That’s where a group of people commit to writing \u00a0a blog post each day, usually for a fixed period such as 30 days, and publishing it to their blog.<\/p>\n
Primarily there are two key reasons people participate in blog challenges.<\/p>\n
Each Challenge sets its own rules but usually things like no adult X-rated content, no pure pitch type posts, must include reasonable amount of text if a video or image post, things like that. Make sure you read the rules for any Challenge you join.<\/p>\n
A common rule is that as a participant you visit other challengers blogs and comment on their post for the day. Often you comment on the two posts above yours in the posting thread but this can vary according to the rules of the specific challenge.<\/p>\n
The purpose of commenting is twofold:<\/p>\n
The downside of allowing commenting is that it allows the potential for spam comments, not from the challengers but from bots and spam posters.<\/p>\n
To combat this, some blogs install a commenting tool.<\/p>\n
Here’s why I believe you should turn these tools OFF<\/strong> when you participate in a challenge.<\/p>\n 1. The tool may force commentators to login to a third-party service such as WordPress, Disqus, TypePad etc.<\/p>\n That certainly cuts out the bots and spammers. But it also frustrates genuine readers. This means that to comment you have to hold\u00a0your comment publishing by logging in to the third party site so that you can leave your comment. This takes extra time and when you are in a couple of challenges – you have to find your log in details, load them and that extra step or two can be very annoying\u00a0as well as interrupt your commenting flow.<\/p>\n 2. The tool may not enable a reader\u00a0to comment at all but require a\u00a0share on social media only.<\/p>\n That is great for the blog owner as they generate a bunch of extra links to their blog post however for the commentators there is no quid-pro-quo. The benefit is one way in the bloggers favor. That method doesn’t build community. It also doesn’t give the blog owner any extra feedback from comments which might be very useful as idea starters for other posts or even to use as testimonials.<\/p>\n Blog Challenges are set up as reciprocal systems. If you make it hard for people to comment or prevent them from commenting but only promote your post then that impacts the rule of reciprocity.<\/p>\n If people enjoy your post quite often they will share anyway so why not give people the option?<\/p>\n For Blog Challenges one of the best plugins is CommentLuv<\/strong> as it not only enables commenting but provides an automatic link to the commentators last post. Very friendly for fellow challengers and encourages commenting beyond the required two.<\/p>\n Once you stop participating in a Challenge simply switch back on your usual comment tool.<\/p>\n Simply find one and ask to join.<\/p>\n One of the most genuine Challenges I have been in is Bonnie Gean’s Article Writing Challenge<\/a>. Don’t let the name fool you – most write\u00a0blog posts but you can write anything so long as you do it consistently!<\/p>\n I’ve joined a couple of other Challenges but the participation rate is so large I don’t seem to have connected with many – they are more like a kiss and run event! With Bonnie’s Challenge <\/a>I’ve made great connections with most of the regulars. If you’re after a friendly and supportive smaller Challenge group \u00a0head there!<\/p>\n If you do an internet search for Blog Challenge<\/em> or Writing Challenge<\/em> or similar you will find quite a few. Most, like Bonnie’s, are free so if you like one that is paid make sure you get lots of extra value beyond what you’d get in a free Challenge.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How do you get in to a challenge?<\/h2>\n