Last week, I restarted My Crazy Insane 90 Day Blog Promotion Challenge picking it back up at the end of week three where I had stopped it.  I’ve received some great feedback in the form of comments, posts, and private communications which have been on my mind since then.

Steady as She Goes or Full Speed Ahead?

In her comment to the week three update, Sue Miley suggested that I ease back into blogging since I had been away for a little over two months.

I would say one or two posts per week for the first 3-4 weeks until it is working easily. Then stair step to 3-4 posts per week. (Total, not per blog) Then reassess and determine if it makes sense to post more often or if that is creating the improvements you were looking for.

Then begin to work on commenting and guest posting in the same manner. Or do them simultaneously but in a realistic stair step manner.

This is very sound advice.  I’m not sure I appreciated the depth of wisdom in her suggestion when I responded to her comment last week.  I even admitted I would give someone in my shoes this same advice, but then focused on my frustration at not giving 100% when I started this challenge.

She’s right that my ultimate purpose is to reach my goal not just make it through a challenge.  I have many goals I want to reach through this challenge.  None of them will suffer if I take her advice.

Is This a God Idea or Just a Good Idea?

My faith is important to me.  It’s a large part of who I am, shaping the way I think and act.  In his comment to my post last week, Amos Johnson wrote:

I think the challenge is a good one, but my question would be is this a God Idea or a Good Idea.  When we go after God ideas there is an anointing that goes with it. Even if it’s hard, we are able to move forward with joy and Faith knowing that we doing exactly what God called us to do.

This question has been on my mind all week.  Sue Miley even wrote a post in response to this comment where she reminds us that even good ideas have opportunity costs when we pursue them.

My response to his question hasn’t changed, but while commenting on blogs I questioned whether I was doing it for the challenge or the purpose behind it.  I’ll continue to ponder this question because it determines whether I’m actually making progress towards my intended purpose.

Week Four Recap

It wasn’t the best week to restart this challenge as I was out of town for three days including traveling over 500 miles by car.  It did force me to ease my way back into the challenge by limiting my availability to be online.  Maybe it was a little bit of providence at work?

Here are my results from my fourth week.

• I made 92 comments on other people’s blogs last week. This brings me up to a total of 327 for the challenge leaving 2,673 to go.  You can see my latest comments made on other blogs in the sidebar to the right, and all of my comments are bookmarked at Delicious.
• I wrote 0 guest posts on other people’s blogs last week. This leaves me with 28 more to go for the challenge.  I won’t be concentrating on these again until week six.  The RSS feed in the sidebar to the right shows all of my guest posts published around the blogosphere.
• I published 2 blog posts on my blogs last week. I published 1 post on this site, 0 post onMarketplace Christianity, and 1 posts on Big Feet Marketing.  I’ve chosen to follow Sue’s advice and ease back into the posting portion of the challenge.  This brings the total posts for the challenge up to 22 leaving 68 more posts to be published on my 3 blogs.

As I go forward with this challenge, do you think I’ll be able to find 3,000 blog posts where leaving a comment will result in a good opportunity to build a relationship with that blogger?  Or, do you think the challenge forces me to comment wherever I can?

Photo Credit: Duncan1890

When I was a kid growing up in Indiana we spent Saturday nights at the bowling alley.  My sisters and I would play the video games, but our quarters would run out well before my parents were done bowling.  Unlike the bowling lanes, there was no reset button on the video games.  Once your lives were gone in the game, you were done.  Well, I’ve ran out of lives with this 90 day challenge.

Was My 90 Day Blog Promotion Challenge Too Crazy Insane?

Maybe, but to be completely honest – I stumbled right out of the gate.  I did not come close to hitting my goals in week 1 or week 2 of this challenge.  By the time week 3 rolled around I was so far off that I didn’t even post an update.  I was embarrassed, and rightfully so.

It was during week 3 that my consulting engagement (which I hadn’t planned on at the outset of this challenge) kicked into high gear requiring 10 to 12 hours per day including 2 hours of travel time.  That contract finished up last week, and it would have been impossible for me to complete this challenge because of it.  Had I started the challenge well, I would have just put it on hold at the end of week 3.

Instead, I just stopped doing anything towards this challenge.  Even with the huge amount of time that this contract required of me, there was still time available for me to do something towards this challenge.  I told myself I was too busy, and gave myself an easy out.  Sadly, I didn’t walk my talk.

What Should I Do With My 90 Day Blog Challenge?

With 5 days remaining until the official end of this challenge, what should I do with it?  Should I sprint to the finish? Should I extend it until I’ve met the objectives?  Perhaps, I should just sweep it under the rug and chalk it up to lessons learned – don’t propose a challenge for which you’re not up to the task.

I’m reminded of something Jim Rohn once said,

All disciplines affect each other.  Mistakenly the man says,  ”This is the only area where I let down.” Not true.  Every let down affects the rest.  Not to think so is naive. – Jim Rohn

He’s right.  One of the results I desired from this challenge was to develop more discipline in my blogging and commenting.  Ignoring the commitment I made when I announced this challenge will not develop the discipline I sought.  Even worse, it will spill over and taint the other disciplines in my life.

Pushing the Reset Button

I’ve decided to do a partial reset of this challenge.  Since I’ve had very little activity since week 3, I will resume this challenge picking up at week 4 (or day 22).  My deficit from the first three weeks will be added to this reset, so that the first 21 days from the original start of this challenge plus the next 59 days will make up the 90 days of the challenge.

Here’s where I was at the end of week 3.

• I made 61 comments on other people’s blogs last week.This brings me up to a total of 235 for the challenge; however, I’m 464 comments behind my target pace of the 233 per week which I’ll need to make to reach 3,000.  You can see all my comments made on other blogs in the sidebar to the right.
• I wrote 2 guest posts on other people’s blogs last week. One of these has already been published, and one is still being scheduled.  This leaves me with 28 more to go for the challenge.  The RSS feed in the sidebar to the right shows all of my guest posts published around the blogosphere.
• I published 7 blog posts on my blogs last week. I published 1 post on this site, 1 post onMarketplace Christianity, and 5 posts on Big Feet Marketing.  This brings the total posts for the challenge up to 20 leaving 70 more posts to be published on my 3 blogs over the next 59 days.

At the reset: I need to make 2,765 more comments, 28 more guest posts, and 70 more posts on my 3 blogs in the next 59 days.  Today marks day 1 of those 59 days.  Come back next Monday to see how I’ve done.

Photo Credit: Flickr/r_william.king

I just finished the second week of My Crazy Insane 90 Day Blog Promotion Challenge.  I’m starting to feel the burn, baby!  I’ll be honest, I’m starting to second guess myself with this challenge.  This is going to be much more difficult than I originally imagined.

Week Two Recap

We had another snow day this week on Wednesday which I handled much better this week, but it was still quite a distraction having my wife and son at home all day.  I’ve also started helping my friend out during tax season, but this includes two hours of commuting time traveling to North Texas.  This is going to prove to be quite difficult going forward, but I remain committed to this challenge.

Here’s what I accomplished my second week.

• I made 100 comments on other people’s blogs last week. This brings me up to a total of 174 for the challenge; however, I’m still off the pace of the 233 per week I’ll need to make to reach 3,000.  I made it to triple digits for the week though so I’m encouraged that I’m going in the right direction.  You can see all my comments made on other blogs in the sidebar to the right.
• I wrote 0 guest posts on other people’s blogs last week. My goal for guest posts for February was five, but it doesn’t look like I’ll make that before the end of the month.  I think I’ll be able to make these up pretty easily over the rest of the challenge.  I still expect 2 or 3 to post this month.  You can see all my guest posts in the sidebar to the right.
• I published 6 blog posts on my blogs last week. I published 1 post on this site, 0 posts on Marketplace Christianity, and 5 posts on Big Feet Marketing.  This brings my total posts published to 13 for this challenge.  I’m very disappointed that I wasn’t able to spend time on Marketplace Christianity.  Traffic is up over 40% there primarily through search engines and referrals from my sites, but the other metrics are all hurting from the lack of attention.

How Am I Choosing Where to Comment?

With 3,000 comments to make over 90 days, part of the challenge is going to be coming up with sites where I can comment without overwhelming the blogger.  I haven’t boiled this down to a science yet, but here’s how I’m generally doing it.

• Subscriptions in Google Reader I have about 30 active subscriptions that I read on a regular basis in my Google Reader.  Not all of these have daily postings, so they tend to make up about half of my weekly comments.
• Blogmarking Sites I recently joined the BizSugar and BloKube communities, so I’ve used the commenting challenge as a tool to help me get to know the other members of that community.  In addition, I try to keep up with the people over at BlogEngage where I’ve been a member for quite some time.  Traffic from BizSugar has been strong since this challenge started.
• CommentLuv Links from Commenters I try to follow people who comment on my blogs back to their blog and leave a comment or two as a way of saying thank you.  This challenge has made it a little more difficult, so if I’ve missed you it wasn’t on purpose.
• Weekly Mashup Lists There are some people who spend a lot of time creating their weekly lists so I will spend time on the weekends going through their lists.  Two of my favorites are Kristi Hine’s Fetching Friday posts and Michele Welch’s That’s a Wrap.

How do you come up with places to comment?  Any suggestions?  I’ll need them as I continue to reach for that 233 comment per week mark.

Are you joining me in any part of this challenge?  Post your results as comments to my weekly updates, or write about it on your own blog and share the link to your post.

Let’s continue to encourage each other.

Photo Credit: iStockphoto/sjlocke

It’s been a week since I announced My Crazy Insane 90 Day Blog Promotion Challenge, so I thought it would be a good time to give you an update on how it’s going and what I’ve learned from the challenge so far.  I’ll be giving you similar updates each week throughout this challenge.

Week One Recap

Schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area were closed Tuesday through Friday of last week.  Having a school teacher, and a 7 year old boy, both with cabin fever in the house made it extremely difficult to do much without constant interruption.

Here’s what I accomplished my first week.

• I made 74 comments on other people’s blogs last week. This is almost four times the number of comments I would usually make; however, it’s off the pace of the 233 per week I’ll need to make to reach 3,000.  I’ll talk about how I’m tracking these later in the post.
• I wrote 0 guest posts on other people’s blogs last week. My goal for guest posts for February is only five, and I have opportunities for those already lined up.  I’ve set up an RSS feed in the sidebar to the right that will show all of my guest posts around the blogosphere.
• I published 7 blog posts on my blogs last week. I published 1 post on this site, 1 post on Marketplace Christianity, and 5 posts on Big Feet Marketing.  I’d like to increase my posting frequency to 10 postings a week between the three blogs by the time this challenge is over.

All-in-all, not a bad start to the challenge considering the interruptions, changes I’m making to this site (did you notice we’re on Thesis now?), and the normal new blog promotion and bugs with Big Feet Marketing.  I’ll have to pick it up some in week two though so I don’t fall too far behind.

How I’m Tracking My Comments Made

I thought that tracking my comments made was going to be a simple process, but it’s ended up being more time consuming than I’d like it to be.  I’ve added a section in the sidebar to the right labeled, “Where I’m Commenting.”  You can see the last five sites where I’ve commented, and the comment itself if you hover your mouse over the website name.

You also have the option to subscribe to all the comments I’ve made (I’m not sure why you’d want to but it’s available if you do), or you can view all the comments I’ve made by clicking on Where I’m Commenting.  Originally, I was planning to use CoComment to track my comments; however, it has some bugs that cause the RSS feed to capture nonsensical items for the blog’s name.

I ended up using Comment Save which is a Chrome extension that saves your comments locally.  It tends to save many things as comments that aren’t, so you’ll need to set up the filters to keep those items out.  Since comments are saved locally, I am cutting and pasting the information into Delicious to create the RSS feed.  It’s a laborious process, but it works well.

Accountability is Key to Conquering this Challenge

Paul Wolfe asked a great question in his response to my announcement of this challenge.

How do you plan to both track your output and hold yourself accountable?

I’ve showed you how I’m tracking my progress, but I need your help to keep me accountable.  I need your encouragement, and I would love for some of you to take this challenge with me.  Choose just one portion of it to do, or even modify it to meet your needs.  It can just be crazy – that’s fine.

Post your results as comments to my weekly updates, or write about it on your own blog and share the link to your post.  Let’s encourage each other.  Any takers?

Photo Credit: iStockphoto/JeremeyMcNelley

There’s a lot of advice given by “experts” and “gurus” on how to promote your blog.  Have you ever stopped and wondered if it really works?  Yes, it sounds great in theory; however, are these gurus following their own advice?  If they are walking their talk (few of them do), will their tips work for you too?

Walking My Own Talk

I am certainly not a guru or self-proclaimed expert, but I do give advice on how to expand your blog’s digital footprint on a shoestring budget.  When your wallet is very thin there are only a few options available to you to promote your blog.

Luckily, they are also some of the best.  My favorite promotion tools are comment marketing and guest posting.  These tools bring with them three critical elements in the success of your blog:

1. Building lots of links back to your blog. Every time you leave a comment you’re creating a link back to your site.  Search engines look at these links back to your site as votes for it.  While only the Do Follow links count, each link is still a chance that a human reader will click on it.
2. Increasing authority in your niche. Every comment and guest post is a chance to show off what you know by providing valuable information and insights into your niche topic.  Of course, if the quality of what you’re providing isn’t up to par it will work against you.
3. Helping other bloggers. Giving a blogger the day off by guest posting allows them to take a breather to promote their blog elsewhere that day.  Leaving quality comments gives them a boost of confidence and helps stimulate discussion on their blog.

My Crazy Insane 90 Day Blog Promotion Challege

It would seem to follow that the more I use the comment marketing and guest posting tools the more of these three elements I’ll create – the more of these elements I create, the greater success my blog will enjoy.

If this is true, why not go crazy insane with it for maximum effect?  So here’s what I came up with for my 90 day blog promotion challenge:

1. Make 3,000 comments on other blogs. These can’t be “great post” comments.  They have to provide value to the blog on which I’m posting them.  I’ll be following Tristan’s guidelines to commenting on a lot of blogs quickly.  This is a huge increase over my average of 20 comments per week.
2. Write 30 guest posts on other blogs. I anticipate that by commenting so much on other blogs I’ll develop friendships which will lead to opportunities to guest post.  I also have a backlog of requests and commitments that I hope to finally fulfill.  Let me know if you want me to post on your site.
3. Publish 90 posts on my own blogs. I have three blogs:  this one, Marketplace Christianity, and Big Feet Marketing.  They are 17 months old, 6 months old (with several posts transfered from this site), and 0 months old, respectively.  It will be interesting to see the impact of this challenge on all three blogs.  Your guest posts will count towards this 90 (hint, hint).

Have I Lost My Mind?

What do you think?  Is that extreme enough for a 90 day challenge?  Keep in mind that I’m also pretty booked with consulting for this same time period.  It’s going to take a real commitment to accomplish this challenge.  I hope I make it!

Have you taken on an insane 90 day blogging challenge before?  What were your objectives and results?  What advice can you give me for accomplishing these goals?

Are you insane enough to join me?