds of effective content to create, here's a breakdown of the what I've learned is effective.

Guest Posting

Guest posting is simply submitting content (typically a blog post) to somebody else's blog.

It can be very powerful, because it helps build a relationship with the blog owner, it drives referral traffic, it gives you a backlink, it builds credibility for your own brand, and you're exposed to another industry's or business's audience.

For example, I wrote this post on Jeff Bulla's blog and it received nearly 30 comments and over 1,000 social media shares.

If you plan on guest posting, you'll need to plan what blogs you'd like to post on.

The best way to do this is to create a spreadsheet of the potential blogs and then reach out to inquire about guest posting. (Check out this fantastic Advanced Guide to Guest Posting by Neil Patel)

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Caption: Spreadsheet for Potential Guest Blogs

Get this out of the way before completing the schedule because your guest blogging won't be accepted immediately .

So, while you wait for replies, leave a few spots open on the schedule and fill them in as your guest posting gets accepted.

Side-Note:

Make sure the blog is relevant to your niche and their audience is engaged. A successful guest blog will get lots of social shares and comments.

Blog Posts

This is the most common type of content. Good ol' blog posts.

I've written nearly 150 blog posts in the last year, so to give you some ideas, here are a few types that have worked very well for me:

Funny Lists. These are the kinds of lists that people can relate to and are relevant to your niche. For example, my " 40 Signs You're a Marketing Nerd " got several hundred shares and then continued to get traction with reshares from readers.)
In-Depth Guides. Quality definitely trumps quantity. I spent upwards of 8 hours on a post that received 5,000+ pageviews per month from it.
Authority Roundups. When you interview authorities in your niche or write an article about them, they tend to receive above-average sharing. Why? Because you're associating your name with the top dogs. When I did my first 30-day content challenge, I wrote a post called "11 Business Bloggers You Should Be Following in 2014," which received 4,000 page views in the first month and more than 500 social shares.
Hack Lists . Everybody loves hacks. Heck, there's an entire website dedicated to hacks caller Lifehacker.com. Would you rather read an article called "7 Money Tips to Lead the Life You Want" or "7 Money Hacks to Lead the Life You Want?" Most people would choose the latter.

Recommended Tool: Blogging Essentials Checklist

Video

I'm a huge fan of video.

Before I founded Flight Media, I actually co-founded an online drumming education company whose prime source of traffic was YouTube.

In the first year, we accumulated nearly 1 million YouTube views, and we built a subscriber base of more than 10,000 engaged drummers. (It was amazing.)

Just take a look at James Wedmore . He used YouTube as a content strategy and has accumulated over 2.5 million youtube views and a subscriber base of over 150,000 people.

Recommended Read: 8 Steps to Capturing 500,000 Youtube Views in 10 Months

Podcasts

Podcasts allow people to listen to content on their smartphones and download your audio content.

The truth is, some people prefer listening over reading. Why?

Because it's easier . (And we're getting lazier )

Although podcasts take a bit more effort to start up, consultants like Pat Flynn are taking massive advantage and pulling 10,000+ podcast downloads per day .

Recommended Read: How to Start a Podcast: Step-by-Step

Final Thoughts

This is going to be a challenge. And quite frankly, some of you won't complete the first week.

BUT... If you're willing to try, do the following:

Share this post and tag someone else who you believe in.
Comment daily with the a link to your latest piece of content.
Visit someone else's content and leave a positive comment.

Additional Resources

Monthly Stats Tracker PDF (Courtesy of Cindy with Affaircare )

Don't wait another day to create content. Join us in this challenge!