Review: Darren Rowse's 31 Days to Build a Better Blog

Earlier this spring, I was one of more than 13,000 bloggers who participated in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge, sponsored by Darren Rowse (@problogger on Twitter). I was in my blogging infancy, so the timing of the challenge was perfect, even if I fell behind and wasn’t able to complete all the exercises. I still developed by leaps and bounds, receiving Rowse’s daily e-mail instructions, with links to the 31DBBB posts at his own popular ProBlogger site, which happens to be one of my favorite ”blogs on blogging.”

Last week, Darren Rowse released his 31 Days to Build a Better Blog WorkBook, and I was happy to learn that all the posts I had previously found so helpful were gathered together now in one handy, easily referenced workbook, with additional tips not included in the challenge’s original posts. I was all set to buy, when I have to admit, I balked a little bit over the $19.95 price, for a PDF document. I had already consumed most of the content online during the challenge (which you still can here), so the more frugal part of me considered whether I could make do without the workbook, referring instead to the links to posts on the ProBogger site, as sent to me in the challenge e-mails. 

I debated over whether to buy the book a couple days, before taking the plunge, mainly because I realized how much momentum I had already lost since the 31DBBB Challenge, and I thought I would be more incented to complete the exercises, if the posts were in a more handy format, which I could print out, reflecting on, at my leisure. I considered all the countless hours I am pouring into my own blog, and how $19.95 is really a smart, reasonably small investment to make, to gain some momentum back, with advice from an expert blogger. I also decided that I would probably want to reference the exercises, more than once, and having the workbook compilation of all the posts would make it easier to scan exercises and apply the tips, on a more regular basis. For all of these reasons, I soon bought 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.

I spent a couple hours yesterday exploring the PDF, and I’m so glad that I bought the workbook. Darren Rowse delivers on providing useful new tips, and a professional design that is both attractive and easy to use. The PDF format, with hyperlinks spread out across the blogosphere, to some of the best posts on blogging, including Darren Rowse’s own posts, and those from other successful bloggers, has already provided helpful tips that I missed the first time around–and I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. 

Still not convinced that you need this workbook? Possibly you can make do with the 31DBB challenge via e-mail sign-up and Darren Rowse’s original posts, still available here. However, if you are a really serious beginner blogger, or someone who has been blogging awhile who wants to improve, then you can’t go wrong with these concise, practical tips, in a convenient workbook format, which you’re likely to reference, again and again.

Photo credit, eliazar

Related Posts:

• Why I’m Glad I Bought 31 Days to Build a Better Blog
• Writing An Elevator Pitch (Day #1 from 31 Days to Build a Better Blog)
• Writing a List Post, Focusing on Current Readers, & Writing a Link Post (Days #2, #5, & #7 from 31 Days to Build a Better Blog)