The ultimate guide to blogging challenges

Some people love daily blog challenges so much that even before the WordCount Blogathon ends, they’re hunting to sign up for another one.

Whether that’s inspired or just plain crazy I’ll let you decide.

The discipline that comes with participating in a blogging challenge is one way to force yourself to stick to a schedule.

There are many reasons to schedule new content for a blog on a regular basis – higher readership, more reader interaction and better name recognition to name a few. If you don’t take my word for it, social media/blogging expert Chris Brogan thinks so too. Social media site Technorati weighs in on the subject here: Benefits of blogging challenges.

Joining multiple blogging challenges can be beneficial if you’re the type of blogger who needs the external motivation, enjoys the camaraderie of a community event or just wants as many shiny blogging event badges as you can stuff on your site.

If that describes you, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve compiled what I consider to be the ultimate list of daily blogging  challenges. Among them are blogging challenges like the WordCount Blogathon that are community based and happen for one month once a year. Others are self-directed challenges you can start at any time. Still others are ongoing, weekly events.

Dates and other details of the blogging challenges in the list are current as of early July 2013. If you’re reading this sometime after that, check in with the event organizer before committing in case anything has changed.

Updated List of Blogging Challenges

Here’s a list of blogging challenges, organized alphabetically:

28 Day Blogging Challenge – Broadcast journalist and fitness blogger Katy Widrick is planning a follow up to the #28DBC blogging challenge she hosted in February, most likely in September or October. Though she’s still working out the details, “It will be another blog-related challenge,” Widrick says. For updates, follow her website, Healthy Living in a Hectic World.

#blogflashdaily – Prize-winning author and Boston College writing professor Teri Giuliano Long has previously run the #blogflash month-long blogging challenge but is in the middle of writing a book. So for now, she’s hosting #blogflashdaily, a daily blogging prompt that bloggers and writers can use “whenever you have time, feel like it, or just if the inspiration happens to hit you.” #blogflashdaily has no word counts, requirements or restrictions — sounds like my kind of challenge. You can follow the challenge on Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram.

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge – Post every day in April, created by Tossing it Out blogger Arlee Bird and now co-hosted by Bird and a dozen other bloggers.

Heck Yeah Tumblr Challenge – A whole bunch of themed prompts for 10-day, 15-day, 30-day and daily blogging challenges of other lengths on Tumblr blogs. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s an explanation of how to get started on Tumblr.

May Blogging Challenge – Community challenge to post three times a week during May 2013, hosted by web design blogs The Blog Designer Network, Creative Girl Media, and Delightfully Inspired. Prizes, a blog roll, and more. Check in with host sites in spring 2014 to see if this event will repeat.

NaBloPoMo – The popularity of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where writers crank out a novel of 50,000 words or more in a month, begat National Blog Posting Month. Now by BlogHer, the women’s blog network, NaBloPoMo now runs year round, allowing people to start and stop any month they choose. Once you sign up, you can elect to post on your own blog and on the official NaBlogPoMo site.

Photo Blogging Challenge – An ongoing monthly challenge for bloggers who enjoy photography run by a blog called a ‘lilhoohaa. The blog announces a theme on the first of the month, and participants spend the next four weeks taking photos interpreting the theme. On the last day of the month, bloggers create a post with five of their favorite pictures from the month, and share a link to their post on the site.

ProBlogger’s 31 Days to a Better Blog – The month-long 31DBBB challenge is based on Darren Rowse’s book of the same name. Unlike other events, this one isn’t about posting 31 days straight. It’s a day-by-day process for improving a blog, including learning how to write different types of posts, build readership, promote your blog, create editorial calendars and more. This one is self-directed, and involves buying the book.

Student Blogging Challenge – Hey kids, don’t let Mom and Dad have all the blogging challenge fun! This international blogging challenge started by a teacher and sponsored by Edublogs is specifically tailored to elementary school students. The challenge runs each year in March and September. Read more on the Challenge FAQs page.

The Ultimate Blog Challenge – A blogathon-type challenge to post every day in July. It’s gotta be good because it’s run by two women named Michelle (well, one spells her name “Michele”). The free challenge includes a kick-off tele-seminar, daily email reminders and copy of their free report, 7 Ways to Get Your Blog in Motion.

WordCount Blogathon – It’s not too soon to put the 2014 WordCount Blogathon on your calendar. We’ll be back in June 2014 for another 30 days of community blogging adventures. Registration for next year’s event will open in mid- to late April 2014. “Like” the WordCount Facebook page to get alerts about the Blogathon and other blogging and writing tips and news.

WordPress Weekly Writing and Photo Challenges – If you can’t handle a month-long blogging challenge, what about a weekly one? WordPress runs weekly writing and photo challenges on an ongoing basis. The writing challenge is posted Mondays at noon ET. To participate, write a post related to the challenge guidelines, tag it “DPChallenge,” and publish it anytime before the next week’s challenge. You can see all past challenges here, or subscribe to a Writing Challenge-specific RSS feed to stay on top of all new challenges. WordPress features a few favorites each Friday on its Freshly Pressed blog. WordPress also runs a weekly Photo Challenge that’s published Fridays at noon ET. You can see all past photo challenges here, or subscribe to a Photo Challenge-specific RSS feed to stay on top of all new challenges.

Got another favorite daily blogging challenge? Leave the name, URL and other details in a comment and I’ll add it to the list.