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May
01

Deja Vu and Problogger. I am disappointed.

deja vuProblogger’s challenge is giving me deja vú.

The 31 days to a better blog challenge is supposed to be 31 days of advice/challenges to improve your blog and your writing. It’s also supposed to have a unique suggestion every day. But today’s challenge is not only focused on someone elses blog, but the ideas in the post replicate many of his other challenge posts. Not really what the challenge should be, right?

For example, today he suggests leaving helpful and interesting comments on a post, but he also suggested leaving comments on day #20. Another suggestion from today (oh, and from day 5 as well!) is to email a reader. And one final ‘duplicate’ (although there are more), he suggests today, just like he did on day 22, to recommend them to your readers. Now I understand that ‘improving someone elses blog‘ sounds different then all these challenges on the outside, but when you really look at it, it’s not a different challenge at all.

C’mon problogger, I thought you were supposed to be the professional here. You have over 10,000 people doing this challenge, and this is the best you could come up with for today? I’m sorry, but when you have that many people trusting you to lead them in the right direction, you should take them down a path they haven’t already done a few times! Unless, of course, you tell them that it’s the same path, just wearing different shoes.

Now that I have cleared the air, I am sure many of you are thinking “well, if you’re so smart, what would you suggest”?

So here you go ladies and gentlemen, Kirsten’s take on day #26 of building a better blog:

Write a post that has nothing to do with your niche.

We spend so much time writing about what we know and what we love, what happens to learning something new? Today, I challenge you to do some research on a topic you know very little about, and write what you learned. Not only is it a great exercise for improving your writing abilities, but it is a great way to open your eyes. So, how do you decide on a topic to research?

  1. Scan through stumbleupon‘s top pages and see if a topic catches your eye
  2. Is there an activity you have always wanted to try or a hobby you’ve wanted to explore?
  3. What about a location you’ve never visited but want to learn about?
  4. Do you find yourself asking a lot of questions about a certain thing?
  5. What did you dream about doing as a child but never pursue?

What did you decide to write about? What do you think of problogger’s ‘cop-out’?

Related posts:

  1. Getting caught up on the problogger challenge!
  2. But I don’t want to!
  3. Achhooo! My page had a sneeze…

Category: Business & Marketing Strategy, Wright Point of View
Topics: , , , ,
  • http://www.creativewhirlwind.com Brian

    Yeah, it seems he’s running out of ideas.

    I’m going to take your advice on this one!

    Brian’s last blog post..10 Terrific and Handy CSS Resources

  • http://www.provocationofmind.com Rebecca

    I don’t have a niche, which leaves my blog lacking identity and group potential. So, randomness and topics are usually new to me and all over the circle of possibilities. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes, it is a bad thing (everything I read says your blog should stick to a niche) Maybe my niche issssss randomness!
    Rebecca

    Rebecca’s last blog post..May, this Month is Mine

  • http://www.misadventureswithandi.com Andi

    I TOTALLY agree with you on this one! Think I might do your challenge when I get a moment – it is a good one!

  • http://www.problogger.net Darren Rowse

    sorry you feel today’s challenge was repetitive or a ‘cop out’.

    While I take your point that a few of the ways that I said you could improve someone else’s blog have been mentioned previously – there were also a few things that I said that had not. I guess the emphasis on spending time on other people’s blogs actually comes out of my own experience of growing my blogs.

    ie: when I started blogging I noticed that my own blog grew the more I interacted with other bloggers. I can track most of the spikes in traffic and growth periods of my blog to periods that I reached out to other bloggers, guest posted etc.

    Perhaps I’m a little skewed in this direction but it has been such a powerful thing for me that I don’t think bloggers can do this kind of stuff again.

    Appreciate the feedback and your own challenge is a cool one – although I have to admit I’m a little offended by the ‘cop out’ line – I put a lot of time and effort into each of the challenges over the last month – while I’m sure some could be improved by no means am I trying to take the easy option or short change anyone with the posts.

    • Kirsten Wright

      Darren,

      I have to be honest, I phrased it as a ‘cop-out’ in hopes that it would convince you to come check out the site. I didn’t do it to offend, but to catch your attention (if I had been melancholy about it, I doubt you would have visited.) At the end of the day, your challenge has been great for my blog and I have learned a lot about myself as a writer and a person. But this post was my least favorite of the group.

      Anyway, thanks so much for visiting and I am glad that you liked my challenge!

  • http://www.problogger.net Darren Rowse

    Actually I visited your post without knowing what words you’d used at all – I visited because you sent me a link on Twitter, I try visit any link sent to me.

    I’m more than happy to take a constructive critique – your post here was very constructive and I appreciated the effort you went to to not only say what you didn’t like but also make some positive suggestions.

    However…. I had to work hard to get past the words you used if I’m honest.

    Sometimes when you take a shot at another person you definitely get them visiting your site but in the process distract them from the point you’re making and run the risk of having them lose a little respect for you in the process.

    In the end it’s your prerogative to think and write what you like about me but from my end you’d probably have made more of an impression by not writing a post with a title like ‘ProBlogger failed’ and finishing with the line you did. First and last impressions count.

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