MelvinBlog’s Best Blog Marketing Tip Contest

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Melvin

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for quick updates on this blog.

Update: This contest has been extended up to July 25. For more info, read here:

It has finally come. Today I am bringing you probably the largest contest in the history of MelvinBlog Dot Com. This contest commemorates the second year of this blog (funny how I thought its 3 years) and as I’ve planned, we’ll celebrate it with a big bang!

I have been preparing this contest since early last month and I want to make sure that my contest is going to be different. Different in the sense that first, it will add a HUGE value to the blogosphere and second, that every blogger, big or small has an equal chance of winning. I’m very proud to have had this contest finally polished.

Introducing the MelvinBlog’s Best Blog Marketing Tip Contest

This contest says it all. The contest will be about blog marketing which is part of what this blog tackles on an everyday basis. The idea of the contest came after I witnessed (and won) the same type of contest held by Market Leverage w/c is entitled Affiliate Marketing Secrets Contest. I’d like to first and foremost thank and introduce to you guys my media partner slash sponsor for this one. It is Fergal Crawley of the Business Advice Forum who will be handling all the promotions and stuffs for this contest. By the way Business Advice Forum is a good community forum giving out free business advice both to online and offline business forums. Its a nice forum so I highly suggest for you to check it out.

And to the sponsors. I can’t believe we were able to get this much prize for the contest. Compared to last year’s contest, we basically doubled the amount of the prizes and Im really thankful for the sponsors for that. As you know me, I just don’t get every Dick and Harry as sponsors. We got reputable and popular internet marketers as well as established companies that backed us up in this contest and again I’m giving them my biggest appreciation for helping out.

Contest Mechanics

So this contest like I’ve said is a creative writing contest. In order to gain an entry, the blogger/contestant has to write a blog post on his blog about his best blog marketing tip. That certain blog post accounts for 1 entry. Each blogger can submit up to 5 entries all throughout the duration of the contest. There is no rule aside from that the post has to be original, must never have been copied somewhere.

Each entry has to link back to this contest post so I can track all the entries. The link bank can either be in the beginning or at the end of the post. To be uniform with everyone, you can just copy and paste this line:

This post is an entry to MelvinBlog’s Best Blog Marketing Tip contest where there are $2000 worth of prizes at stake.

There will be 3 winners overall and they are gonna get determined by two factors: quality of posts, and popularity. In terms of quality, I have hired 4 judges who are gonna gracefully judge all the entries. I really like to disclose their names but I was told its better not to. Popularity on the other hand, is just about the no.of retweets and comments. So to increase your entries’ popularity, you have to at least give maximum exposure to it (letting it in front for more days means better). Lastly, the criteria is 70 to 30, the higher one goes for quality while the latter is for the popularity.

The popularity factor which is 30% hinges on few metrics which include the no.of retweets of that certain post and amount of comments. I’d like to point out that the popularity criteria is just 30% because I want to give a fair chance of winning especially to those smaller bloggers.

Just for this mechanics alone, I have created a sample entry located of course on my personal blog. (this is just a sample). You can use it as a reference.

Prizes

A little side note: Like in the previous year’s contest, I don’t want to boast just the value of the prizes based on its financial worth. I’m sure there are a lot of eBooks out there thrown for $1000 and by giving 5 copies, it would already be $5000 worth of prizes in a contest, lols. Fortunately, this is not. Like last year, I tried to gather the best prizes from the best people in this space. So just by looking on who they are you will know what I mean.

1st Place – Total at stake = $877

6 months free for the standard package of CrazyEgg valued at $19 a month – $114 value
1 character design courtesy of LogoNerds – $97 value
1 multi-use package of Themewars premium theme - $70 value
WordPress SEO service courtesy of ShoutMeLoud.com – $250 value
1 First Class Package of Ultimate Blogging Theme 3.0 – $147 value
1 license of OIO Publisher – $47 value
$20 cash from FamousBloggers.com – $20
6 months free Web hosting courtesy of MelvinBlog.com – $45 value
1 copy of Killer Domains eBook by Daniel Scocco – $17 value
Premium Interview featured here in MelvinBlog.com – $70 value

2nd Place – Total at stake = $504

$50 cash and one year PRO membership for MyBlogGuest - $170 value
1 copy of Blogussion Thesis theme package – $46 value
1 character design courtesy of LogoNerds – $97 value
1 license of OIO Publisher – $47 value
1 copy of Crowbar Content courtesy of Buzz Marketing guru Dean Hunt - $97
1 copy of Killer Domains eBook by Daniel Scocco – $17 value
$15 cash from BlogTactic
1 copy of 70 Posting Ideas courtesy of Liane – $15

3rd Place – $302

1 copy of Gab Fire Theme – $59 value
1 year membership for ElegantThemes -$19
$15 cash, one advertising space and one copy of Facebook ad coupon eBook valued at $15 courtesy of Smartbloggerz.com – $54 total value
1 copy of Easy Blog Traffic worth $59, Insider SEO Revealed at $39 and Twitter Marketing Power worth $57 courtesy of WebTrafficROI.com
1 copy of Thirtyday blog eBook by Jimvesting – $15 value
1 copy of 70 Posting Ideas courtesy of Liane – $15

Retweet Contest

Due to some demands and also taking this advice from some of my blogger friends’, I would be running a totally separate contest on Twitter which is all about marketing this contest through Twitter. So in order to enter the retweet contest all you have to do is retweet this post using the tweetmeme button above or copying this text and pasting it directly to your twitter:

“RT @melvinblog, Best Blog Marketing Contest, win over $2000+ in REAL prizes http://bit.ly/bestblogcontest pls RT “

You can modify the text or do it your own way, just make sure you append the @melvinblog reply so I can easily track all the entries. This small contest would run the same as the main contest and would end after one and a half months so do keep on tweeting. At the end of the duration, 10 lucky entries will be drawn and will receive each of the following:

1 copy of Blogussion Thesis theme package – $46 value
1 copy of Gab Fire Theme – $59 value
1 multi-use package of Themewars premium theme - $70 value
3 copy of Killer Domains eBook by Daniel Scocco – $51 value
1 copy of Social Media Marketing Book & Youtube Made Simple Video Series courtesy of WebTrafficROI
3 copy of Thirtyday blog eBook by Jimvesting – $60 value

Some Secret Contests

To add another layer of excitement (or confusion, whichever you prefer), I’d like to include some other contests that may go live along the way. Not really secret, but more of short contests within the main contests, that can make this whole thing more exciting and the best is that it gives more opportunity for the participants to win.

So lets say, you don’t have a tip. Still you can join the retweet contest and some secret contests that I am going to throw as well. So what’s the best way not to miss these other exciting hidden contests? Well make sure you’re subscribed to the blog, so you don’t miss anything out.

Duration & Other Rules

The contest would run for one a half months and it will end on July 15th 12 am ET. After that date, no more entries will get accepted so make sure you start working on your entries right now. Also please give us 5-7 days max to compute all the stats and announce the winners (patience is virtue my friend).

Questions, Clarifications, Suggestions?

No contest is perfect, most are faulty especially at the start. If you have anything to ask, clarify, suggest or criticize, feel free to do so in the comment form. Remember that good contests are good not mainly because of the prizes, but also with the participation from the audience like you.

I will reserve this space for other rules which I dont have at the moment. But Im sure this comment box will get populated as soon as possible. And that would only be probable, if you start asking questions now.

Note: An update and clarification on contest was published here. It also contains the official FAQ

Popularity: 15% [?]

Share and Enjoy:

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

MelvinBlog’s Marketing Tip Contest Winners...

$2000 Blog Marketing Contest Recap & Announcements...

Best Blog Marketing Tip Contest Updates & Clarifications...

Discussion: 71 Comments

71 comments so far (is that a lot?)

71 Responses... What Say You?

« Older Comments

Agent Deepak | Blogging, Marketing & Success

- 1st Jun, 10 12:06am

Awesome contest and hell lot of prizes. I am in. Best of Luck as well. Just made the tweet.
Agent Deepak | Blogging, Marketing & Success´s last blog ..5 Awesome Anti Spam Plugins You Should Install on Your Blog

Reply
Justin Dupre

- 1st Jun, 10 12:06pm

Thanks for the tip and the awesome list of sponsors. There are so many cool prizes out there for us!

Reply
Dev | Technshare

- 1st Jun, 10 05:06pm

Wow. Awesome contest man and prizes are really great . Count me In.
Just Retweeted. Thanks.
Dev | Technshare´s last blog ..How to be an Effective Blogger?

Reply
Cebu Tech Blogger

- 1st Jun, 10 07:06pm

$2000 worth of prizes??? Wew… That’s definitely awesome, man… Hopefully I can join this…
Cebu Tech Blogger´s last blog ..If there’s an iPad, there’s iPed!

Reply
Ajith Edassery

- 2nd Jun, 10 03:06pm

Awesome contest man… good luck to all participants. I shall try to participate..
Ajith Edassery´s last blog ..Blog readability test – How readable is your blog?

Reply
Melvin (author comment)

- 2nd Jun, 10 05:06pm

hey guys. Im expecting your participation. Uhm, if you happened to have any questions or you’re doubting something, use this comment form so we can discuss it and make this contest the perfect contest.

Reply
Liane

- 2nd Jun, 10 06:06pm

Great! So it’s now live. Will try to promote it. Goodluck Melvin!

and and and, I wanna win! hahaha
Liane´s last blog ..Who Subscribes to the Better Blogging For Bloggers Newsletter?

Reply
constantskeptic

- 3rd Jun, 10 12:06am

hmm. great way to get more views to your blog, get others to add links for you on their blog and offer ‘prizes’. what a bunch of crap. i hope you moderate this so you can dupe as many people as possible. you might as well just run a ‘free ipad’ contest, would be the same thing. best of luck to you.

Reply
Melvin Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:27 am
thanks.i don’t need to block this comment. if you feel im tricking people, then i feel unfortunate for you my dear.

Reply
Jimvesting

- 3rd Jun, 10 12:06pm

Awesome contest, I’m glad it came together with such success!
Jimvesting´s last blog ..Choosing The Right Web Hosting Package For Your Blog

Reply
Murlu

- 3rd Jun, 10 01:06pm

You can count me in

I’ll be working hard to promote (and win!) – lots of great prizes, I’m up for some friendly competition hehe
Murlu´s last blog ..5 Best Benefits Of Working Online

Reply
Chris Guthrie

- 3rd Jun, 10 02:06pm

If I give you a $10 gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond can you set me up under my own category? Might I suggest a Brass sponsorship level?

Chris Guthrie
MakeMoneyontheInternet.com

You know you want to as it would be pretty funny lol. (I’m serious too hah hah )
Chris Guthrie´s last blog ..Make Money with Facebook

Reply
Melvin Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
you said you’re serious so i won’t ask if you’re joining.

Heheh, if you came in earlier, I might have opened the brass level for you but your late.

Reply
Chris Guthrie Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 1:33 am
Damn lol, $20 gift card to open up Brass? In either case I’m glad to see you have a sense of humor.
Chris Guthrie´s last blog ..May 2010 Income Report

Reply
elie palima

- 5th Jun, 10 01:06am

hello Melvin. the prizes really got me very interested and personally, I think Joining this contest will dramatically improve how I blog. considering I haven’t updated my blog for more than a month, This will be quite a challenge for me.
elie palima´s last blog ..How to Start a Blog and Make Money Blogging

Reply
Jaydip Parikh

- 5th Jun, 10 06:06pm

Wonderful Contest. I think this will rock the Bloggers. Keep it up buddy.
Jaydip Parikh´s last blog ..What brokers expect for markets next week?

Reply
Arafat Hossain Piyada

- 5th Jun, 10 08:06pm

Great contest but I always prefer to enter a real money contest. Money can buy things but selling things is hard.
Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..How to choose right social network sharing button?

Reply
Melvin Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Yep I understand that. That’s why contests can’t serve everyone.

Reply
Rajeel

- 5th Jun, 10 11:06pm

hi,

Great contest and great prizes, I wanna participate in it =P

Reply
David - Finance Blogger

- 6th Jun, 10 06:06pm

Sounds really awesome . Definitely going to join the twitter contest and see how my luck goes.
David – Finance Blogger´s last blog ..Book Review: Why Are We So Clueless About The Stock Market

Reply
Adesoji Adegbulu

- 7th Jun, 10 06:06pm

Melvin…

This is really insane. A contest out of the ordinary. Even if I am not moved by the prizes , I am moved by the contest itself. This is because, it will help me do what i have not done before. I will also give me the opportunity to help other bloggers…

Thanks

Reply
Melvin Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 8:23 am
yes thanks for the kind words..

I so much appreciate it.

Reply
elie palima

- 9th Jun, 10 02:06am

hello melvin. Can we submit an entry as a Guest blog???
elie palima´s last blog ..3 Comment tips That you can do right now to Make your Blog Comments more Cool than others.

Reply
Melvin Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 8:23 am
if its that good enough, definitely yes is the answer..

Reply
elie palima Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:20 am
that’s cool.

anyways, I was thinking maybe if we could place the “this post is an entry” in the middle of the post?? will that count?
elie palima´s last blog ..3 Comment tips That you can do right now to Make your Blog Comments more Cool than others.

Reply
Domain name registration

- 11th Jun, 10 01:06am

This is a great contest, I don’t used to participate in contest because of time, I will have create time for this type of contest…

Reply
Sally

- 11th Jun, 10 06:06pm

Hi Melvin,

OMG so many prizes and such little time!

Ok, I shall give it a go and hopefully I can sneak a little prize, Sally
Sally´s last blog ..David Walker, Sally’s First Skype Interview…

Reply
Blogging for Profit

- 11th Jun, 10 06:06pm

I received the information Business Advice Forum and thank God that I was a member of it or else I don’t know that you are hosting a contest.

I will join this contest and hope all the best of creative luck to all the participants including me.

Ang galing mo Melvin ang Lupit!

- Felix Albutra
Blogging for Profit´s last blog ..Links for 2010-06-10 [del.icio.us]

Reply
Dino Vedo

- 13th Jun, 10 10:06pm

great contest looks like a lot of good prizes are at stake!
Dino Vedo´s last blog ..Taking Baby Steps In The Make Money Online World?

Reply
KS Chen

- 14th Jun, 10 07:06am

I wish to join this contest too although i’m still new in blog marketing! Please count me in! Just retweeted this post. Thanks!
KS Chen´s last blog ..MyBlog2Day Contest – $800 Cash Prize and Premium Themes Giveaway

Reply
R$$sa Mckenzie

- 15th Jun, 10 03:06pm

I have never won anything before and I am determine to win one of these fantastic prize pack. It is so good that you are giving everyone the opportunity to take part and win.
R$$sa Mckenzie´s last blog ..Successful goal setting- the best techniques

Reply
Tinh

- 16th Jun, 10 10:06am

Amazing contest indeed. Just know this through your guest post. Thanks Melvin for creating such a wonderful contest with huge list of prize.
Tinh´s last blog ..How To Double Your Affiliate Commissions Through CJ

Reply
Shiva | Web Magazine

- 16th Jun, 10 06:06pm

Has the contest finished I really hope not. Here I have retweeted even if it has finished http://twitter.com/netchunks/status/16297136934

My bad luck
Shiva | Web Magazine´s last blog ..How to make a Coupon Website with CouponPress?

Reply
Melvin Reply:
June 18th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
its not yet finished. make sure you do join the main writing contest as well

Reply
Hannah

- 16th Jun, 10 07:06pm

oh wow! Grabe super dami sponsors and prizes! Nice contest Melvin ^_^

Reply
Latief@AnotherBlogger

- 1st Jul, 10 09:07pm

Cool Contest, I’ll try to join may be there’s still time for me
Latief@AnotherBlogger´s last blog ..The Comment Contest End- The Winner Is

Reply
Latief@AnotherBlogger

- 1st Jul, 10 09:07pm

Cool Contest, I’ll try to join
Latief@AnotherBlogger´s last blog ..The Comment Contest End- The Winner Is

Reply
Felix Albutra

- 3rd Jul, 10 09:07pm

Hello everyone,

Count me in… I am also a new contestant of this contest. I hope you benefited from the information being shared in my entry post.

If you haven’t read my post yet, then you missed something important to learn in your blogging career.

So, check it out now… And tell me what is your opinion… By the way, congratulations for your new job Melvin. Goodluck pare…

Thank you for this chance…

- Felix Albutra
Felix Albutra´s last blog ..The Ultimate Blog Marketing Techniques

Reply
Shanker Bakshi

- 6th Jul, 10 01:07am

I wonder where i was when you were contacting sponsored for this contest, Missed it. Wish to sponsored these sort of contest.
Shanker Bakshi´s last blog ..How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing-Part I

Reply
d3so

- 6th Jul, 10 08:07am

Oh wow, the deadline is going to be here before I know it
I need to get to work.
d3so´s last blog ..iPhone 4- Thoughts and Concerns

Reply
Lee Ka Hoong

- 6th Jul, 10 09:07am

I nearly miss out the contest Melvin! I’ve just retweeted the post and I’m going to write 1-3 blog marketing tips post on my blog as an entry to the contest.

Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..How To Market Your Twitter With HummingBird

Reply
Michael Smith

- 6th Jul, 10 01:07pm

Thanks for the contest!

Reply
Felix Albutra

- 6th Jul, 10 04:07pm

Wow! This contest will gonna be fun for all contestants. Thanks for this opportunity Melvin and good luck to everybody.
Felix Albutra´s last blog ..The Ultimate Blog Marketing Techniques

Reply
d3so

- 12th Jul, 10 05:07am

I submitted one entry. There’s a few days left, I wonder if I should submit another one…

Reply
Lee Ka Hoong

- 13th Jul, 10 10:07am

Melvin, I’ve just written a blog post as an entry for the contest yesterday. Between, I checked the trackback, you approved a spam site that copied my content, and there is no trackback to my blog post. Kindly check and fix it Melvin.

http://makemoney.bestmuck.com/.....hat-i-use/

Thanks,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..3 Effective Blog Marketing Strategies That I Use

Reply
Felix Albutra Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Oh… The blog of that guy should be penalized by google.

I think, all of its post were copied from other blogs. Because I noticed on his archive that he have a lot of articles being published on the same day.

I guess the blogger of this blog is just trying to spam the entire blogosphere. Why not report this blog? On the other hand, this blog is newly launched.
Felix Albutra´s last blog ..Blogging Access- My Earnings Report

Reply
Febap Liew | Making Money Online Today

- 13th Jul, 10 11:07am

omg..found out about it alittle too late… 2 more days to go .. i will be working on it ! ^_^
Febap Liew | Making Money Online Today´s last blog ..How To Set Up Your Own Internet Business – Part 2

Reply
Febap Liew | Making Money Online Today

- 13th Jul, 10 04:07pm

Just written a post and posted it phew~ i know a post may eventually get me no where in winning, but I have my fingers cross… besides, the thrill is in participating in itself, ain’t it. its not entirely all about winning.
cheers
Febap Liew | Making Money Online Today´s last blog ..Market Your Blog The Way I Did The Art Of ‘Selling’ More

Reply
Thu Nguyen

- 15th Jul, 10 02:07am

Wow, kind of late in the game but hopefully with the 70-30 ratio, at least there’s still a chance. Sounds like some fun. Count me in! Now to get those 5 entries out if I can be tomorrow!
Thu Nguyen´s last blog ..What Your Personal Relationship Can Teach You About Building Your Online Blog Subscription List

Reply
Thu Nguyen

- 15th Jul, 10 02:07am

Just realized that there’s a time difference, missed it by 24 hours! Oh well, keeping my fingers crossed for the secret contests .
Thu Nguyen´s last blog ..What Your Personal Relationship Can Teach You About Building Your Online Blog Subscription List

Reply
Cynthia

- 19th Jul, 10 05:07am

I added one to the mix – all about being a Name Dropper!
Cynthia´s last blog ..Better Blogging- Be a Name Dropper

Reply
Julius

- 19th Jul, 10 10:07am

This is a wonderful opportunity, especially for bloggers like me that’s still learning a lot from the filed. I’ll submit an entry now and try to submit others before the contest closes. I don’t know my chance on the quality and popularity aspects, if I have any, but it’s sure looks like fun interacting with the community.

Keep it up and more power to you!

Reply