Running a contest on your blog is a great way of generating buzz. Done correctly it will generate links, word-of-mouth and lots of goodwill. But lots and lots of people are doing them. So part of running a successful blog contest means raising the bar on the prizes you offer.
David Airey has taking blog contests to a new level. For his blog’s 1-year anniversary he’s announced over $4,000 in prizes collected from a host of sources, including myself.
Instigator Blog has been entered into the 1% Army - Canadian Marketing, Media & Digital All-Star Tournament.
There are 128 blogs in the competition.
In the first round I’m pitted against 3 other blogs:
To compete, I need to submit my top 3 blog posts of 2007, including one that’s been written since August 11th.
We’re all media outlets. We’re all media channels.
That’s the siren call of many in the blogosphere; the people focused on democratizing media, taking down walled gardens, and building community.
But Mat Balez is sounding alarm bells over the idea that each of us can be media:
I know, on the surface, bringing the freedom and power of the press to every voice imaginable seems very democratic, empowering and ideal. But we cannot simply champion the ushering in of this new media landscape without pause and consideration of what it means more broadly for our culture, the future of journalism and, to cast the net as wide as possible, our ability to make sense of the world around us.
People are thinking about how the new media landscape affects everything around us. There’s plenty of interesting discussion and debate over citizen journalism and sites like NowPublic and NewAssignment. We’re not diving into the new media landscape completely blind.
Lots of people love the beach.
Tall people. Short people. Fat people. Skinny people. Bronzed beyond George Hamilton people. Deathly pale people.
There’s just something about stripping down to the bare necessities and letting it all hang out. The interesting thing about the beach is that no one seems self-conscious. It’s rarely flattering and in some cases downright disturbing. Watching a flabby guy in a bright green thong parade across the hot sand just doesn’t do it for me. You?
What is it about the beach that allows many of us to discard our outer shell of clothing, and with reckless abandon allow our least attractive parts to bounce about willy nilly? What, indeed…
I recently spent a day at the beautiful Parc Jean Drapeau - 5 minutes from the heart of Montreal.
It’s an amazing location: beautiful water, sand, BBQ and great play areas for young kids. It’s amazing how few Montrealers know about it, because it’s the closest thing to a tropical vacation spot that we’ve got. And it’s the closest thing to a vacation I’m going to get in the next couple years…
While at the beach you can’t help but notice the flesh. Lots and lots of flesh. But no one cares. People are exposing themselves in a very, very personal way…and no one is covering up. It’s not all Baywatch models either; every shape, size, culture and creed hangs at the beach.
It makes me think about blogging. (Say what now?!?!)
Whether you like it or not, blogs are personal. They wouldn’t work otherwise. Of course they have a business purpose; just like social networks, blogs can be used in a hundred different ways for professional reasons. But business is personal, and blogs have their roots in an open, conversational, relationship-building style.
So if a blog is personal and professional, where do we draw the line?
How much of your personality goes into your blog? How much do you expose?
It might depend on the topic. News-focused blogs won’t have as much room for personality. But most of us write blogs as a means of establishing our personal brand, building meaningful relationships and growing our businesses. There’s lots of personal “stuff” in there.
Chris Brogan exposes himself a great deal on his blog (and through Twitter, Facebook, etc.) He talks about his work and his personal life. Following Chris is more than just a learning experience; it’s a personal experience.
Exposing yourself doesn’t mean revealing every detail of your personal life. It does mean you need to approach blogging with an authentic voice. Overly crafting your message can siphon off too much personality if done incorrectly. The information you’re providing might be valuable but the delivery becomes staid and distant.
Your blog should drip with your personality. You should feel free to include personal stories as a means of truly connecting with your audience. The more you expose, the more your audience will as well; and that’s how community is built.
photo by pocketshoot.
If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck…guess what, it’s a duck.
A blog is a blog is a blog.
Not quite the same analogy, but you get the point.
Jakob Nielsen suggests that people write articles not blog posts. He differentiates them by saying that blog posts are often, “…quickly written, shallow postings”, while articles are, “…thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers.”
Part of his argument is simply semantics, which I find generally pointless. David Armano, who does a great job writing “articles” and “blog posts”, has suggested that we don’t even use the term “blog” at all. It brings baggage with it from the days when blogs were mostly personal diaries.
OK, there’s some baggage, but the term also differentiates from other words that could be used. There will always be people who don’t get it; but if we’re constantly trying to massage or whitewash what we do in blogging for “everyone else” we lose some of the core value blogging brings.
I’d rather say, “I blog,” and help people understand what that means, versus “I’m a personal publisher” or “I write articles on the Web”.
Articles are meant for magazines, where the ability to respond is extremely limited. How many of us have written “letters to the editor?” Articles denote a certain finality — “I’ve written the definitive piece on X, end of story.”
Blog posts can be anything you want them to be - short, long, researched, opinionated, funny, serious, full of images, linked to everyone else, extensions of other conversations and ideas…
Matt Ambrose makes the point that content quality is key not whether you call it a blog post or article. Of course he’s right.
But Tony Hung is also right when he says that one or two off-quality posts won’t kill a blog, as Nielsen thinks.
Blogging is about experimenting, discovering what works for you and your audience. That might be a slew of one-line insights, or it might be a book-full of 40,000 word essays.
If we have to worry about calling blogs something else, and calling blog posts articles, what happens when we look at even “newer” means of publishing content and building business relationships. I can only imagine the debate on social networks and their role in business. (And trust me, there’s nothing to debate: Facebook, Twitter, etc. are business tools.)
I'm Benjamin Yoskovitz, CEO & Co-Founder of Standout Jobs. I've been an entrepreneur in the Web for 10+ years, with a particular focus on blogging and social media for the last two. This blog covers my topics of interest, including startups, entrepreneurship, business, blogging and social media. You'll also find content on personal development, productivity and marketing.
