I have been truly humbled by the support offered to me over the last few days. And, since my recent competition was such a great success, it’s time to raise the bar and give away some really expensive, and really valuable, stuff to say thank you to everyone involved.
Over the next 3 days, starting with my next blog post, I’m going to announce 3 very special giveaways.
The first of these, announced later today, will be a physical item with a dollar value of $1,799.00.
The second will be something that is intangible and, like one of my products, the subject of great publicity over the last few weeks.
And the third will be information in the form of an ebook product that was scheduled for release in a few months time. I was going to charge $297 for this ebook, but I’m going to give it away for free.
Now for the numbers.
Giveaway number 1 will be given to 1 person.
Giveaway number 2 will be given to 10 people.
And Giveaway number 3 will be given to everyone.
I’ll reveal the specifics in my next 3 blog posts. But, to grab a shot at these 3 gifts right now, all you have to do is link to this post from your blog or Twitter account.
At the end of October 2009 I will pick one of these links at random and give their author giveaway number 1, 10 links at random and give their authors giveaway number 2, and everyone who links will get giveaway number 3.
Everybody wins.
Some get more than others, just as in real life, but everybody wins.
No one will walk away from this empty handed.
In addition to this I have decided to extend my recent ipod nano giveaway, where I plan to give away 7 ipod nanos to anyone who links or Tweets the competition link, to the end of October 2009.
To grab your free giveaway all you have to do is link to this post. Nothing could be simpler.
Seven months ago I bought Upstart Blogger for $14,500. As of today this blog has generated an income level that has broken the $14,500 barrier.
Upstart Blogger is now bought and paid for.
It’s a big milestone for this blog and for me personally, and I’m thrilled to be able to share the news. The original plan was to recoup 100% of my investment in the first year. Recouping that investment in just seven months is cause for celebration, as I’m sure you’ll agree.
To get the celebration flowing I have a small but fitting giveaway for you to get your teeth into. The first person to leave a comment on this post will receive a free bottle of champagne.
Today the drinks are on me, for one of you at least!
I’m giving away a free 3G iPhone. Yes, I know I said I would tone down the giveaways, so this will be the only giveaway this month. Last month was something of a giveaway bonanza with a MacBook Air, domain names and iPhones being thrown around all over the place. This month things are a lot more reserved. With Apple’s recent announcement, that will probably leave everyone who has recently bought a non 3G iPhone fuming with rage, it seemed a timely thing to do.
Hopefully this will strike a good balance and be beneficial both to you as eager competition junkies and to me as a recipient of new links and traffic.
Anyway, I’m sure you know the drill by now. To get a chance to win the new 3G iPhone simply link to Upstart Blogger along with a little review and leave a comment below detailing your link.
As promised, here are the results of the most recent Upstart Blogger competitions. I’ll begin with the five free iPhones.
In no particular order, David Hampton, Patricia Dean, Jenny Morton, John Hislop and Mike Lodge. I’ve contacted you all directly and as soon as I have your address details the shiny new iPhones will be on their way to you.
Next I’ll deal with the big one, the MacBook Air.
Congratulations go to Carlos Sarge whose name was drawn out of a hat containing over one hundred and forty names an hour or so ago. As above, I’ve contacted Carlos directly to arrange delivery.
The Pitch for May 2008 had many entries and judging them was not an easy task. In the end I decided to choose a project that had the most commercial potential whilst at the same time having qualities that I considered worthwhile and beneficial to the blogosphere. Alana, who’s surname is unavailable to me at this time since it was not included in the entry comment, put forward an idea for a simple and honest parenting blog. This is the project that I have chosen to receive the various benefits set out in the original post.
That leaves the two domain names, one which you know, spamchow.com and which I will reveal in a moment.
spamchow.com is on it’s way to Ken Wong where it will hopefully become a successful scam and spam buster blog, reviewing the pro blogging scene and helping to separate the spammers and scammers from the genuine money makers. I like Ken’s idea since it is both commercially viable and socially, in web terms, responsible.
Now, the five letter premium domain name.
wpjoy.com is being transfered to someone called Blake whose name was, like Carlos and the iPhone winners, drawn out of a hat around an hour ago.
Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to everyone who took part. There will be many more exciting giveaways in the not too distant future. As usual, stay tuned to Upstart Blogger.
A big thank you also goes to the wonderful blogger who donated these two domain names but wishes to remain anonymous.
As wpjoy.com, spamchow.com, and whatever domain Alana and I decided upon for her parenting blog, will be featured in case studies in the future as they take shape in the hands of the new owners.
Finally, and as I sign off for a very much needed weekend break, a special thanks to everyone who has sent me emails or comments recently with regard to the personal matter I mentioned a little while ago. I am very happy, and extremely relieved, to tell you that I was given very good news today by my Doctor and that everything is ok.
It’s never easy to go into specific details about health so I’ll give you a clue. You can then go to wikipedia or google if you want the gory details.
Some symptoms suggested that I was going to follow in the foot steps of Claude Debussy.
Thankfully those symptoms have now vanished and I have a clean bill of health.
Although the giveaways have only brought in temporary traffic they have worked in terms of income. Traffic for May 2008 rose to 37,498 unique visitors generating 84,561 page views and an income of $2860. Technorati rank is up a little at 69 from 72 for April.
I’m pleased with these figures and encouraged that things are moving in the right direction again. With no more fooling around with a proven design June should be a great month. As always, only time will tell.
Yesterday, in an effort to keep you all in the loop, I posted a quick message about the court case and my involvement as a witness. As a result of the time and energy that this matter is taking I have decided to extend the deadlines for all competitions and giveaways that are taking place this month.
May was always going to be a make or break kind of month. Ok, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but a lot of lessons about what does, and more importantly what doesn’t, work were learned in April.
The plan for May was, and still is, a three pronged traffic attack.
Content
Giveaways
Redesign
I expected the giveaways to bring in the most traffic, followed by the content and then the redesign.
The reverse is true.
We are now almost at the end of May and the recent redesign has caused an increase in traffic of around three hundred unique visitors per day. New content has increased traffic by around half that amount. And, bringing up the rear, the giveaways have hardly impacted traffic at all.
Traffic analysis shows that the giveaways are bringing hit and run traffic. People come in, enter the competition, and then run and don’t come back.
Content driven traffic lasts since it builds a blogs reputation and this is something that every blogger, new or old, should strive for. If managed correctly with good navigation and usability this traffic will stay.
The real surprise is the level of interest the redesign has generated. Especially since it’s only really a realign. Traffic analysis reveals that the surfers hitting the realign announcement blog post as a point of entry are returning day after day.
So, if you want an extra hit of traffic, redesign your blog.
In case you missed the free iPhone number one click here to read the full instructions of how to get involved with this giveaway.
Today I’d like you to take a look at another work in progress blog project, one that I’ve been talking about for a while without finding the time to finish it’s design nor launch it officially. That said, Infinite Critique is already on its way to becoming a thriving multi author community.
Like all new projects it needs attention to help it flourish. So, to get a chance to win the second free iPhone simply add a link to Infinite Critique, either to the front page or to any of the individual post pages, and then add a comment below.
If you don’t have a blog you can still enter by visiting Infinite Critique and subscribing to it’s RSS feed. Again, just leave a comment below to let me know.
You can enter twice, and double your chance of winning, by linking from your blog and subscribing to the RSS feed.
All names will be thrown into a hat from which a winner will be drawn at the end of the month.
As promised, here are more details on the five free iPhones giveaway. Since this is five giveaways in one, and I don’t want the same person to win all five iPhones, the rules are little more complicated than the free Mac Book Air giveaway or the five letter dot com domain giveaway.
Many of you know my history, but, as some of the recent comments show, particularly those where I am referred to as “she” and “Morgan Ashley”, a good proportion of Upstart Blogger readers really don’t know me at all. I find it amazing that so many people comment on my site without even taking the time to find out my gender. I wasn’t aware that my about page photograph looked so feminine!
Anyway, I’m hoping that this competition will allow me to make a more personal connection with readers and generate traffic for some of my other projects.
Ever since taking over Upstart Blogger a few months ago I have started to revamp my music sites. Those who know me will be nodding their heads and those that don’t will, no doubt, be scratching theirs. These sites have been wallowing in cyberspace for a while now and have only recently been kick-started into action.
Don’t worry, I’m getting to how you can get a shiny new free iPhone.
All you have to do is link to one of my other blogs, subscribe to its RSS feed, or to get two chances do both. Since the sites are all under construction you might find some irregularities in their design and their function. Some of them still carry links and sidebar content from the current Upstart Blogger theme. Don’t let this put you off. You can still link to them in any way you like, preferably via your blog.
Each person can link to each blog once. If you link multiple times to one blog you will still only be counted once for that blog. If you haven’t got a blog and want to enter then simply subscribe to the relevant RSS feed and add a comment on the relevant blog letting me know.
Each person can potentially enter ten times if they link to all five blogs and subscribe to all five RSS feeds. At the end of May five names will be drawn, one from each of five separate hats, one for each blog, and each one will receive a free iPhone.
The blogs will be revealed one at a time between now and May 15th. Here is a link to the first one, an independent record label I’m currently putting together with two other musicians,
For more specific instructions, and to throw your name in the hat, click that link and follow the instructions.
While your there be sure to check out the podcast. And please remember, Big Arena Records is under heavy construction and is pretty rough around the edges. It works, and the design is pretty much finalized, but it is in pre-launch mode, leading up to the first album release in seven weeks time.
Before I leave you for today I’d like to say a quick thank you to everyone who has recently subscribed to Upstart Blogger via RSS. Today the number of subscribers broke the 800 mark with a subscriber count of 802. Next stop, 1000 subscribers!
After last months traffic dip I was a little concerned about Googles recent Page Rank update. I needn’t have worried. Google increased my Page Rank from six to seven.
With the usual cheating and scamming blogs complaining once again about having their Page Rank dropped I’m over the moon with this news.
Add to this another small move up the Technorati ladder to position 68 and I’ve got good reason to celebrate.
Tomorrow I’ll be giving more details on how to get your hands on the five free iPhones I mentioned recently, closely followed by the second domain giveaway.
April was a slow month but May has started with a bang and things are already hotting up. And you’re all invited to the party!
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