If you’ve been in the blogging world for any amount of time, it’s likely that you’ve stumbled across someone talking about or taking part in blogmas or blogtober, a month-long blogging challenge that requires you to post every day for a month (obviously). I’m not quite sure of the technicalities of each one (like if it’s critical that all blogmas posts have to be Christmas related) but you get my gist. Thousands of bloggers take part in these challenges every year and I tip my metaphorical hat to anyone that even attempts it.
I no longer take part in blogging challenges like these because personally, I don’t find any benefit from doing them. I blogged every day in June a couple of years ago and swore I’d never do anything like it again, only to find myself swept up in the blogtober hype a few months later and doing that one too.
But after that little foray into the world of blogging challenges, I don’t think I’d ever do one again and I wish I had taken more time to consider it before I jumped into it both times because I learnt a lot from doing them. They’re big challenges. They take a bloody lot of hard work, effort and dedication there’s no two ways about it.
So if you’re thinking about embarking on a blogging challenge this year and you haven’t done one before, here are some things that might be worth considering before you do.
Do you have enough ideas for the whole month?
Coming up with 30 or 31 ideas in a short space of time is really hard and definitely something to consider before you start. If you tend to only post on your blog twice a week and only really come up with enough ideas for that amount of content (which is fine), then 30 different posts is going to be tough.
I’m not saying you’re not creative and have the ideas there but when the pressure is on to come up with those ideas, that can be when we struggle to think of them the most (like when you’re trying so hard to think of an actors name and as soon as you stop thinking about it, that’s when you remember).
Quality over quantity
Will all your posts be of their highest quality, even though you’ll be posting every single day and won’t have as much time to dedicate to each one? If I’ve learnt anything over the last year, it’s that quality over quantity is key.
Are you doing it to increase your stats?
Which leads nicely to this point, quantity doesn’t always equate to higher stats. Is your aim for doing a month long blogging challenge to increase your page views or your followers? If it is, maybe consider researching other techniques to increase your views and your following before doing such a big challenge.
Is it going to affect you mentally and drain you? Is it worth it?
Blogging can be stressful at the best of times so it’s worth considering whether the extra stress of making sure you get a post up every day is worth the potential strain it may have on you mentally. Of course this isn’t the case for everyone and some people post every day anyway, challenge or no challenge and it has no impact on them mentally at all. But I remember it did for me, so I can only assume it will for others too.
Are you doing it because your blogger friends are doing it?
Are you doing it because you really want to do it? Or are you only doing it because your blogging friends are and you want that camaraderie with them over it? Will your quality suffer if you feel like you’re only doing it ‘for the sake of it’?
Will you be disappointed and frustrated with yourself if you don’t complete it?
And finally, this is something that will be very individual to each person but I know for a fact that if i hadn’t have completed blogtober when I did it, I would have beaten myself up terribly because of it. Fortunately that’s not the case now but back then, I was incredibly hard on myself. When we set out to do something, not completing it can sometimes have a really bad, negative impact on our state of mind. If that’s you, maybe have a think before diving into it.
Have you ever taken part in blogmas, blogtober or any other blogging challenge? How did you find it? Did you complete it? Did you run into any problems? Let me know!
