by When I first started blogging, I felt a bit stuck. I didn’t always know what to write and was still learning about the basic mechanics of writing for the web. I needed something to kickstart my blog, and I was willing to churn out the content; I just didn’t know where to start.
There were a handful of successful bloggers that everyone followed, including Darren Rowse. Someone recommended I check him out, and I began a journey that would eventually lead me to sitting here in front of my screen, talking to you.
Darren Rowse – Problogger
Darren is a blogger and photographer who’s been going strong since the early days of blogging. In 2005, he shifted to his blogging efforts full time and never looked back. He runs multiple blogs on different topics, but Problogger, his site that covers everything related to writing and blogging, is the main site I follow and spend time with.
You could say that Darren is the inspiration for me moving in this direction. First, once I discovered it, I have always loved blogging. (I admit, some days I absolutely hate it, but that’s usually just because I’m stuck on an idea.)
I have poured over the pages of Problogger while building every site I have ever built, and often, if you look deep enough, you will see the influence of what I consider to be his most important work – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.
31 Days to Build a Better Blog
If you want to see real growth on a new blog, I can’t recommend this course enough. The lessons learned in 31 Days to Build a Better Blog will not only get you blogging on a regular basis for your new blog and help you build a library of content, but it will also teach lessons in marketing, networking, and, on some days, simply reading, reflecting, and learning.
Not every day is a writing day, but the writing days will build you a nice stable of posts that will help breathe life into the empty pages of your fledgling site.
In fact, I’m using the course right now to help ramp up this website.
The course has evolved greatly since I first bought it back in 2008, and I’ll pick up the latest version once I get through some of the other courses I’m reading.
What’s great about 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is that it makes each day seem pretty simple. It gives you the idea of the day’s lesson and then leads you through showing you examples, giving you real-life uses, discussing the good/bad of different methods, and consistently circles back to reinforce some of the previous lessons (so that you’re building upon each skill instead of just learning 31 stand-alone skills).
Lessons Learned
I still lean on many of the things I learned in this course today, even when not strictly following the day-to-day of the course. I always remember one of the first lessons I learned: the list post (Day 2).
List posts were something I would have never done left to my own devices. I thought they weren’t informative enough when I would see them on the internet. Now, they are half of what’s out there. The listicle is the foundation of entire sites!
I was more about long form content (and long tail keywords, too) – and this simple lesson taught me that sometimes there is a need for a bit of logical layout and simplicity of an ordered list. It’s not that I didn’t know the simplicity of something like a list post; it’s just that I wasn’t focused on it.
We all need a reminder of the obvious from time to time.
So, if you’re serious about wanting to kickstart your blog and jump start your path to success, I highly recommend you purchase Problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and get started. (It’s currently $99, and it’s worth every penny – you can also sign up for some of the free resources to get an account, and then there are steep discounts offered on the course and many others.)
I’ll see you on Day 31!
