Online Opportunity » Contests

Win A Free Website Contest Results

Jay — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 02:08:39 +0000

Okay, the contest is officially over.

Here’s the list of entrants, along with their comment count from the top commentator’s list as of midnight January 31st:

o) Lori (2)
o) Paul (5)
o) Harmony (7)
o) ScottUA (3)
o) Chris Christensen (4)
o) Betshopboy (4)
o) Allen (0)
o) Sulaman (0)
o) Tanyetta (4)
o) Dawn (0)
o) Timmy (0)
o) Majdi (0)
o) Text and Quotes (0)
o) Mr. Carl McKever Jr (0)
o) Aunt Babz (0)
o) Trendy Money (14)

A number of contestants apparently forgot to come back and comment to get into the top commentator’s list. So, unfortunately, they don’t get any entries in the drawing. We’re left with the following people in the running:

o) Lori (2)
o) Paul (5)
o) Harmony (7)
o) ScottUA (3)
o) Chris Christensen (4)
o) Betshopboy (4)
o) Tanyetta (4)
o) Trendy Money (14)

That makes 43 total entries in the drawing. Since I didn’t really want to write out 43 pieces of paper, I went to my favorite online random number generator and generated a random number between 1 and 43. I then counted that many entries in the above list from top to bottom to see who the winner was (that list was ordered by when each person officially entered the contest).

The random number generated was…31. That just missed Tanyetta, and leaves Trendy Money as the winner!

Thanks to everyone for your participation. I’ll be in email contact with the winner to get the information needed to transfer over the website.

3 Comments

At February 2, 2008, Harmony wrote:
Congratulations, Trendy Money! Lucky Duck! I wish you the best of luck with your new SBI website. I'd love to hear all about the process. And will be sure to check your site for updates. Maybe you will post about it???

Thanks, Jay for the opp. :)
At February 2, 2008, trendy money wrote:
[quote comment=""]Congratulations, Trendy Money! Lucky Duck! I wish you the best of luck with your new SBI website. I'd love to hear all about the process. And will be sure to check your site for updates. Maybe you will post about it???

Thanks, Jay for the opp. :)[/quote]

Thanks Harmony, and thanks to the site owner for running the competition :)
I will be sure to try and make some updates about the site as well.
At February 2, 2008, Jay wrote:
For anyone who really wanted the SBI! site, they're running their Valentine's Day special right now. Two SBI! sites for $400 instead of one for $300. Two people can get together and share the cost to get the price each down to $200.

Not quite as nice as a free one, but better than full price!

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Last Chance To Win A Free Website

Jay — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:00:20 +0000

The clock is ticking down on my January contest.

For anyone who started reading the blog late, and didn’t catch the announcement, you can read the original contest post here. The short version, though, is that by posting a comment on the original contest post and by being one of the top commentators at the stroke of midnight (EST) on January 31st, 2008, you’ll be eligible to win a free SBI! website.

SBI! is hands down the best way to create a niche website to make money online, especially if you’ve never done so before. The SBI! process leads you through keyword research, picking a domain name, designing the site and writing the pages, generating traffic and building relationships with your visitors. The package includes every tool you might need, including ad tracking and autoresponders.

Paying for all the tools alone separately would amount to more in a year than SBI! charges. And you can get it all for free for the first year.

Any of the top commentators at midnight, January 31st, who have also commented on the original contest post, will be given a number of entries into the contest equal to the number of comments of theirs showing in the top commentators list. I’ll then randomly draw one of the entries from a hat, and that person gets the free SBI! site.

Along with my mentoring on the entire process, of course. By the end of the year, your site should be earning more than enough to cover the SBI! fee for the next year.

Note that it’s perfectly legal to toss a lot of comments into the ring in the last day or so to boost your entry count. Just make sure that each comment adds to the post, and isn’t just a “great post” sort of comment. I will ruthlessly delete any fluff comments that were made just to boost someone’s comment count for contest purposes. Comments on old posts count just as well as comments on the newer posts, too.

Good luck to everyone who has entered!

3 Comments

At January 30, 2008, Harmony wrote:
Wow! How time flys... Sorry, I didn't keep up as I intended. :(
The good thing, though, I found your blog. :)
Good Luck to everyone!
At January 31, 2008, Trendy Money wrote:
[quote comment=""]Wow! How time flys... Sorry, I didn't keep up as I intended. :(
The good thing, though, I found your blog. :)
Good Luck to everyone![/quote]

I have enterred the comp - hope I'm not too late :)

Hope the contest goes well!
At January 31, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote post="482"]I have enterred the comp - hope I’m not too late[/quote]

You're in just under the wire, but you're in! I'll be taking the final stats for the top commentators list in about 6 hours. Results might not get posted right away, depending on when I do the actual drawing.

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Win A Free Web Site For the New Year

Jay — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:00:16 +0000

One of my resolutions this year is to get back to holding regular contests, so I’m going to start the year off with a doozy.

The prize is a free SBI! site for a year. This is a $299 value, and includes the absolute best set of step-by-step instructions for creating a profitable, high quality niche site that I’ve ever seen. You also get free autoresponders and ad trackers for use on your niche site, along with a year’s worth of web hosting for the site and access to SBI!’s Block Builder, a no-HTML way to build websites.

To qualify to win the prize, you must do two things:

1) Leave a comment on this post saying that you’re entering the contest.

2) At the stroke of midnight (EST) on January 31st, 2008, be one of the ten people listed in the top commentators list on Online Opportunity. Note that I have it counting only comments in the last 30 days.

And that’s it. At the end of the contest I’ll hold a random drawing to pick the winner. Every person in the top commentator’s list gets one entry for every comment listed by their name. So if you leave 100 comments over the month, you get 100 entries in the random drawing. But even a person with 1 entry can still win.

Since I anticipate more entries than my normal high-tech paper-in-a-bag technique can handle, I’ll use the month to write a computer program to do the drawing. Or maybe I’ll assign that as an exercise to my students.

This is a great opportunity to test drive SBI! for a full year. At the end of the year, you pick up the $299 yearly fee for subsequent years. If you’re not making enough from your site to cover that, just don’t renew it (although, you’ve probably not followed the action guide if you’re not making at least that by the end of the year).

Good luck to everyone who enters!

P.S. A quick update on my SBI! niche site…after about 30 days it started receiving traffic from targeted keywords in Google. I was a bit surprised, since normally my sites take longer than that to start to rate highly in Google. I checked the traffic stats, and found the site on the first page of Google (typically in the first 3 results) for half a dozen highly targeted long-tail keywords. The site was also on pages 2 and 3 for some higher traffic, shorter keywords.

All this without my doing any promotion, link building, or SEO at all, other than just using the SBI! tools. I’m looking forward to when the site is complete enough to start doing link building and promotion, and seeing the results improve even more.

39 Comments

At January 1, 2008, Lori wrote:
Dang Jay, that's quite a giveaway. I guess, technically, this enters me but I really came by to say Happy New Year and best wishes for 2008! Sorry about not commenting..I haven't been doing it at anyone's blog. I plan to make a 'public' apology on that to all my fellow bloggers;)

Good luck with the contest. I'll blog about it:)
At January 1, 2008, Paul wrote:
[quote post="456"]1) Leave a comment on this post saying that you’re entering the contest.[/quote]

Great contest. SBI is one of the best. Thanks for the opportunity.
At January 1, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote post="456"]Good luck with the contest. I’ll blog about it:)[/quote]

Thanks, Lori! I plan on getting it into the contest sites, too, later in the week when I have the time.

[quote post="456"]Great contest. SBI is one of the best. Thanks for the opportunity.[/quote]

You're welcome, Paul! I agree, SBI is a great product. Every day I work with it I find more to love about it.

Good luck!
At January 2, 2008, Win a Free $299 Website - Blog Contests, Link Contests, Any Contests wrote:
[...] To enter you need to make the top commentators list on his blog for the month of January, and then at the end of the month he will count up all the comments and you’ll get an entry for each one. A random drawing will then determine the overall winner of the site. « Subscribe and Win Advertising If you like this post then please subscribe to my full feed RSS. It could win you some great prizes! You can also subscribe by email. Related Posts:Wanna Win an Affiliate Website?The Ugliest Website ContestSome Hosting and a Domain to be Won [...]
At January 2, 2008, Contest Beat wrote:
Hi there

I blogged about your contest here - http://www.contestbeat.com/win-a-free-299-website/

All we do is write about contests in the blogosphere so hopefully we can send you a few more entries too!

Regards, Matt
At January 2, 2008, Harmony wrote:
Hi Jay!
Sounds like a great contest and great prize! I'll enter. I've rss'ed you so I won't miss out any great posts to comment on.
Thanks!
At January 2, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote post="456"]I blogged about your contest here[/quote]

Thanks, Matt!

[quote post="456"]Sounds like a great contest and great prize! I’ll enter. I’ve rss’ed you so I won’t miss out any great posts to comment on.[/quote]

Hi Harmony! Legitimate comments on older posts also count, so late in the month I'd expect people to start browsing the archives to boost their comment count. Good luck!
At January 2, 2008, MyBlogContest wrote:
Don't forget to post your blog contest information at MyBlogContest.com let more people know it.

Submit your blog contest and find blog contests at MyBlogContest.com
At January 2, 2008, ScottUA wrote:
Hey Jay,

Sounds like an interesting contest. Consider me in!

Thanks!
At January 2, 2008, Win a Free Niche Website by Online Opportunity » Home Business Blog wrote:
[...] Online Opportunity is giving away a $299 SBI website for a year. Below is an excerpt from the original post. [...]
At January 2, 2008, Home Business Blog wrote:
Awesome giveaway jay - best of luck!
At January 2, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote post="456"]Sounds like an interesting contest. Consider me in![/quote]

Good luck, Scott!

[quote post="456"]Awesome giveaway jay - best of luck![/quote]

Thanks, Rob, and thanks for the plug on Home Biz Blogger!
At January 3, 2008, Chris Christensen wrote:
Count me in!

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Chris Christensen
Amateur Traveler podcast (http://AmateurTraveler.com)
Inside Chris's Head (http://chris2x.com)
Tripinator - Travel 2.0 (http://tripinator.com)
The Bible Study Podcast (http://TheBibleStudyPodcast.com)
At January 3, 2008, Jay wrote:
Welcome, Chris, that's quite a list of niche sites you already have!
At January 3, 2008, betshopboy wrote:
Simple contest with great prize to start the new year with, I guess this qualifies me.

All the best to you in this contest and in this New Year!
At January 3, 2008, Jay wrote:
Glad to have you here Betshopboy! Good luck in the contest, and in the new year!
At January 3, 2008, Win A Free Website ($299 Value) | My Blog Contest wrote:
[...] Name: Win A Free Web Site For The New Year Deadline: January 31st Prize: Free SBI! Web Site ($299 Value) How to enter: Comment on the contest [...]
At January 3, 2008, Chris Christensen wrote:
I have a couple of other sites as well, but thought that would be pushing the shameless self-promotion limits. :-)
At January 3, 2008, Chris Christensen wrote:
One question. A great web site is terrific. So when someone wins, what are your tips for drawing traffic for the site? SEO obviously, but I find building traffic takes more time than almost anything else.
At January 3, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote post="456"]A great web site is terrific. So when someone wins, what are your tips for drawing traffic for the site? SEO obviously, but I find building traffic takes more time than almost anything else.[/quote]

SBI! has that covered. SEO is almost completely taken care of by the tools...you still have to pick good keywords, but the action guide steps you through that.

Sitemap pinging is built in, which is where the traffic to my not yet finished niche site is coming from, ranking in Google and Yahoo just on the strength of the content and SEO (with zero backlinks).

The action guide also takes you through getting directory links, and more importantly getting in-context links from other websites (through their Value Exchange program) in your niche.

So if you follow the action guide, and resist the temptation to stray from it, you'll have good organic traffic before the year is out, likely much sooner.
At January 3, 2008, Laura @ Laura Williams' Musings wrote:
don't count me in.

just wanted let you know I blogged ya:

http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/01/wednesday-edition-of-contests-galore.html
At January 3, 2008, Jay wrote:
Thanks, Laura! I appreciate you promoting the contest.
At January 5, 2008, Allen wrote:
Hmm I like the prize of the contest so I'm going to be joining. ^_^
I'm wondering if this would increase the number of spam comments you have because people will comment for the purpose of getting to your top commentators list?
At January 5, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote post="456"]I’m wondering if this would increase the number of spam comments you have because people will comment for the purpose of getting to your top commentators list?[/quote]

Hi Allen, that's a concern. I'm pretty strict about comments that I approve, and don't hesitate to delete comments during contests that seem like they were done solely to up the comment count.

So part of my job during the contest is to make sure any zero-value comments don't stick around and foul up the results.
At January 6, 2008, Sulaman wrote:
Hi,I was also thinking for getting a website. while you have it means I can win it.
At January 7, 2008, Blogging with Cents wrote:
Win Your Own Website!...
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!What better way to start the New Year than with your own website!! You can win your own SBI website from Online Opportunity. Jay is holding this awesome contest tha...
At January 7, 2008, tanyetta wrote:
please! count me in. Thank you :)

[quote comment=""]Win Your Own Website!...

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!What better way to start the New Year than with your own website!! You can win your own SBI website from Online Opportunity. Jay is holding this awesome contest tha...[/quote]
At January 7, 2008, Dawn wrote:
I am new to all of this and a free site would help! Thanks for the opportunity!
At January 7, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote comment=""]I am new to all of this and a free site would help! Thanks for the opportunity![/quote]

You're welcome, Dawn! Good luck to you!

[quote post="456"]please! count me in. Thank you[/quote]

Good to have you here Tanyetta!
At January 7, 2008, Timmy wrote:
Yayyy! A contest!! :]
At January 8, 2008, MAJDI wrote:
Hi Jay,

First of all, I wish you and your faily a Happy New Year.

I came across the SBI since 2 years and I didn't take any positive action toward it. I don't know why?

Mybe because I have no special experience or specific knowledge that can add value to others.

But I this it is time to enter the contest...

Thank you for making this challange.

Best regards,

MAJDI
At January 8, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote post="456"]I came across the SBI since 2 years and I didn’t take any positive action toward it. I don’t know why?[/quote]

Hi Majdi, this is pretty common (I took about six months to finally try it out). The SBI! web pages talk about what SBI! can do for you, but you really don't "get it" until you use it. And there's so much there, it seems as if the web pages are making typical hyped up claims, again until you use it and realize exactly what you are getting.

Good luck on the contest!
At January 8, 2008, Text and Quotes wrote:
I want to join! WOOOHHOOO!!! *crossing my fingers*
At January 8, 2008, Jay wrote:
[quote comment=""]I want to join! WOOOHHOOO!!! *crossing my fingers*[/quote]

Good luck! Keep the comments coming to have your best chance.
At January 15, 2008, Mr. Carl McKever Jr wrote:
I would like to be qualified for the free website for a year giveaway. Thanks and take care!
At January 15, 2008, Jay wrote:
Hi Carl, you're halfway there! Just make sure you're on the top commentators list at the end of January, and you'll be in the drawing.

Good luck!
At January 17, 2008, Aunt Babz wrote:
[quote comment=""]Hi Carl, you're halfway there! Just make sure you're on the top commentators list at the end of January, and you'll be in the drawing.

Good luck![/quote]

Excelent contest, I'd love to enter and could surely use the help. I have a site with very little traffic or advert yet I manage to get about 4 letters, asking for advice, a week. Go figure?

Thanks!
At January 17, 2008, Jay wrote:
Hi Aunt Babz! You must be doing something right, if you're getting a trickle of visitors to take action. Great advice on your blog, by the way.

Good luck in the contest!
At January 31, 2008, Trendy Money wrote:
[quote comment=""]Hi Aunt Babz! You must be doing something right, if you're getting a trickle of visitors to take action. Great advice on your blog, by the way.

Good luck in the contest![/quote]

I will be entering the contest if its not too late! Thanks

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Page Rank Updated

Jay — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:33:37 +0000

Well, the long awaited Page Rank update seems to have happened, or be in the process of happening.

I’ve said before that Page Rank isn’t all that important. It’s a visible way of measuring inbound links to your website, and so has been used by advertisers to help set advertising costs for sites. But it’s a minor factor in your search engine results positioning, and really shouldn’t be something you obsess about increasing.

But, as Carolyn mentioned in a previous comment, it’s nice to have something higher than 0. You can see what your page rank is at various data centers by going to DigPageRank.com. For example, it looks like JugglingFrogs.com has a new page rank of 3.

Online Opportunity comes up as a 4 in all the data centers except for a few. Since the previous page rank was 0, I’d say that the new page rank will be 4. This is due in part to the link building campaign I did over the summer, submitting to a large number of directories. I built those links to get the SEO benefit from the links, not to build page rank, but you can’t help but build page rank when you add more inbound links.

Way back when, I’d announced a contest to guess the new page rank. At the time, I thought the next update would be in August. We’re a couple of months late, but a contest is a contest.

Rosa, over at Gaje Master, was the only one with the correct guess. So Rosa wins the prize!

We never did figure out what the prize was, though. If you have any requests, Rosa, let me know. Keep in mind that I’m currently backlogged on doing work on Lori’s blog from the last contest, so anything that requires much work will probably wait a while.

19 Comments

At October 29, 2007, nithin wrote:
Ya even my page rank was also updated from 0 to 2. But I really want to know how frequently the page rank will be updated and how to find the page rank at each data center?
At October 29, 2007, Jay wrote:
Hi Nithin, the link in the post, to DigPageRank.com, will show you the rank at each data center.

As far as when the next update will happen, who knows? Everyone predicted this one would be in late July/early August, and here it is late October.

Keep in mind that the page rank being updated is only the visible page rank. Google continually updates your real page rank for use in search engine results positioning. They only tell you about it now and then, though.
At October 29, 2007, Lori wrote:
HOORAH! Congrats on the 4! That's awesome. My cowboy's wife went to a 3 and my blogging with cents went to a 4!! Woohoo!
At October 29, 2007, Jay wrote:
Congratulations on BloggingCents' 4, Lori! That's good link building for a relatively new blog!
At October 29, 2007, Lori wrote:
Yep it is! That blog is just under 2mths old so I was super happy:)
..and thank you.
At October 30, 2007, betshopboy wrote:
Hi Jay & Lori

Congrats on both your PR 4!

My blog started slightly earlier than Bloggingcents but I got "PR N/A", I'm not even sure what that means? Is it = PR ZERO?
Could it be due to it being a .net instead of a .com?

I felt really outcasted and leftout when everybody is celebrating their PR ranking. The feeling's like not being invited to the biggest and most anticipated party of the year!

Gosh...
At October 30, 2007, Lori wrote:
I'm sorry Betshopboy. One thing I can say...I happen to get very lucky with backlinks. I got backlinks from several high PR blogs but hadn't linked out to hardly anyone really. I think that is the reason for my PR but not sure. Don't get down. It sounds like pagerank won't matter too much before to long.
At October 30, 2007, Juggling Frogs wrote:
Wow! Congratulations, Jay, on the PR4.

I thought mine was going to be 0 because it went from the grayed-out 0 to a white 0 about three weeks ago. Your post in my feed reader this morning is the first I've learned that I'm not a zero! Thank you!

I wish Google would come up with a less demoralizing text with the page rank of zero. For almost six months, if my cursor wandered to the PR icon, I'd read that zero is "the rating of the importance this site."

If, instead, it said, "This is Google's rating based on verified interconnectedness and traffic", it wouldn't seem like such a slap.

So thank you, Jay, for letting me know the good news! May these numbers continue to increase for all of us, with the help of Online Opportunity and your wisdom.
At October 30, 2007, rosa wrote:
Okay, jay. Sorry. I got over here kind of late and I have been really busy with my writing, children, and court on Gaje's case. Whenever you are ready to get down to business, let me know. I don't really care what I win, it is just cool to win something every now and then. I am going to have to start visiting more often to see what other contest you have going on. Whatever you want to do, I am willing to accept.
At October 30, 2007, rosa wrote:
I checked mine for Gajemaster and I have a 3. I am excited about this.
At October 30, 2007, Page Rank jumped to a 3 wrote:
[...] Not bad for a blog that hasn’t been out here for long huh? I was excited when I noticed this. I would have probably never noticed if I wouldn’t have won the contest over at Online Opportunity. [...]
At October 30, 2007, Jay wrote:
[quote post="398"]My blog started slightly earlier than Bloggingcents but I got “PR N/A”, I’m not even sure what that means? Is it = PR ZERO?
Could it be due to it being a .net instead of a .com?[/quote]

.net versus .com shouldn't have any effect. My understanding was the N/A was a temporary designation, and would be updated when the page rank for that site was updated. Maybe they just haven't gotten around to updating yours yet?
At October 30, 2007, Jay wrote:
[quote post="398"]I wish Google would come up with a less demoralizing text with the page rank of zero. For almost six months, if my cursor wandered to the PR icon, I’d read that zero is “the rating of the importance this site.”[/quote]

Alternate text would be a great idea!

I'm not sure when the toolbar page rank will get updated, but you're now showing as 3 in all the data centers, so it probably won't be long now.
At October 30, 2007, Jay wrote:
[quote post="398"]Whenever you are ready to get down to business, let me know. I don’t really care what I win, it is just cool to win something every now and then.[/quote]

Okay, I'll let you know when I get past my backlog. If you come up with something in the meantime that you think would be a suitable prize, let me know.
At October 31, 2007, Blogging The Movie wrote:
Good job on the PR score. It's more really about creating readership through original content and I think you have done that quite well.

Are you going to Vegas Jay?
At October 31, 2007, Jay wrote:
No, I would have loved to have gone, but I'll be taking a team of students to a programming contest that weekend.
At November 4, 2007, Betshopboy.net » PageRank Mood swings wrote:
[...] – PR0 to PR3 EtienneTeo - PR0 to PR3 OnlineOpportunity – PR3 to PR4 Bloggingcents – PR0 to PR4 CashQuests – PR0 to PR5 Bloggingtune – PR0 to [...]
At February 19, 2008, Gaje Master wrote:
Hey Jay, it's me again. I completely forgot about this contest and if you are still interested, i think I know what I want. How about a guess post from you to add to my blog. I will even be nice enough to allow you to add your site to the post.lol. I figured that you are probably still busier than ever and I wanted something that would free me up for a day and would give you something easy to do. I guess you would call this easy. If you are interested, let me know. if you thought of something else, throw it my way. Anyways, let me know.
At February 19, 2008, Jay wrote:
I'm glad you remembered this, Rosa! I was trying to think the other day about what to give you as a prize, and came up blank. A guest post sounds like a great idea. Just give me a topic, and I'll send you a post with a nice keyword based title.

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July Contest Articles

Jay — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:31:22 +0000

Long-time readers will remember the crazy month of July, where I held a comment contest. The top commentator by the end of it had over one hundred comments for the month, if I remember correctly.

I awarded a custom EzineArticles.com article to the first and second place commentors that month. I wanted to share how those articles turned out.

Carolyn, over at Juggling Frogs, received an article titled, “Make Your Own Doll House At Home Without Frustration — 5 Tips“. That article was placed into the Crafts & Hobbies category of EzineArticles.com.

Apparently that’s a pretty hot category. Out of 292 views so far, 45 people clicked through the links to Carolyn’s blog, for an astounding 15.4% click through rate. I included two links to specific posts about doll house making, and a general link to the top page of her blog. The top page link received no clicks at all, but the specific posts split the 45 clicks evenly. So I’d say there’s a good market for people looking for detailed information on that sort of topic at EzineArticles.com.

Rosa, at GajeMaster.com, asked for an article about blogging tips. So I wrote “Blogging Tips — Five Things Every Blogger Should Know“, and put it into the Blogging category at EzineArticles.com.

That article was viewed 77 times, and received 5 clicks, for a more normal 6.4% click through rate. Interestingly, these people weren’t so interested in the specific posts linked in the article, but more in the top level link to Rosa’s blog.

These results contrast with a typical article on the make money online topic. There, I see high article views, and low to non-existent click through rates.

It’s all about picking a niche that works well for the article directory. Apparently crafts and hobbies is a rich market on EzineArticles.com. I’d say an intensive article marketing campaign, another 15 to 20 articles on related topics, could do wonders for pulling traffic to Juggling Frogs (or related blogs). A similar campaign about blogging tips wouldn’t do as well, but would still bring in some traffic.

So if you’re wondering if article marketing can work for your blog, it’s worth writing a single article and publishing it to EzineArticles.com to test the market. If the article views and click through rate looks promising, you can ramp up to a full campaign.

For more information on article marketing, see my Article Marketing 101 series.

2 Comments

At October 11, 2007, Juggling Frogs wrote:
Wow, Jay! That's amazing!

Thank you so much for the article, and for this analysis.

You're motivating me to plan a few of my own articles, later in the year. Although, I'm sure the click-through and traffic results are directly related to your excellent writing, not just the hobby niche!

All the best,
CLKL
At October 12, 2007, Jay wrote:
[quote post="384"]Although, I’m sure the click-through and traffic results are directly related to your excellent writing, not just the hobby niche![/quote]

I consider myself to be a ghostwriter on this one. I pulled the content from your blog, and just arranged the words. These articles were the first time I'd written for someone else, and it was harder than I'd thought it would be!

I'd love to hear how your own articles do. When they're done, let me know and I'll give them a link from here to improve their SEO benefit.

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September Contest Results

Jay — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:00:55 +0000

Unfortunately, preparations for my house move came during the end of the September contest, so the deadline was extended for a bit.

I now have my computer partially hooked up at home, so am calling the September contest officially over. The top commentators as of now are:

Each of these individuals gets one entry into the contest. I utilized my usual high tech “bits of paper” system for the drawing, and thoroughly mixed up the paper in the plastic lid to one of those 100 blank DVD collections.

I then drew the winner, who is…BetShopBoy!

The official prize in the contest is a discount on two years of top notch web hosting at Site5. This prize may be transferred to someone else in another contest, given away, used, or traded in on something else.

BetShopBoy, I’ll contact you via email to see what you’d like to do with it.

Everyone, thank you for entering by commenting during September! Given the amount of unpacking I have to do at the house, I’m going to postpone the next contest until November.

5 Comments

At October 10, 2007, betshopboy wrote:
Hi Jay

Yipeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! I won!!

Thanks for taking time out to draw the winner even amidst all your packing, moving and more unpacking
At October 10, 2007, Tanner Christensen wrote:
Congratluations betshopboy. What a great contest, I feel bad I missed it, I could really use some new hosting!
At October 10, 2007, Jay wrote:
Maybe you can convince Betshopboy to give you the prize instead, if he doesn't need it.
At October 11, 2007, simon wrote:
wish i found your site earlier...
At October 11, 2007, Jay wrote:
Hi Simon, keep checking back, there'll be a new contest in a few weeks.

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September “No Contest” Contest Drawing To A Close

Jay — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:01:57 +0000

The September contest is approaching its end.

To enter, be listed in the top commentators’ list by the end of September 30th. The winner gets a discount on two years of top quality web hosting through Site5. Or, if they don’t need web hosting, we’ll work something else out that they’ll like.

The bottom of the list is currently held with 2 comments. So make 3 and you’re guaranteed to be on the list in time for the end of the contest.

Unless someone else has the same idea.

3 Comments

At September 25, 2007, John Bennett wrote:
Well I'm up to three comments so far ;-) I just subscribed too.
At September 25, 2007, Jay wrote:
Thanks for subscribing! I'd say you're safely entered into the contest, unless there is a last minute rash of comments.
At September 26, 2007, Angel wrote:
Hi jay,
I dint got what is your contest is of let me know more about this , even im interested in participating.

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The September “No Contest” Contest

Jay — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:00:17 +0000

With the fall semester still getting into swing, I don’t have the time to manage a contest like August’s or the creativity to come up with a cute angle.

So September is the “No Contest” contest. The winner will be randomly chosen from amongst the people on the top commentators’ list just after midnight (EST), September 30th, 2007. That’s a maximum of ten pieces of paper I need to make up for my high tech contest system.

You don’t have to be at the top of the list, just somewhere in it. Since the two bottom entries in the list right now have 1 comment each, this should be an easy contest to enter. Just leave a comment or two, and the chances are good you’ll be entered.

The prize?

What about a discount on two years of premium quality web hosting at Site 5? Here’s the deal: Site 5 has a terrific web hosting deal where, by paying for two-years in advance, you can get the price down to $5 a month for more space and bandwidth than you’ll ever use.

Since I’m an affiliate of Site 5, if the contest winner buys through my link I get a commission. I’ll forward that commission back to the winner, giving them an effective discount. The exact amount they’ll get back depends on which hosting package they end up choosing.

And if the contest winner doesn’t need web hosting? We’ll work out another prize that’s mutually satisfactory.

5 Comments

At September 5, 2007, betshopboy wrote:
This is a good way to hold a contest, by using in-bulit system/plugins to run and track entrants instead of thinking up another new contest format all over again.

What's more, it gives incentive for readers to leave comments and enage in the conversation.
At September 6, 2007, Jay wrote:
Yes, anything to reduce the book keeping! The August contest was a bit difficult to keep track of all the entries.
At September 9, 2007, Enkay Blog wrote:
This is a fantastic contest. I didn't realize how difficult it is to have a contest until I had my own! I like the idea of giving the comission back because it leads to a great deal for the winner too. I recently purchased hosting myself and finding a dependable host can be difficult!
At September 10, 2007, MyBlogContest wrote:
This blog contest sounds great!
At September 25, 2007, John Bennett wrote:
5 dollars a month is definitely less than I've been paying for my hosting. Great Idea for a contest by the way, keep it simple.

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August Contest Results

Jay — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:00:47 +0000

The August “Win Me As A Slave” contest results are in!

You can see the number of entries each contestant had at the scoreboard post. I again used the high-tech method of writing entries on pieces of paper and drawing them out of a bucket. Before I do another contest that will have multiple entries per person, I need to write a computer program to automate that part!

I’m pleased to announce that the winner, as drawn randomly from the bucket, was Lori!

Lori gets me as her own slave for a task that requires up to a few hours (all at once, or spread out). From previous comments Lori’s made, I suspect that will mean setting up Wordpress for her, complete with my spam-free settings and favorite plugins.

Congratulations Lori, and contact me via email once you’re ready to collect.

Also, Bohemian Bloggers never responded to emails notifying them they won one of the articles from the July contest (the danger of a Yahoo email address?), so I randomly drew between the two remaining blogs for that category. And the new winner is Tyson, over at Some Make Money.

Tyson, you’ll get a custom written article posted at EzineArticles.com, linking to two URLs of your choosing.

4 Comments

At September 4, 2007, Lori wrote:
WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! My second contest won!!! OMG...I'm so excited. Hmmmmm, let me go get my whip and I'll be back Jay..lol.
At September 4, 2007, Jay wrote:
What have I gotten myself into? ;-)
At September 4, 2007, Lori wrote:
Oh..if you only knew--Muhahahaha
At September 12, 2007, Tyson wrote:
Jay -

Sorry I have not been around lately. School and soccer starting for my kids and work projects have kept me more than busy. I am excited to of been the next winner.

Tyson

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August Contest Update

Jay — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:31:35 +0000

The August “Win Me As A Slave” contest is about one-third over, so here’s a recap of the results so far.

Lori is currently in the lead, with 13 entries. Rosa is in second, with 7 entries.

There are some other single entries, from people who had marked the blog as a favorite in Technorati before the contest started. Oh, and Enkay (probably unknowingly) has another entry from his recent link to my Valuing Your Blog post. So he’s in third.

Keep in mind that anyone can win, since all the entries go into a hat and one gets picked out. At the moment, Lori is the only one with creative entries, and there may very well be a special prize for creative entries (my current plan is to put the creative entries into a second hat and pick one of those for another prize).

A creative entry is anything outside of what has already been done. This can include offline promotion of the blog, as long as you have proof (take some pictures, or get the blog’s name on the cover of Newsweek, etc).

If I’ve miscounted entries or forgot to count something, be sure to let me know.

Thanks to all the entrants, it’s been fun so far seeing what everyone comes up with!

8 Comments

At August 10, 2007, Lori wrote:
I'm still thinking of ways to promote your contest. I've just been a little busy with stuff lately. I need a vacation from my own house..lol.
At August 10, 2007, Jay wrote:
I know the feeling! With a yard sale tomorrow we're running around pricing things and trying to find other stuff to sell. Hard to find any computer time at all!
At August 10, 2007, Rose wrote:
Good luck Lori. So you know, he does do windows.
At August 11, 2007, Lori wrote:
[quote post="310"]Good luck Lori. So you know, he does do windows.[/quote]
HA!...that's funny:) And thank you for the luck..I need it!

DID SOMEONE SAY YARD SALE?!!!!! I wanna come. Livin' way out here in the middle of nowhere, I never get to go garage saleing. (I know that's not a word but that's how we say it;)

We're headin' to an auction tomorrow morning, a rodeo tomorrow night, then school shopping Sunday. I'll probably have withdrawels from the computer.
At August 20, 2007, Gaje Master wrote:
I went yard selling this weekend and spent way to much money. The good news is that I went to the this yard sell in front of a huge house and they had kid clothes that still had the tags on them. I spent around $1 for each item and they were all name brand clothing. What a steal. If I win, I might need Jay to come through my yard sell for me. I need to have one but I keep getting too busy.
At August 20, 2007, Jay wrote:
Oh, no, not another yard sale! I'm not sure I could manage that. ;-)
At August 30, 2007, Gaje Master wrote:
[quote post="310"]Oh, no, not another yard sale! I’m not sure I could manage that.[/quote]

I tried to get my hubby to do it and he just laughed. I told him who you were and he said that if you played husband for the day and helped throw a yard sale, he would be your slave for the rest of his life.lol. I need to figure out a way to build more entries to the contest.
At August 30, 2007, Jay wrote:
[quote post="310"]I tried to get my hubby to do it and he just laughed. I told him who you were and he said that if you played husband for the day and helped throw a yard sale, he would be your slave for the rest of his life.[/quote]

*laugh* Okay, maybe I could do another yard sale, if it meant someone else to mow the lawn for the rest of my life.

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