30 Hubs in 30 Days - How to Successfully Complete the Challenge

Although this hub was created to respond to the forum question, What advice would you offer to people who want to complete the 30/30 challenge?, it is also excellent advice on writing a successful hub quickly and easily.

In this hub, I intend to share with you the knowledge I have gleaned from completing the 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge twice in my first 5 months at HubPages. Additionally, I am currently in the middle of my third Challenge as of this writing (during my 7th month). This is hub number 21 out of 30 on day 18.

The first time I attempted the 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge, I had only been at HubPages for 12 days. Coincidentally, those 12 days also encompassed my entire writing career, if it could be called that after only 12 days.

In that time period, however, I had managed to complete 14 hubs; therefore, although I may not have been sure what I intended to write about, I was fairly certain that I would be able to write at least 1 hub a day. It was definitely a time of self-discovery. I learned a lot about myself, HubPages, and writing, all in a very brief period of time!

The second time I attempted the 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge was between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I used this Challenge to keep myself from being distracted by the holidays and all that goes with them. I wanted to make my writing a priority.

Although this challenge was difficult to accomplish during this time of the year, I found the challenge more difficult because I now expected more from my writing and from myself. Many times I found myself wanting to drop out but I fought the urge to quit.

I finished both of these challenges with a few days to spare. I started my third Challenge in conjunction with the Q and A contest that HubPages is sponsoring. I should be able to create several hubs to answer questions and maybe … just maybe …. (fingers crossed) win a little money. A girl can dream …

There are several things that I have learned in this process that I will share with you now to make your journey through the 30/30 Challenge easier.

First things first! Read this thread about the 30/30 Challenge.

The things that you can do to prepare for the Challenge can be quite comprehensive. I must admit here and now, although the following recommendations will make the challenge easier to complete, I myself have never completed every item listed below. But the more you are able to get done in advance the better your 30/30 Challenge will be and the better your end product will be.

Set a date, several weeks in advance, to start the Challenge. This will allow you to accomplish some of the tasks that I will share with you in a moment. It will also give you time to mentally prepare yourself (and your friends and family) for what lies ahead. It is crucial to be mentally prepared, because it will not always be easy to accomplish what you need to, day in and day out, during that 30 day time period.

Enlist friends, and even other hubbers, to join you in taking the Challenge. It is easier to do it with others. You can be there for each other cheering each other on when the going gets rough when you feel like you just can’t do it.

You could also enlist family members to help with some of the things that normally take time out of your day. Maybe one of your children would be willing to take over cooking a couple times a week during that month. There may be other chores that they may also be willing to help with. I know that I have let a few dust bunnies run wild in my house during this time, and I have heard others state the same.

Prepare for the challenge by having a list of at least 30 things that you want to write about. Although you do not have to, in every Challenge that I have done, I have always intended for my 30^th hub to be the hub that documents the Challenge I just completed. I also write that hub as I go through the challenge, documenting each hub as I complete it and any special difficulties that I have encountered or any new things that I learned.

When preparing for the Challenge, you may choose to do some SEO research on some or all of the topics you have chosen to write about. This preparation can help you in several different ways as you prepare to complete the 30/30 Challenge.

After completing the SEO research, create a good list of keywords you intend to focus on as you write your hub. Keywords should also be used to create an effective title. The keywords identified should be used as the tags for your hub, and should be interspersed throughout the verbiage of your hub. But it should never be done to the point where your words do not sound natural.

Knowing what you are going to write about before starting to compose your hub will make the writing process much easier. This can be accomplished by creating an outline. This outline can then be used as the headers for sections of your hub. These headers should contain the keywords you identified during your SEO research.

If you intend to use pictures and/or videos in your hubs, locating some of them in advance can be beneficial. Searching for the perfect pictures or videos can be quite time consuming, but adds tremendous value to your hub.

I have found it is easier to create my document in Microsoft Word first, including my headers, and then transfer the text into my hub. There are several advantages to this which I have documented in my hub titled Ten Reasons to Create the Text for Your Hub Outside of HubPages.

Sometimes life just plain gets in the way of our writing. Other times we have writer’s block and the words do not come to us, and that blasted blank page or computer screen stares back at us unmercifully. But there are ways to prepare for these times. In the early days of your Challenge, I encourage you to write more than one hub a day to create a padding for these times.

Planning to do this will relieve the stress of missing a day now and then, and it could even allow you to complete the Challenge ahead of schedule.

A day or so before starting your Challenge, visit the Challenge forum and declare (post) when you will be starting your Challenge. Contact those you are sharing the Challenge with and encourage them to do the same. Take a deep breath and get one or two good nights of sleep. You will probably need them!

During the Challenge, post your hubs as you complete them in the Challenge forum . (This is the only forum within HubPages that you are allowed, and even encouraged, to enter your links.) Read the hubs of others also posted in the forum. Give each other feedback and encouragement. Do this every day for 30 days and before you know it, you will have completed your 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge as well. I challenge you to give it a try.

Happy Hubbing …

This hub was created in response to question, What advice would you offer to people who want to complete the 30/30 challenge?