Sandra Martini's Success Strategies

Celebrating #30DayBlog Challenge Completers/Finishers

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who signed up for the 30 Day Blog Challenge!

It's tough to commit to doing something every day, especially when life interferes and things seem to conspire to take you off course.

Of those who officially registered, the following achieved their goal of blogging 30 times in 30 days:

Last day of #30DayBlog Challenge

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who joined -- whether you completed the Challenge (blogging at least 30 times in the 30 days, with each post at least 100 words) or simply increased the number of your postings, CONGRATULATIONS for stepping out and taking the Challenge!

 

The Challenge officially ends at midnight (your time) tonight.

 

Tomorrow, I'll be announcing everyone who signed up and completed the task -- both on this blog and through a few other means.

 

So if you're close, go ahead and get the last few posts done -- remember. . .you can repurpose previous ezine articles and other writings. :-)

 

I'll *see* you tomorrow!

Unexpected Observations from 30-Day Blogging Challenge

My goal in creating this 30 Day Blogging Challenge was to inspire you, and me, to blog more frequently -- if you made the daily goal, FABULOUS! If you didn't, at least you blogged more than you otherwise would have.

Thus creating winners on all sides: you for getting increased traffic and your target audience for having access to more of your content.

We're 2/3 through the blogging challenge and here are several of my observations-to-date, many of them unexpected:

Subjects for your blog posts/ezine articles #30DayBlog

We're almost halfway through the #30DayBlog Challenge and I know some of you are beginning to wonder -- what else can I post about?

After all, as Liz Schneider posted on Facebook when asked how she was doing with the Challenge:

"[I] don't want to bore people by talking about things that are not pertinent to my business or what I'd love to help them with. Perhaps I am making each article too complex (thus too long, lots of work to create)."

Liz posted what most of us think about. 

After all, posting for the sake of posting means nothing.  You're posting so that your ideal client will come to your blog/open your ezine and READ what you've written.

Given the above, what should you be posting about?

Here are my top 6 types of topics, for both blog posts and ezine articles:

30 Day Blogging Challenge -- Are YOU In?

As you know, I'm a HUGE fan of action in your business.

30 Day Blogging Challenges are a great way to get in the habit of doing one ordinary thing each and every day which moves your business forward.

Like the money game where you start with a dollar and double it daily, posting daily on your blog will soon bring exponential results.

The rules are simple:

• your first and last name must appear somewhere on your blog
• you must write at least 100 words for each post -- you can write a review of something, show a video, write a fresh new article, repurpose a teleseminar recording by posting the main points...whatever you feel is appropriate for your audience
• you may skip some days and post several times on others -- as long as you reach 30 posts by the end of the challenge period
• your blog may not contain any offensive or explicit material – my 86-year-old father-in-law and 11-year-old nieces must both be able to read it without being offended in order for you to qualify for the challenge :-)

To keep everything fun and interesting, there will be gifts awarded throughout the Challenge to those who have posted consistently.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@SandraMartini) and include the hashtag #30dayblog to follow the conversation during the next 30 days.

Here are the details:

The 30 Day Blogging Challenge officially begins at midnight on September 9th and ends at 11:59pm on October 8th.

Everyone who posts at least 30 times during this timeframe will receive a special gift and have their name and site promoted on my blog.  You can start anytime during the Challenge period.

Want to join in the fun and be eligible for the special gifts?

Just post your name and blog URL in a comment below and start blogging! :-)

What happens when you fail to track

For the past month I've been involved in a 30 day blogging challenge hosted by Connie Ragen Green and have been blogging right along.

"Right along"...today I counted my posts and realized that I'm falling far short of the "30 posts in 30 days" and since the challenge ends tonight, this is one goal that I won't meet -- well, I could, but then you'd be inundated with blog posts this evening and that hardly seems fair.

So what happened?

Quite simply, I didn't track my posts. I "trusted" that I'd reach 30 posts in 30 days in the normal course of running my business and didn't create a plan to ensure that I hit the target.

And the result...I missed my goal.

What aren't you tracking or planning for in your business?  And what results can you expect to have as a result?

[SmarTini Tip] Expert Credibility: How to let your clients give it to you

If you've been around the "online world" a while, you know that "content is king" -- after all, it's generally expected that you should:

* publish a weekly/biweekly email newsletter

* "touch" your clients in offline ways

* post 2-3 times a week to your blog

* host your own teleseminars and be guests on others

* contribute daily to Facebook and Twitter

and the above is all *at a minimum* and we haven't even discussed videos.

Assuming you're here to connect and build relationships with others in a true and meaningful way (and if you're not, you may as well stop reading now) and aren't in it for the "quick sale", where do you find all the information to post/send out?

After all, the quickest way to build your expert credibility is to share "expert" information with others.

So how do you "know what you know" in order to share it with others who are looking for that very info?

Here's one of my favorite strategies. . .