The Blogger Challenge
By Bryan Clark on Jul 26, 2007 in Uncategorized
For those of you that haven’t been following along, my name is Bryan, and this website is dedicated to my goal.
My goal is to make a full time income blogging, and to teach the rest of you how I did it. It’s ambitious to say the least, but I’m making progress.
I’m almost through my first month as a blogger (July 28), and I started thinking tonight how much I’ve grown.
A few weeks
ago I asked Ryan Shamus what Google PageRank was and how I could improve it, and yesterday I wrote an in depth article to explain it for the rest of you. I once asked Terence Chang how to generate traffic with StumbleUpon, and now I’m using it daily to generate huge amounts of traffic. I started out reading ProBlogger, and then I get a backlink from Darren (I still read ProBlogger everyday though, you should too!). As July comes to a close, I can’t help but think of what a great month it has been.
Thinking about my progress got me thinking about YOUR progress. I decided tonight that I was going to make OneMansGoal.Com have an EVEN BETTER August. I think another month under my belt as a blogger can only help right?
The Blogger Challenge
I’ve decided today to hold a contest for the month of August. Starting August 1, every blog that enters the contest will be attempting to better their blog. They will have the top percentage increase in each of 3 categories… Technorati Favorites, Technorati Authority, and Alexa Ranking. You can win one… or take home the TRIPLE CROWN by winning them all. In case you were wondering, I chose these categories because they can be viewed by anyone. That way there is no question of who the “true” winner is.
I’ve decided to judge the results based on percentage rather than total numbers so that it levels the playing field. The newer blogs aren’t usually going to be able to compete with the older more established ones, so we’ll judge based on top percentage increases. There are three “weight” classes to enter your blog in. Heavyweight (over 500 Authority), Middleweight (up to 101-499 Authority), and Lightweight (under 100 Authority). These classes aren’t set in stone, I’ll adjust them accordingly based on who enters and how many people are in each class.
What Do I Win?
The winner in each category gets a small banner in one of my sidebars that tells everyone that you won “The Blogger Challenge”, posts a link to your site, and tells them which category you were the winner in. I guarantee to leave these banners up for at least a month. Plus, if someone manages to take home The Triple Crown, I’ll throw in a free site review, and leave your banner up for 3 months!
The real prize isn’t in the free advertising or the braggin’ rights though. It is knowing that you used a little healthy competition to make your blog the best it can be!
To Enter
First, comment on my blog telling me that you would like to entered in the contest. Next, write a short blurb or blog entry telling people that you’ve entered the contest, and see if they would like to join as well. The more the merrier! Refer them to this url to enter - http://onemansgoal.com/56/the-blogger-challenge/.
THE BLOG POST MUST BE DONE BY JULY 31ST. No entries will be accepted after July 31st at 11:59 pm (Central Time).
To enter this contest you must obviously be a Technorati member so that I can check your stats. You can either add me to your Technorati favorites to make it easy for tracking, or you can simply post your Technorati URL in the comment. I am starting this contest for all of you, I’ll be judging, and on September 1 the contest will end with 1-3 winners! The winner will be announced September 2.
So Who Accepts The Blogger Challenge?
Popularity: 16% [?]
42 Comment(s)
By icedragon on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Hi Brian, i want to enter The Blogger Challenge
I think i might win this, after all, my blog is two days older and has only two readers, so, any change in traffic to my blog is going to make my overall percent sky high.
By Bryan on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
icedragon - It’s set up into 3 classes so that new blogs don’t necessarily run away with it. You are more than welcome to entire the Lightweight class.
By icedragon on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Sorry, I skip that part, well, it seems that it will not be so easy after all, I already have post a review about the challenge, thanks Bryan
Question: What are you doing up so late ?, do you sleep when blogging or viceversa ? you are taking very serious your goal, right? be careful with your health, see ya !!
By lordmanilastone on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
I am in. This is something I will be looking forward to. I will be writing a post regarding it on my site hopefully in the next few days before the deadline. ^^ Cool idea from a cool guy^^
By lordmanilastone on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
sorry, i think i made a mistake in typing my url, here i go again ^^
By www.BloggingMix.com on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
I think I qualify for the lightweight. I’m glad judging is based on the percentage of achievement on Technorati and Alexa.
Here’s my technorati…
http://technorati.com/blogs/www.bloggingmix.com?reactions
By A.J. - IAmFacingMillions.com on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Very good way to get links
By Sly from Slyvisions.com on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Too bad it’s only for the older sites… my site’s been up almost as long as yours is Bryan.
By RT Cunningham on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Count me in, Bryan. I made your blog a favorite (my user name is rtcunningham) and linked to this article:
http://www.untwistedvortex.com/2007/07/26/blog-drive-bys-for-2007-07-26/
By Angela on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
This sounds like fun although it does go against the lackadaisical approach I’ve held for years when it comes to building my site.
By Brown Baron on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Triple Crown has a nice ring to it. Great idea there Bryan.
By Chuck Westbrook on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Bryan,
Sounds like fun. I’m all about winning thousands of dollars for doing little to no work.
-Chuck
http://www.ihateyourjob.com
By Chuck Westbrook on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Bryan,
I apologize for the misunderstanding.
I see now that this will take a ton of work and the prize is half virtual and half abstract.
That being said, watch out other lightweights!
-Chuck again
http://www.ihateyourjob.com again
By Vic Grace on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
I’m in, I have been trying to improve my site from the very beginning and alway looking for new ways.
By Average Joe Blogger on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Bryan,
Count me in! I’ll get the post up soon.
By the way it’s nice to see others with the same goal as me. Although, you seem to be a littler further along.
Nate
By Vic Grace on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Put up a post about challenge
By Bryan on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
sly - It isn’t just for older sites, that’s why there are 3 classes. You can enter the under 100 authority class.
Everyone that wants to join will be entered after I get the trackback from their blog. The fastest way to promote the contest is by having everyone help! Remember July 31 is the last day to enter! So I MUST have your information by then…
By ross on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
You should try some podcasting if you haven’t already. Usually podcasting can drive subscribers with rich content.
By Bryan on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
I probably will try podcasting eventually. It’s not something I know a great deal about yet. Thanks for the tip!
By yeepage on Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
sounds a fun and interesting competition, count me in.
http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://www.yeepage.com
http://yeepage.com
By Bryan on Jul 27, 2007 | Reply
I’ve got 3 contestants so far. Join now! There are only a couple of days remaining…
http://www.untwistedvortex.com/2007/07/26/blog-drive-bys-for-2007-07-26/
http://www.ihateyourjob.com/ihyj-is-getting-bigger/
http://caribooponderer.blogspot.com/
By Sly from Slyvisions.com on Jul 27, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for the comment on my site Bryan. I would have forgotten about the contest. Count me in!
I’ll have the post on my site very soon.
By Missy on Jul 27, 2007 | Reply
Hi—Brian:
Heard of you through Syl Blanco’s blog and through Blog Catalog, you have a good thing going here with this blog. Good Job. I think i would like to join you in the blogger challenge. I have several blogs running on my Groovy Network, a vegetarian blog called Groovy Vegetarian and a new (ideas blog) called Groovy Entrepreneur. I would like to have the latter one as part of the challenge.
Missy.
By mahdi yusuf on Jul 28, 2007 | Reply
i would love to enter! count me in!
By maiylah's snippets on Jul 30, 2007 | Reply
found out about this just now …
can i still make it?
will try …
By mercutiom on Jul 30, 2007 | Reply
I’m in I’m in…I hope….
By sam on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
This sounds like too much fun to pass up! Thanks, Bryan! The blurb’s already posted.
By Sutocu on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Apparently my comment yesterday didn’t show up, but I’m in.
http://yourwebsiteprofit.blogspot.com/
http://technorati.com/blogs/yourwebsiteprofit.blogspot.com
By Nick on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Hey, hope it’s not too late to get in on the challenge. Hopefully I can learn a lot and improve my rankings.
By Bob on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Sounds like fun. I’m in as a “lightweight.” Technorati authority ranking of 10.
I added you as a Technorati favorite, will subscribe to your feed, and will post about this contest on my blog.
Thanks for allowing us to join in your challenge!
Bob
http://4clubbs.wordpress.com
By Jessica Morris on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
I blogged about you here http://paulsbride.blogspot.com/2007/07/count-me-in.html
and the link to my Technorati score is here http://technorati.com/blogs/paulsbride.blogspot.com?reactions
Is that all you needed? I sooo want to do this! It’ll be a fun competition!
By mercutiom on Aug 1, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for the comment Brian. Glad I got in on time. I just checked up on where I stand here at the beginning of the competition. Here are my stats (I think):
Alexa Ranking: 4,496,767 (not so great that.)
Technorati Authority: 4 (or 5, depends where you look.)
Google Pagerank: N/A (oh noes…this is according to http://prchecker.info, if there’s a better place to check let me know.)
Well, here hoping I can bring that all up over the next month.
By Bryan on Aug 1, 2007 | Reply
mercutiom - Actually google pagerank isn’t even judged in the competition. It’s based on Technorati Authority, Technorati Fans, and Alexa Ranking… Good Luck!
By Gabriel on Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
I don’t mind participating , only being going 16 days and have achieved authority of 17…is this ok??
By Bryan on Aug 26, 2007 | Reply
Gabriel - You’ll actually have to hold off until the next contest. This one has already started!
By Yongzhi on Sep 18, 2007 | Reply
Nominate: http://www.chasingcenturies.blogspot.com
Affliation:
Classmate
By Bryan on Sep 18, 2007 | Reply
Sorry the contest is over!
By nick on Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
I assume it’s too late to joing but here it goes… http://www.imwritingsports.com
lol, way to raise your own rating!
By Blogger Plugins on Dec 30, 2007 | Reply
Waw.. that’s nice.. i too have been long trying to improve the quality and readership of my blogs..
By Nishu on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Nice contest idea dude .. liked the innovative approach
By Miltski on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Great idea for a contest.
It would be good if you could run this contest again.
Miltski
http://www.miltski.com
By Vanessa on Jul 30, 2008 | Reply
I’m throwing my hat in the ring… Added you to my faves on tech and here’s my Tech url…http://technorati.com/people/technorati/panicprincess