FAQs

So what exactly is ‘My A to Z Blogging Challenge’?

It’s a simple idea designed to motivate and inspire you to produce a series of blog posts by giving you the freedom to get personal about topics that are important to you based around a theme of your choice.

Choose subjects you feel strongly about, one way or another, and blog from the heart to make it a personal A to Z.

Participating bloggers use each letter of the alphabet as inspiration for a post. You can include stories, photos, videos, infographics, polls or anything else you want about your chosen subject.

By sharing excerpts and links to your Personal A to Z posts on this hub site, you’ll reach a wider audience and make new blogging friends to keep you motivated.

Here are a couple of example posts for you:

A is for Avocado

B is for Beaches

And our first completed Personal A to Z – of the Dominican Republic. Congratulations, Lindsay de Feliz!

Sounds great! How do I start my own A to Z?

Simply choose the overall topic you want to write about then join in.

For example, if your blog is about gardening, your Personal A to Z of Gardening might cover plants you love, weeds or other pests that drive you up the wall, your favourite or least favourite gardening tasks or anything else related to gardening that matters to you, personally.

You could even narrow the focus down further and go for something like a Personal A to Z of Flowers / Gardeners’ Enemies / Gardeners’ Tools and Tricks.

You decide; it’s your A to Z.

Okay, I’ve picked a topic and asked to join in. What do I do next?

It’s probably a good idea to write a post explaining what your Personal A to Z is all about. You readers will appreciate it and you may find it helps to clarify things in your own mind. You can always go back and edit it later if your A to Z evolves in a way you didn’t anticipate, but it’s a useful starting point. You can see Alyson’s introductory post here.

Alternatively, you could create a new page for the project to help readers find your A to Z posts as Tracey Hand has done.

Whether you choose a post or a page to introduce your Personal A to Z, you should post an excerpt with a link to it on this site so that we can include you in the blogroll.

And then get cracking on your alphabetical challenge and create your first post, e.g. ‘A is for…’.

How do I add excerpts?

These two posts should explain everything:

Show us your A to Z Posts (an overview for bloggers who are already familiar with WordPress)

How to add an excerpt with an image and a link back to your blog (step by step with screen shots)

Do I have to start with the letter A?

It doesn’t matter in which order you use the letters. For example, you can start with ‘W is for Weeds’ if you’re itching to write about ‘W’ but can’t think of anything to say about ‘A’. Remember, it’s a Personal A to Z challenge so you do it your way. Just make sure you link within your blog so others can find it.

Do I have to set up a new blog?

No, not at all. Your Personal A to Z will most likely be about something that’s related to the overall focus of your blog so just remember to update your introductory post or page each time you publish a new A to Z post so that readers can find them easily.

I want to do the challenge about something totally unrelated to my blog. / I haven’t got a blog! What can I do?

You’ve got several options:

1. You could consider setting up and maintaining a new blog but that involves a lot of work and commitment.

2. You could do it on this site! Publish your full A to Z posts through your profile with a link back to your main blog at the end of each post. You can use badges on your main blog to point people to your very own growing list of A to Z posts within My A to Z Challenge hub site. If you you need help with this, just let us know.

3. You could check out the participating bloggers or Love All Blogs to find someone who already blogs about your chosen subject who would be happy to host your Personal A to Z as a series of guest posts.

How will ‘My A to Z Blogging Challenge’ help promote my blog?

We will add your main blog and a link to your introductory post to the blogroll so that people can find you by topic.

You can upload excerpts of your posts which will link directly back to your blog and encourage people to comment there.

We’ll automatically share your posts on Twitter and Facebook and encourage other bloggers to retweet, share and link to them so that everyone gets more blog love.

You can join our Facebook group page and get to know the growing network of  My Personal A to Z Challenge bloggers.

Keep up to date by signing up for email notification of new posts,  ’liking’ our Facebook page and following us on Twitter @myatozchallenge.

Are there any badges?

Yes, several, take your pick from the available badges.

You can add a My A to Z Challenge badge to your site and link it back to this website so that your readers can see that you are taking part in the challenge. It might inspire others to join in too!

You could even use a category-related badge to link to your Personal A to Z Challenge  posts within your blog as Julie has done on her homepage.

Is there a time limit?

No, that’s the beauty of My A to Z Blogging Challenge. You can take as long as you need to complete your alphabet and let it fit around your other blog posts and commitments. You’ll probably find that the challenge motivates you to blog more often as it gives you a focus and a goal.

There’s always a slight danger that your commitment to the project could suffer a setback if life gets in the way but don’t worry if that happens. You can always pick up where you left off, or choose a random letter to get you back into the swing of things.

Someone has already used my idea for a letter, now what?

No problem. We are all different so you are bound to have a different perspective and approach to the theme. Blog ahead.

Is there a format for the posts?

No. You decide what suits your blog and style. You could do a photo essay, write a story, draw or add an illustration, add a photograph or gallery or interview someone… it is entirely up to you. You might decide to stick to one format for your entire A to Z or to mix and match depending on what works best for the topic.

Can I re-use a letter?  I have so many things I want to write about!

Absolutely! Some people have chosen to include more than one topic for each letter, others have blogged repeatedly about the same letter. You just need to use all the letters at least once to complete the challenge.

What about adding old posts?

The idea of this challenge is to encourage you to write new posts, and give you a focus for them. But if, for example, you’ve just published a brilliant post that you think would be a perfect ‘F is for…’ post, you could use that.

Are there any topics I can’t include?

It’s up to you what you publish on your own blog but if your content is pornographic, racist or highly offensive to most people, we’d prefer you not to share it here. We reserve the right to delete posts which we deem to be unsuitable without notice.

Why have some authors got a photo but I’ve only got a graphic?

They’ve got a Gravatar, which is an online profile with your photo, a short bio, and any links and email addresses you care to make public. You can see mine for an example (ignore the fact that some of it’s in Portuguese) and set up your own from the Gravatar homepage if you like.

If you have a Gravatar, when someone hovers the mouse over your photo, a box appears with your author bio and links to your websites and social media so it’s a good idea to have one.

If your question isn’t covered here, just ask us by leaving a comment below or via the Facebook group.