It might be November, but I wanted to share my experience with this years Blogtober tag!
What is Blogtober?
Blogtober is an online “event” where bloggers publish a post on their blog every single day in October.
Why I Tried Blogtober
I didn’t set out to participate in Blogtober21, it just sort of happened. As someone who reads a lot of blogs, I started to see the tag everywhere! Seeing such high volume of posts under #Blogtober21 and my love of a good portmanteau got me curious.
What I Did
Okay, so I didn’t post every day in October. I published 29 posts, which was just 1 short of my 30 posts goal for that month. You can blame my child’s 12 month sleep regression for that, ha!
I did sit down to write just about every week day. Like so many writers, I tend to focus on selecting images, contacting sponsors, analyzing stats, and doing just about everything I can besides publishing content. Getting in that daily habit of writing has changed the way I look at producing content.
What I Learned
Having a daily schedule of writing during my baby’s first nap and hitting publish (just about) every day made writing easier. I have my systems in place now. It’s just gotten easier. It used to take me days to research, write, format and edit an article. Now, I have streamlined that system down to a few hours at most.
It’s also showed me that “writing what you know” is some of the most accurate advice out there. Because I’m writing about things I’m genuinely either interested in, actively researching, or truly love, the writing is just a natural part of that.
I was consistent with my writing and pinning on Pinterest. I essentially doubled my traffic. I started to see more and more results from Google, Yahoo and Bing. I even was able to pick up a few partnerships and got to engage with so many of my readers.
More traffic led to more Amazon Affiliate sales and more ad revenue.
I was super pleased to see my hard work paying off.
Posting every week day, working with sponsors, and making a measly income did something incredible. It finally made me feel like a blogger. I can fall into some major bouts of imposter syndrome in most areas of my life. This month I really felt like I was reaping the emotional benefits of putting in the foot work.
Why YOU Should Try Blogtober22
Put me down in the calendar for Blogtober22!
I will definitely be doing Blogtober22. Just based on how it raised my stats alone, I’m in. But, I also was so impressed by the discipline and passion it takes to complete a challenge like this.
Next year, I plan on publishing 31 posts in October, to get the full effect.
You should try Blogtober because it can grow your audience, inspire diligence, and can help you get out of that writing rut!
Did you participate in #Blogtober? If you did, what did you learn? Would you do it again? Let me know below!
O.
References:
Tea & Cake for the Soul, “What is Blogtober? What to Expect and How to Take Part”
PinArtwork, Blogtober 2021 Grow your Blog’s traffic with a Blogtober Challenge