Comments on: Are Blog Contests Stupid?

By: Damien Riley

Damien Riley — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:06:01 +0000

Hi Joanne. Congratulations on being nominated. I certainly meant no disrespect in my post. Of all the awards I have encountered, this is the most prestigious. We are pioneers in this medium, figuring it all out through trial and error. I think contests are a good way to separate what’s good and what’s not in these days.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:27:56 +0000

Hahaha. Hi, Damien! This is why you shouldn’t assume things. I occasionally check my site stats and my feedburner one gave me your URL, so yeah…here I am to say thanks.

I think the Weblog Awards are some kind of a big deal, but of course that’s up to individual perception. I must admit I’ve definitely seen an increase on site traffic since I started actively promoting the finalist status to gain votes. Whether or not such traffic is quality, recurring traffic is left to be seen; however, a few bloggers have since become friends/readers. So, I’m thankful.

I have reason to believe the diarist in first place is pretty well-known across the blogosphere. Haha, if I wasn’t a finalist myself, I’d vote for her (she’s been in my feed reader almost from the time I first started blogging). I’ve only been blogging for less than a year, so yes…in all likelihood, there are better personal diaries on the interweb. Regardless, I see these particular awards as well-run and well-supported (by that I mean from bloggers), and isn’t that how awards become "prestigious" anyhow?

Thanks for the honest input. =)
That girl, Joanne

By: Damien Riley

Damien Riley — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:44:39 +0000

@Pearl: Thanks for your comment. I like your blog, it looks very academic and literary, right up my alley! Hopefully you’ll enjoy the Sandbox designs as much as i do.

By: Pearl

Pearl — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:10:08 +0000

I hear you. Contests can end up being more traffic oriented than content-oriented. A lot of the SEO sort of blogs seem to be fairly impersonal with null content, sort of like filler.Thanks for the sandbox link.

By: Damien Riley

Damien Riley — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 04:29:25 +0000

Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. I think the word prestigious is a highly relative term, but if you say so then I’ll keep an eye on the awards.

Being an academic, I’d consider a university recognizing my blog as prestigious. It’s a highly subjective term. These contests are rather silly, but if I was nominated I’d probably play it up to the hilt. Remember we are talking about a medium that consists of anywhere from 75 to 200 million estimated blogs. Is the laid Back Buddha the best online diary of all those? I think we know it’s probably not. I will say it was the best I read of the nominations though. Thanks again for your thoughtful input.

By: cooper

cooper — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 04:16:28 +0000

Actually I was nominated for this award, and I am the one who nominated budda girl. I have been nominated for a lot of blog things and never a participated in any of them until this year.

This is a fairly prestigious one as blog awards go, it is one of the original ones not the standard ones you see all the time now, as to become a finalist there is a selection process by a panel not a vote.

The vote is after you are selected to be a finalist.

I rather hate the whole thing about blog awards myself but this is not one of those "blog ward sites". This is one of the original awards where a lot of hot bloggers got their start.

The sandbox theme competition is where I got my first theme from Adam. It was different and had spectacular graphics. I am now using his other theme. That is a great contest by the way.

By: Damien Riley

Damien Riley — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 03:04:51 +0000

Hey Barbie! That is some great input based on your raw experience. I really appreciate you sharing it here.

By: AntiBarbie

AntiBarbie — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 02:50:57 +0000

I was a member of a few of those blog awards sites and left pretty quickly after joining. People just go and rate your blog (without ever even seeing it) and then demand you vote for them in return.

The sheer amount of begging disgusted me. I was completely repulsed by it.

By: The Outboard Brain Of A Geek

The Outboard Brain Of A Geek — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Up Your Income Part 1 and Part 2, Written By Grayh.at Text Link Revolution, Written By Earners Blog Cover Flow Component, Written By Doug McCune (Side Note: Congrats On Getting To Write Flex 3 For Dummies)Are Blog Contests Stupid, Written By Damien Riley Hide Affiliate Links The PHP Way, Written By Tyler Ingram Herd Mentality, Written By Derek Semmler I’ve got plenty of visitors that come to my blog everyday, but I don’