Regular visitors to GrowMap are bound to have come across some great ideas in the comments left by Dennis Edell. Hopefully you’ve already visited his main blog DirectSalesWebMarketing. Dennis really knows what he’s doing as he’s come up with a contest that increases the number of subscribers to his blogs and benefits the sponsors donating the prizes while generating suggestions to improve his two new blogs DennisEdell.com and EasyCashContests.com.
I have several reasons for participating in Dennis’ contest:
- The reviews I write benefit other bloggers as my suggestions are likely to apply to their blogs too.
- Supporting the efforts of those who support yours is always a good idea.
- We’ll get to visit those who support Dennis’ blogs and by doing so invite them to visit us.
- I’ll take this opportunity to mention the most important things Dennis did right – and there will be many – which means his new blogs become good examples for other bloggers.
What’s Right: Best Blog Design:
- DennisEdell has this right although I would make the square image shareable (read on for details).
- EasyCashContest needs an image and that one I would make as described below.
- Using the same image on your blog that you use across all Social Networking sites is very important.
- Use the same image as your Favicon.
TIP: Make sure this image can be shared on FriendFeed, StumbleUpon, etc. so that those who know how can “brand” content they share for you. While DennisEdell is using his Avatar it is not currently shareable.
See NoBogies and DerekSemmlerDotCom for examples of how this is done and check out how these logos appear when I shared posts from DerekSemmler at FriendFeed and NoBogies at FriendFeed.
* SITE NAME: Belongs just to the right of your header image.
Fine on both sites although I would change the font and size on the Eash Cash site so that it stands out more. Making a shareable image like the one Derek made for the NoBogies site that includes the business name, URL and slogan would be best because that strengthens your branding wherever it is shared.
* SLOGAN: Every site should have a slogan that lets visitors immediately understand why they want to be there.
Even though the slogan for DennisEdell.com is rather long it has character. I love it. The slogan for Easy Cash Contest is a little long and not catchy enough. I’d have a contest to come up with one that is more unique and memorable.
* SEARCH: All sites – including blogs – absolutely MUST have a search function and it needs to be VERY easy to QUICKLY locate.
WHY you ask? I’m glad you asked. Let me count the reasons:
- So people like me who are always online and on the lookout can quickly find something they know you have and share it somewhere else.
- So your readers can quickly find other posts of interest. In many blogs content is fairly timeless and good for reference material. Making it easier to find will increase page views, make new readers more likely to subscribe, and provide additional opportunities for others to share what they consider best (or that is related to their interests) from your content.
- What do you call visitors who can’t find what they want? GONE!
TIP: Search boxes should be located near the top right either in the header, the navigation just below the header, or at the top of the right sidebar.
Both of these new blogs really need to have search boxes added because great content is meant to be shared!
* SOCIAL NETWORKING LINKS: Feature links to the Social Networking Sites you use most so visitors will know where to find you.
Make these VERY obvious. You might also want to add Share This or Tweet This or some other options to encourage your posts to be shared. You’ll notice I’ve chosen to feature Twitter and FriendFeed links from GrowMap to make it easier for my readers to connect with me there.
* ASK FOR SUBSCRIBERS: I recently visited a blog somewhere that suggested subscribing to their blog and offered a link just under the submit comment button! What a brilliant idea! If I can find it again or find where I saved the text they used I’ll add it here.
BloggingWithoutABlog uses something similar. When submitting comments there you see this text:
“Don’t risk missing another lesson, link or observation – Subscribe for free in a reader. Catch them all, and come back to share your thoughts. Have a question? Feel free to leave it in the comment section. I’ll do my best to help.”
* About Pages: All sites including blogs must have one. Why? Because some of your visitors want to know more about why your site exists, what your site offers them, and a little more about you.
- Dennis Edell – This about page tells us a lot about Dennis’ personality and writing style. While it isn’t “professional” it is fun – and isn’t that more likely to bring you back?
- Easy Cash Contests – This about page tells us what the blog is about and why. The WHY is very important! Did you know giving someone a reason or stating something is BECAUSE greatly increases the possibility that they’ll listen or take action on what you write?
I’ve previously discussed Enabling Your Readers to Subscribe to Comments. We know Dennis already knows about these concepts. He is also familiar with Threaded Comments and Enabling Comment Editing.
While we’re reviewing let’s mention all the things Dennis did right in this contest:
- He was very specific about what he wanted entrants to do.
- He got those who entered to subscribe to all three blogs.
- He not only received at least two links to each of his blogs – he asked for and obtained links for all of this sponsors who donated the prizes.
- His blogs receive exposure from each blogger who enters.
- He will hopefully receive some suggestionsfor improving his blogs that he will decide to implement.
ADDITIONAL CONTEST BENEFIT:
Finding More Quality Blogs with experience to share – especially about making money blogging. If you don’t have time to visit them all, do make the effort to check out these:
- Peter Lee’s Work From Home Business Blog – Making money from home including blogging techniques, affiliate programs, link building and How Blog Commenting Got Him 1200 Backlinks in Five Days.
- SuzanneFranco.com – Teaches How to Make Money Online. Offers a Blogging For Bucks Bootcamp
BLOG REVIEW CONTEST PRIZES:
So what did you miss by not entering this blog review contest? Here is the list of prizes Dennis lined up:
Sponsors & Prizes:
CASH VIA PAYPAL:
Dennis Edell @ Beginner Marketing Tips – $25
Dennis Edell @ Win Cash Online – $25
Dennis Edell @ DennisEdell.com – $25
Yep, I’m personally putting up $75 .
Mirjam @ MeMyselfAndIBlog – $10 Blog Subject: Make Money Blogging.
Rodel @ Professional Cebu Blogger – $25
Suzanne Franco @ SuzanneFranco.com – $30
BANNER ADS (1 month ea. w/value if available):
Sherry @ SherrysShopping – 125×125
Sherry @ AnotherContest – 125×125
Superman Joe @ PostBlogger – 300 x 250
Sharmin @ ContestSpot – 125×125
Erwin Tan @ ErwinTan.com – 125×125 ($20)
Jonathan @ How To Blog – 125×125 ($15)
Garry Conn @ GarryConn.com – 468×60 ($70)
ZK @ WebTrafficROI – 125×125 ($20)
Yan @ Blog Setup – 125×125 ($20)
Archie Pennies @ SomeExtraPennies – 125 x 125 for 4 months
TEXT LINKS:
Collin @ FeedFlare – life time blog roll link
Harish @ BloggingKid – 1 month text link ad
Archie Pennies @ SomeExtraPennies – site wide blog roll link for 4 months
EBOOKS:
Peter Lee @ Make Money Blogging – New Home Study Course,”Quit Being a Wage Slave in 10 Easy Steps” ($47) – Peter Lee authors the Work From Home Business Blog
Ben Pei – @ Make Money Online – Instant Blog Traffic ($47)
Kathy Hendershot-Hurd @ VirtualImpax – 8 Week Power Blog Launch product ($77)
BLOG REVIEWS:
Mirjam @ MeMyselfAndIBlog – Blog Review ($25)
Superman Joe @ PostBlogger – Blog Review
Nishadha @ rumblinglankan – Blog Review ($20)
ENTRECARD CREDITS:
Sherry @ Name Sherry – 500 EC
Sherry @ SherryGo – 500 EC
Rodel @ Cebu Pacific Promos – 1000 EC
Nishadha @ rumblinglankan – 1000 EC
Nishadha @ YeastInfectionInDogs – 1000 EC
Wiehanne @ Wiehanne Lounge – 500 EC
Wiehanne @ Medan Daily – 500 EC
Wiehanne @ SimplyWP – 500 EC
OTHER:
David R Young Jr @ Niche-It – custom squeeze page template package ($7)
Brian D. Hawkins @ ExtremeEzine – one year Pro membership to YourAdTracker ($39.95)
RELATED BLOG DESIGN POSTS:
- The Perfect WordPress Design Part 1: Backgrounds, Style, Number of Columns
- The Perfect WordPress Theme: Headers, Search, Sidebars, Footers
- 4 Reasons Your Blog Needs a Logo
ADDING FAVICONS TO BLOGS:
- How to Favicon For Your Blog For Blogger and Self-Hosted WordPress
- How to Change Your Favicon in Blogger
- Tips for Adding Favicons in WordPress and Joomla
Gail Gardner
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The reviews I write benefit other bloggers as my suggestions are likely to apply to their blogs too.
My Blog needs a little more attention. After reading this, I may give it a going over
Very good information for people above. You are hitting various topics and that is leading folks to good knowledge. The benefit is nice for all blogers that land on your site!
.-= Rico @ Plantronics Bluetooth Headset´s last blog ..Privacy Policy =-.
Yes, please let me know when the next competition is! Thanks 🙂 This sounds great and really fun.
Hi,
There are excellent ideas on your competitive sites which are great ways to pull boggers and site owners together to share ideas, contest and compete. This will also help to generate traffic to the sites and blogs that participated.
This advice is really going to help, thanks.
@Dag Welcome to GrowMap. I hope you noticed the categories in the right sidebar. Our posts are intended to be references on any subject related to growing a business or blog. We update older posts with new information and delete anything that becomes outdated.
We also encourage our readers to share links to related posts in the comments (which are dofollow). We regularly move the best links up into the body of posts and add reference links at the bottom of many posts.
TIP: When you leave comments it pays to make them longer. First, they won’t get trapped in Akismet as suspected SPAM and second, if you leave intelligent comments others reading them are more likely to visit your site. You may as well use your comments for both SEO and to bring direct traffic from other blogs.
ANOTHER TIP: GrowMap uses KeywordLuv which allows anyone to enhance the links from their comments with their choice of keywords as anchor text. Instead of just Dag you could have used Dag@SEOServices and it would use SEO Services as your link.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Are You Missing the Conversations Because You Only Read Blogs in RSS Readers?
@neaddyMoind Thank you for letting me know. I am hoping to convert this blog to Thesis Theme – and that is one of the main reasons for doing it. There are few WP themes that are tested in all browsers.
@xbash The main thing to remember when you wish to rank well in SEO is to create pages for a specific phrase. Use that phrase in the name of the page, the title of the page, in the text, in names of images and have that page be ONLY about that phrase. Create many pages for your specific phrases and your site will be easy to find in your niche.
@Stan That is a very good question. Although major businesses will be very concerned about the legal issues involved I suspect small bloggers with few assets are not focusing on those issues. I’ve seen many contests with almost no T&Cs. As in all things legal, those who have more to lose are more likely to hire attorneys to handle such issues. You may have noticed that many blogs don’t even have privacy policies yet.
@Chris I’m glad you found much information that is helpful here. I have so much more to add and hopefully this flu will finally let go and I can be vastly more productive.
@Jason Search boxes are my pet peeve. They were the number one way to increase sales back when I did ppc advertising for online stores and just as important now that I like to share useful information in Social Networking sites. The faster I can find your post when I see a relevant connection for you, the more likely you’ll be receiving more traffic from my online efforts.
I have been lazy with the whole search box thing. I really need to add one. Thanks for spurring me on 🙂
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This site is great. Seriously I really appreciate all this info!
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Thanks for reminding me about this! I might have to spend a few bucks
wam’s last blog post..wamucards
Back again to catch up on comments.I’d be interested to hear what you understand to be the legislation that applies to online competitions that are run from blogs. I’ve seen a few sets of T&Cs that are very thorough – what is the minimum requirement that a blogger must comply with and would a competition be subject to an audit.
@InternetStrategist, Yes I will. thanks to offer me some tips about your niche technique in blog. I will be more appreciated if you have some tips in Search Engine Optimization also.
Best regards.
xbash’s last blog post..Why Hectic!
will have a look at improving my blog soon so watch out, thanks
Your web page does not correctly work in safari browser
@B. Durant Thank you. Contests are a great way to meet more bloggers and greatly increase blog readership. They usually generate a much higher than normal participation rate on a particular post so more people will see your comments.
Because the contests usually last over a period of time they also generate more views of your comment and therefore a higher likelihood that readers there will visit the blogs of participants.
Dennis’ contest was particularly appealing to me because it prompted me to cover a subject I had meaning to blog about for some time: these key aspects of any Web site.
Any one reading this may want to subscribe. We are managing a contest for http://blog.ExecutiveGiftShoppe.com and planning at least one post on why bloggers should participate in contests because it benefits them too.
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Nice review. It’s no wonder you took home a prize for your efforts.
@Hectic That is a GREAT idea. The first thing to do is decide what your passion is and find a niche that allows you to blog about that passion. If you’d like assistance with that just leave a comment telling me what you love and I’ll suggest some ideas for related content.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..What NOT To Do With Your Existing Web Site When You Upgrade or Remodel
@Stan One other thing you may want to do now so that you can potentially offer your own contests or special offers and reach the people who are your target audience.
See the post I’ve linked from the top of this comment where it says GrowMap.com for tips on creating Social Networking sites and especially a Twitter account for a specific geographic location.
Assuming that you don’t sell Internationally, it is very helpful to be able to reach a specific geographic segment.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..What NOT To Do With Your Existing Web Site When You Upgrade or Remodel
@Stan I also have been testing what works and what doesn’t. Perhaps we could work together and bounce some ideas around? It also helps to have multiple bloggers who use Social Networking sites supporting each others’ efforts, participating, and spreading the word.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..What NOT To Do With Your Existing Web Site When You Upgrade or Remodel
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my previous query. I am currently looking into presenting some competitions from various blogs in the hope of attracting attention and traffic.
GrowMap is a cool website. I wish I could have a great website like that.
More traffic, more money to website.
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@Stan – Thank you for visiting and commenting. The competition was held by Dennis Edell so we’ll have to ask him how long it actually took him to administer it. The links are in the post above.
I entered it primarily to support his efforts – and fortunately for me my entry won.
Even if I had NOT won anything I would still greatly benefit from participating. My post provided my readers with useful tips and garnered links from Dennis’ fine blog.
On top of that a quote from my entry was picked up by Rob Diana and commented upon in a blog post he did that was featured on the very popular LouisGray blog.
As always, pay it forward DOES work.
Even though he DID, as you mention, “pull together all the key benefits of running competitions” and he did get some quality reviews, there were not nearly as many participants as one might hope.
Bloggers must work to support the efforts of other bloggers. If we don’t make the time to support them, why would others make time to support us?
Most likely we must have repetitive contests so that our work can start snowballing. An annual contest I ran across had 911 bloggers participating (I would have picked a different number to stop at!) and the post I saw first already had 291 entries!
That contest had each participating blog giving something away. Many were crafters who were giving away items they had created. It certainly worked for that group. We have to find what will work for us.
You’ve managed to pull together all the key benefits of running competitions to attract visitors and devlop a community with a blog. I’d be interested to know how much time administering the competition took (or is taking).
@Barbara You’re very welcome. I may have found Dennis through you – or you through him. I don’t recall. I do make it a point to regularly visit and link to certain quality blogs.
It reminds me to keep visiting them myself and you can never go wrong sharing excellent blogs with your readers. As for contests they provide deadlines for adding particular content that I’ve wanted to write about anyway.
Thanks for dropping by. You may be interested to know that the trackback just above your comment is an excellent article about commenting conversations. It was published not only at that link but also in Louis Gray’s excellent blog. You may see a nice spike in traffic from those links.
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Contests are a great way of attracting other bloggers and Dennis does a great job of that. Good luck with your submission.
Thank you so much for including a link to my blog. I truly appreciate it.
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