Get Ready for Zero to Hero: 30 Days to a Better Blog

Tomorrow’s January 1st, and for a lot of us that means it’s resolution time. Whether you’ve resolved to start that blog you’ve been thinking about, plan to return to a tumbleweed-strewn site you started long ago, or are committed to giving your current blog a a little more love, we want to help you get there.

Get ready: starting January 2nd, it’s time for the Zero to Hero 30-Day Challenge.

Created by a team of top blogging experts (i.e., us) based on years of highly scientific-like research (i.e., writing blogs), we’ve created 30 days of digestible blogging assignments that will get you from “What’s this blog thing?” to a blog that you’re excited to publish — and, hopefully, that others are excited to read. If you’re a new blogger it’ll give you a serious jump-start, but we’ve built it to give seasoned bloggers a boost, too.

At the end of the month, you’ll have:

• A half-dozen (or more) published posts.
• A handful of draft posts and post ideas to help get you through your next 30 days.
• A customized theme, with widgets to draw new readers in and highlight your favorite reads.
• A Reader full of great (and inspiring!) blogs to follow.
• A (small but growing) audience.
• An understanding of the blogging community, blog etiquette, and how to build a readership of your own.

One bite-sized task a day for 30 days; that’s it. From there it’s up to you, but you’ll have a solid foundation and a blog you’re proud of. We can’t promise you hundreds of readers (if only!), but we can promise that you’ll be doing everything you can to set yourself up for success.

To participate, simply bookmark this page, and check in each day for an assignment (they’ll also be at the top of The Daily Post’s sidebar for easy reference). All past assignments will be listed there too, so you can jump in at any point and catch up — if you’re not reading this until January 10th, no big deal.

Each day’s task will also offer our tips and recommended resources, as well as links to discussions in the WordPress.com Support Forums where you can chat with other Zero to Hero participants. If you want to do more or re-interpret something, feel free! Our only caveat is that you try to complete the tasks in order, since they’re designed to build on one another.

If you’re planning on participating, we’d appreciate it if you could let us know by filling out this short form. We’d love to follow your blogs, and will get in touch at the end of January for your feedback:

Ready? Set? Blog! Assignment #1 will be published here at 12PM EST tomorrow.