Green Flamingobecause I said so

I meant to write this earlier  but oh well, read it now or never.

There have been many contests circulating since June, that is when I really noticed a kick in all the contests that were being started.

Since June I have seen a few well run contests, and a few typical ones that are always great but are having almost the same contest as 70 other blogs (don’t ask me why I picked 70). These contests can get annoying as well. Though I do love contests and prizes, there are SOOOO many out there that I don’t have time to join and participate in every one, for there is just no point.

Usually, I would not care that tons of blogs are having contests, but in a certain way I do. See I love to read blogs, be surfing them, comment and get to interact with the author and other readers. When a contest comes up, the calm is disrupted and people will go crazy for the prize. There are a lot of spam comments, a lot of questions, and a lot of worthless and foolish stuff circling the blog. I almost feel like I should participate, but know I don’t have the time or energy to be the top commentator with 80 comments, write 10 blog posts about it and link to all the prizes and all the sponsors. It would just drive me crazy!

Recently, a friend and fellow  blogger Rajaie talked about how he hated that so many contests were being started, and I have to agree with him. Though contests are great, they can be a huge annoyance and sometimes you have to lay off the shit and get the gold.

Now we will move on the the real topic of this post, and that is what I qualify as a good contest vs. a bad or unworthy contest.

What makes a contest worth it

Some contests are really worth it to enter, let me share some of the reasons with you. I should tell you, I feel that our friend Ben Patton’s contest will really be worth it, he is giving away a laptop! And here are our 10 good reasons to enter.

1. You have a unique or uncommon prize
2. You have a great or valuable prize
3. You have interesting ways to enter and earn points
4. You do not have 4 million prizes or sponsors
5. You are a good blogger with shark-bait content
6. Your previous contests have been great (not always a reason)
7. You don’t make your readers sweat to much
8. You are always interesting no matter what
9. You give a chance to get something for nothing
10. The thing I forgot [fill in answer here]

I was not sure I would come up with 10, but I edited and got that many. I hope you agree with those, be sure to fill in your answer in the comments.

What makes a contest hit the fan (what makes it suck like hell)

1. Your prizes are all too common
2. You have 10 million prizes and sponsors
3. Your prizes are worth 2 cents
4. You have stupid ways to enter and win
5. You never have good content
6. You have other contest failures
7. You make your readers go get you a million dollars
8. You are a dull person
9. Every prize you have to work your ass off for
10. You are a mean person

There are a few reasons for you that make your contest terrible.

Now neither of these qualifications really fit anybody, most are average, a lot of recent contests leaning to the bad side, maybe because it is just too small or some other reason. Most contests manage to pull of a good show, not quite like Jon Stewart or Chris Brown but still something that’s ok to waste your time on and win a few prizes.

So I am not saying your little contest is bad, but I am saying that next time you should think before starting a contest, you really have to make it worth it and not pull it out of thin air with a few ad spots, text links, and some reviews. You have to make it more sophisticated and interesting and then bloggers and sheep will come flocking to you like crazy.

I also have another post that I add onto and that adds on to mine, they would work combined I guess, so I should let you stomp on over to Jay at Datmoney and then come back and tell me what you liked of his article telling you 5 reasons why he WON’T sponsor your contest.

I should also tell you again I am thinking of running a contest, have no fear I will have most of the pro reasons in mine. I am looking for sponsors, so if you have a great idea for a prize let me know.

-The Green Flamingo

Over the past few days I have been a bit discouraged over what has happened on the net, while at the same time I have enjoyed posting two wonderful articles on facing a blogger’s challenges and some creative ideas to focus yourself while you write.

On the 21st my Adsense account was sadly disabled. This I am very mad about, as I had nothing to do with invalid clicks and therefore am appealing. I have not found any suspicious IP addresses however, and if any of you have tips on how to get it back successfully I would appreciate them. Also I am really bummed about it for I had made $50 with it, the day before was the marking point, and I had made that much in about 10-11 days.

I lost my spot as the top commentator of the month of TUK, and though it wasn’t all that important to me, I like to be the best of the best. Suddenly when I had about 40 comments (sheesh! A lot isn’t it!) I was beaten by a 50 commenter! I have no idea how you should have 50 comments in 20 days, and it was only about a week ago the person started to comment! I wonder if any is spam, I hope not. I don’t really need the spot back, though it would be nice, but I don’t feel like spamming Jason.

I have not gotten my interior design services up still, though I have been on it for about 2 weeks. If I don’t launch soon nothing will come of it. There are a lot of things to be done, that is the problem, and I just don’t put 2 hours straight of work into it. If I did so, I would probably have it done, but I have to visit so many places I am sure to be distracted. I need to focus on one thing at a time, and then I will be ready. I guess I could lauch the first 5 free consultations, but I still have to have things ready if those fly. I will set up, then I will announce the free deals. By the way if anyone knows how to use Paypal to have someone pay 50% before hand and the rest after, then please tell me, for that’s what I need. That is one of the bumps I have to get over.

Jason has written some depressing posts, one on how anonymity is needed for online business, and another on how revealing your sources might be a bad idea. I guess these aren’t terrible, but I know those are two fields I don’t do too well in.

Besides all the bad things that have happened, good things have come out of it all too. Yesterday I was able to revisit the amusement park, but I have gone about 4 times in between when I posted about it.

I have had an increase in Technorati authority, and my rank has gone from 270 something to 264 something. I am happy with this, though comparing the two it is a much smaller difference than I thought.

My Alexa rank has gone from 690,730 to 630,370 which I am also happy about, though Alexa is not thought of as an accurate rating.

I am also writing some killer posts, and hope to do more, and I have had a bad and good week.

Hi, this is me, Nathaniel,in this blog I’m hoping to write about many different topics (though it may narrow down to one after a while) and write posts that you will enjoy. Here I will explain one category I want to create. I’ll call it channeling/knowledge input. Here I’ll share insights that I have (for you personally ones too) and give you some things to think about. If you have any questions just leave me a comment.