It’s been approximately 35 days since I started my series on 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and I’m only up to day 5, lol. I began this series of posts as a way to let people follow along with me as I went through 31DBBB (a great ebook from Darren Rowse of Problogger) and hopefully engage in some discussions along the way about the tasks involved. This series has been problematic though. I mentioned back on day 2 that I didn’t want to cross the line into giving away Darren’s information to everyone for free. It’s a great book and very inexpensive so cost shouldn’t be a barrier for people picking up a copy. However, it’s getting more and more apparent that I just can’t continue this series without giving Darren’s work away for free, so I’m choosing to end it now. I’ll still continue on through the course because I think it’s very worthwhile but I just don’t feel right about putting the details of the course here on my blog. If you’ve been following along, I hope you’ll continue on through the course. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of 31DBBB, be sure and grab one because it’s packed full of some great information on growing your blog. Oh yeah…and it’s cheap too!

I’ve now finished day 4 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. At the rate I’m going it will likely take me 31 weeks instead of 31 days to complete the course. But that’s ok, I said from the beginning I wasn’t on any strict schedule. My main goal is simply completing it. Day four’s task was to analyze a top blog in your niche. I’m going to briefly point out two blogs that I have in my feedreader and list a few things I like about each one.

First on the list is Viper Chill, written by a young blogger who goes by Glenn. Viper Chill covers multiple blogging and marketing topics with the goal of teaching you how to make money online. Most of the posts are geared toward the blogger who has yet to make any significant income online, which probably includes most of the bloggers out there. Viper Chill has a very interactive readership. Just scanning through the posts on the home page at the moment, I see a low comment count of 27 and a high comment count of 95. Obviously, he’s creating content that lots of people like and want to discuss further. Currently, his Feedburner stats show a readership of 3,777.

The most interesting thing to me is his posting schedule. In December, he posted only four posts and with today being the last day of January, he has only six for the month. That’s a much lower frequency than most bloggers aim for but if you take a look at his posts, you’ll see what I believe is the main reason for his success. These posts are often massive and always filled with great content. Personally, I just don’t agree with bloggers who put a numerical goal for post frequency. I would rather not read a post unless there is some serious value behind it and Viper Chill fills that need for me. (more…)

I’m now through with day 3 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Darren lists 11 different ways to promote a blog post and I used a few different ones on my post from day 2. Specifically I used social messaging, social bookmarking and internal links. Oh, and I also got another blogger to link to it so that makes four I guess. As far as short-term traffic goes from this promotion, I’m seeing minimal results so I guess I’m a poor salesman. However, building links is a long-term process so I’m not concerned. If you had any significant traffic bursts from your blog promotion methods in day 3, let me know.

Up next: Day 4 – Watch Somebody Do It Right

I’ve made it through day 2 of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, but before I talk about today’s task, let me say that I’m trying not to cross a line that I shouldn’t cross as I document myself going through 31DBBB. I don’t want this series of posts to be a free giveaway of Darren’s ebook. However, I do want it to be something people can follow along with after they have already purchased 31DBBB. After re-reading my post from day 1, I feel I went a little too far, so from this point on I will try to speak about the results of my daily tasks without giving away the actual content of Darren’s course. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of 31DBBB, go grab it now. It’s very reasonably priced…less than the average book at Barnes & Noble.

Ok, with that said, today’s task is about list posts. Darren gives us eight great reasons why list posts are powerful for bloggers and describes three different types of list posts we can incorporate into our blogs. I chose to do the “post as a list” type and published it as my most recent post before this one. It’s titled 10 Free WordPress Themes That Look Like They Cost Money.

Let me know what you think. Also, feel free to post a link to your list post in the comments below!

Next up: Day 3 – Time to be a Pitchman!