It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s lazy. It’s all vacation everything. People are blogging less, maybe working less, too. People are slacking off a bit until the fall, which means that it’s the perfect opportunity to take this extra time to invest in yourself. More specifically, it’s finally time to start building your personal brand using today’s ultimate social media tool: blogging. I invite you to join me during the entire month of August for a cool challenge to beat the heat and build your brand…
31 Days to a Brand New Blog
During the entire month of August, I will be conducting a blog challenge in the spirit of Darren Rowse’ 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and Michele Martin’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Learning Experiment – but with a twist. This challenge is for people who are mainly interested in building their personal brands. Using some of the lessons I’ve learned in my own personal branding journey, I will post a daily “assignment” a tip to use, a tool to implement or a technique to learn that will either help you start a new blog or improve the one you already have. The goal is to use your brand new blog to enhance your online presence in ways that will benefit your work, life and leadership.
You’ll get exercises to help you:
- Make your blog look more “professional”
- Get out of a writing rut by trying out different types of posts
- Find new readers and keep them engaged
- Figure out who’s coming to your site using blog analytics
- Learn more about WordPress, plug-ins, and RSS
- and much more…
Who should join the challenge?
Anyone who wants to build their personal brand by starting a new blog or improving the one they already have. This challenge will especially be of benefit to young professionals, entrepreneurs, consultants and anyone looking to create a name for themselves in a particular career or business niche.
What does the challenge involve?
Each blogger who takes the Brand New Blog Challenge will commit to doing each of the daily exercises and either blogging or commenting about the results (if some of the exercises don’t really apply to you, no worries). To see if all of these new activities have an impact, challenge participants should look at their baseline info for July and then see what happens when you get to the end of August. Will you have more RSS subscribers? Will there be more traffic? Will you receive more comments? Let’s see what happens! Note: If you decide to blog along, tag your posts with the tag “31bnb” to make them easier to share with us.
Other Ways to Participate
If you don’t want to write about the challenge on your blog, you can still participate in a few other ways:
- Follow along with my daily tips and let us know how you apply them in the comments of the posts here on Blogging for Branding
- Comment on the posts written by the other challenge participants – be sure to leave your own suggestions and tips on the topics covered and share with us what you’re learning
Interested? Wanna join in the fun?
Just add your name, blog link, and Twitter handle if you have one in the comments by Friday, July 30 and you will be added to a list of soon-to-be rockstar bloggers who want to learn from and support each other in the journey to a brand new blog. On Saturday, July 31, I will publish the full list of participating bloggers so that we can keep tabs on each other’s progress throughout the month. On Sunday, August 1, I will post our first “assignment” and we’ll get started!
Wait, You Don’t Have a Blog Yet?
For shame 
Well, from now through August 31, I’m offering to help you set up a professional-looking blog with my Blog Starter Kit. Learn more here and let me know if you’d like to take advantage of this opportunity. I’d love to help you get started with a blog so you can participate in next month’s learning challenge! There are also options for those who just want a few tweaks here and there.
Ready, set, blog! Looking forward to what we will accomplish together next month. Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!
I'm just sneaking in!
Dawn Haney
http://www.rootingnonprofits.com/blog
http://offtrajectory.wordpress.com
@dawnmarissa
Bunmi Akinnusotu
@MsB616 – twitter
Blog address is pending :/ i know i know..i've got plenty of catching up to do!
Okay – I'm taking the leap!
Keyla Jones
http://simplemomentsofgrace.com/blog
@keylajones
Renee
http://www.chasingsoul.com
http://www.twitter.com/chasingsoul
Larry Morris
http://vicissitudesofknowinghim.wordpress.com
@2KnowHim
Add me to the Blog challenge:
Twitter:
@sjbcreative
Blogs:
http://sjbcreative.wordpress.com/ (or http://www.sharonjburton.com)
http://geminiartdiva.blogspot.com/
So excited to get started!! I just started a new domain through BlueHost last night!
http://www.cassandradjones.com
twitter.com/cassandradjones
Late sign-up – sounds just like my kind of thing! Just joining for the fun of it and the experience…
Aniki http://sunbeam218.wordpress.com
I'm a little late for the deadline, but this is exactly what I need at the moment:
Troy B. Lilly
http://theurbanintellectualdc.com
http://twitter.com/UrbanSophistic
Tamara Rasberry
http://msrasberrysworld.com
@msrasberryinc
Thanks for reopening. I would like to join this 31 day blog challenge! This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from a pro. Twitter @brewmecoffee
Yay! Excited to join in on the fun.
http://Www.nikitatmitchell.com
@mllemitchell
I would like to be official as well!
L. Michelle
My Hair…..Is Me
http://www.myhairisme.com
Twitter: LMichelle1920
I think I'm already listed, but I want to be official!
Twitter Handle: @EvolvingElle
Blog: http://www.evolvingelle.wordpress.com
Ive been following the program and Id love to be listed as a participant!
Lola Gets
http://www.lolagetslife.com
Twitter ID: lolagetslife
Thanks for reopening this! Can't wait to do this! Name: Jara, Blog: idolikemyjunkinthetrunk.blogspot.com/, Twitter: @jara_b
Hi! http://debthater.typepad.com (migrating to http://www.debthatersblog.com by the end of the month!) @debthater
I'm in!
Sherrie St. Cyr
http://www.nextchancecafe.com
sherriestcyr
Please add me to the blog challenge Jasmine Bellamy http://www.chocolatechiponline.blogspot.com @MyChocolateChip
Brilliant idea Rosetta!
- Charise Van Liew
http://fusedc.org @fusedc
I'm hoping to also start a personal blog @charisevanliew
31bnb
Just what I need to better serve my RIISE community
http://www.4riise.org/blog/
http://twitter.com/4RIISE
http://politigogue.wordpress.com
Haven't posted in months and will be starting my third version of this site.
Yikes! 50 on the twitter list
http://twitter.com/commutiny/august2010-31bnb/m…
Jeff Stern
http://jeffstern.wordpress.com/
@jeffreymstern
I've left this wordpress blog abandoned for far too long in favor of twitter and a few tumblrs. Which are great, but I would like to get back to regularly posting more serious thought pieces on my original “personal brand” blog.
Ready. Set. Go.
http://danavshelley.blogspot.com
Let's get it started…I'm in.
I'm in because its about time, looking forward to it!
@danieshahunter
http://danieshahunter.wordpress.com
Thanks so much for doing this! I'm looking forward to it!
Wyokemia
http://www.wyokemia.com
@wyokemia
Exactly what I need, homework assignments that actually help build my career.
abighullabaloo.blogspot.com
@phillipkent
facebook.com/phillipkent
Finally on board:
Twitter: @zoneartis
Blog: zoneartis.wordpress.com
Thank you for the motivation!
Shahzadi Ahmed
http://creatingglobalopportunity.wordpress.com/
@ShahzadiAhmed
Safa Samiezade'-Yazd
I have two blogs – nakedladyinawhitesilkdress.wordpress.com and sixteenpimples.wordpress.com.
Twitter handle is @SafaSamYazd
I am in!
Kristina Viera
http://wishiknewthat.wordpress.com/
@krisviera
Sure, why not!
Camila A. Marquez
http://www.owlwingediccarus.blogspot.com
@ZiaCamila
Just what I needed!
Alex de Carvalho
http://alexdc.org
@alexdc
Funny how I thought I already signed up & tweeted that I was in and needed the motiviation
Gartrell Wright
@gartrell
http://gartrell.wordpress.com/
Patrick Sallee
http://www.patricksallee.com
@patricksallee
Stephanie
http://www.inpraize.com
@inpraize
I'm in! I need to rebrand my current blog to move from just covering music to also incorporating social media. Need to establish myself as a consultant and a (gulp) thought leader. Great idea!
I'm in…
Devin
http://moredonors.blogspot.com
@moredonors
I am new to blogging and this will be an EXCELLENT start for me….I can't wait to get started!!!
This will definitely be the push that I need! Signing up…
Karyn Brianne
http://thefabulousgiver.com
@thefabgiver
This is exactly what I need!
Tiffany M.
http://puremahogani.blogspot.com/
Twitter- @Mahoganione
I've put most tweeple on this twitter list (1 or 2 had technical problems). Contact me @commutiny on twitter to be added/removed. It's a handy way of keeping track – you can autofollow the list if you want to, and send the link out to your wider networks.
http://twitter.com/#/list/commutiny/august2010-…
I am definitely up for the challange!
http://aneldagrove.tumblr.com
http://karibumicrofinance.com
@aneldagrove
This is genius!
Sara Willis
http://publish365.wordpress.com and swegl.com
@swegl
Mekaelia Davis
http://maroonscaucus.wordpress.com
@MekaeliaD
I'm a bit scared by this but it might be the stimulus I need
Roxanne Persaud
@commutiny
http://www.commutiny.org.uk
Christine Harvey
http://abunchofpansies.blogspot.com/
@lapine403
Kimberlee Stiens!
http://businessforgoodnotevil.blogspot.com/
This is gonna rock.
Looks like a great way to improve my blog, connect with others, and have fun all at the same time.
http://richardmpotter.wordpress.com/
http://twitter.com/richardmpotter
Tracey Braun
http://www.witch-ways.com
@trasie
I haven't posted to my blog since July 22, 2009. Here's the kick I need to start again. Looking forward to it!
Marco Campana
http://www.activelypassive.com/
@marcopolis
http://www.jackyriegler.wordpress.com
@jmarie13
Can't wait!
Nicole Martin
http://employedpanache.blogspot.com/
@EmployedPanache
Elisabeth Ericson
@msericson
http://www.elisabethericson.com/
Looking forward to this!
Grace Cunningham
http://twitter.com/gracecunning
http://gracecunningham.wordpress.com
Andre Blackman
@mindofandre
Blog: http://pulseandsignal.com
Jaime Wesley
@jaimewesley09
http://jaimewesley.wordpress.com
Adrianne Russell
http://adriannerussell.wordpress.com
@adriannerussell
Great idea!
Miles
http://image001.wordpress.com
@milesimages
Excited to have a challenge that will help me start blogging regularly.
Akhila Kolisetty
http://akhilak.com/blog
@akhilak
I'm looking forward to improving my blog! I've really been wanting to step up the blogging and bring some new readers in so… this is a great way to start
Charron Andrus
http://thecandyshoppe.wordpress.com
@Ronnie6676
oops
I am very excited about this. I bought a url at the beginning of this year, marking some career milestones. I am looking forward to making it work for me.
katherinerw.com
Lets do it
amanda michelle jones
http://amandamichelle.wordpress.com (soon to be: amandamichellejones.com/indiligentpursuit
@visionspeaks
@outtheboat
Here we go…
Elizabeth Campbell
http://elizabethallencampbell.wordpress.com
@eacmpbll
Therese Lee
http://thereselee.com
@thereselee
I'd love to try this!
Tori D. Whitley
I'll be using two blogs for this:
http://thegoodhairdiaries.blogspot.com
http://twhitley.featuredblog.com/
@TDWhitley
Sounds cool!
Jordan Q
http://www.dcprincessq.com
@DCPrincessQ
This sure would be interesting! Hello from India!
Sachin Tiwari
http://www.detailtalk.org
@tiwarisac
Shannon Marshall
http://www.shannmarsh.blogspot.com
@girlaboutchange
Thanks Rosetta!
Signing up.
Artiatesia Deal
http://www.artiatesiadeal.com
twitter: @artdeal
I'm interested.
Josh Gold
http://www.npgold.wordpress.com
twitter: @Josh_Gold
sorry…b3 is http://www.b3homedesigns.blogspot.com
I'll bite. I actually have two (well, 4, but two for the challenge) blogs I'd like to work this with.
Bernadette (Henderson) Merikle
Blog to revamp: http://www.coloredwhite.blogspot.com
New Blog to start with a bang: b3 Home Designs
Twitter: FollowingB
This is great Rosetta! I'm so in.
Niecy Taylor
http://www.niecytaylor.com
twitter: @niecytaylor
I am in Rosetta, let the thoughts and ideas start flowing
I'm definitely up for this! Just started a blog to start building my personal brand / start writing more about issues in medicine and social change and could really use some wider input!
My name: Emily Lu
My blog: Medicine for Change http://medicineforchange.com/
My twitter: @a_singledrop
Sign me up, I'm excited!
Madelyn Anetrella
http://www.madelynteresa.wordpress.com
@madelynteresa
I am in!!!! B/c i am about to write up a storm on my blog and it would be good to do it ” in community”.
Name: Ericka Hines
blog: http://www.socialchangediva.com
twitter handle: socialchngediva ( the “a” in change is dropped due to Twitter restricts)
I am ready to rock this!!
Bring it Rosetta! I'm definitely looking forward to the challenge. This is right on time!
Name: Tanya M Simpson
Twitter Handle: tmsimpson
blog: http://tsworkinprogress.wordpress.com
Hi Rosetta, this is a great idea! I think this would really motivate me to write more.
Name: Shariya
Twitter handle: Shariyatweets
blog: shariya.org
Look forward to meeting others in the challenge as well!
Aliah Davis-McHenry of Aliah Public Relations
@aliahpr
http://www.aliahpr.com/blog.html
Looking forward to the challenge!