Contest and giveaways are a great way to reward your community. They show you care, they show you want to encourage them and support them. They show you want to engage them and listen to their needs. But they can also backfire. How? Well, spend 5 minutes thinking of your contest and send out an announcement that actually shows you consider the crowd you’re trying to get to work for you a bunch of money hungry drones that cannot think for themselves. Enough to makes something sparkly twinkle their way and they’ll immediately jump to join your troops!

99designs is already the punching bag of many established designers. Now they have just managed to make it a bit worse. The crowdsourced design site has just launched a contest in which they will give away 9,999 dollars to a lucky winner. To enter the competition, a designer needs to win at least one design contest throughout the month of March. The more contests you win, the more chances of winning you have. Continue reading

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It seems like Tuesdays have been the days for most posts related to the WoBM Anniversary Contest, the Blogging and Relationships – Write about the wonderful people you’ve met Group Writing Project. So it’s no wonder you get to meet the winners on a Tuesday

As I’ve kept you waiting for too long, here’s who won and a list of all entries:

The first place and first prize, a copy of IttyBiz’ SEO School, go to Andrew for his wonderful entry Three Special Bloggers.

The second place and prize, a collection of Depeche Mode – The Singles 86-98 in mp3 format, go to Joanna Young for her inspirational piece on microblogging and relationships, Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter.

For the third place, we had a tie. So we’ve decided on having to amazing bloggers awarded: Brad Shorr for the Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul post, who will be receiving a copy of Lillie Ammann’s “Dream or Destiny”, and Lillie Ammann with the entry Blogging Friends, but as she cannot win her own book, she will be also receiving the Depeche Mode – The Singles 86-98 in mp3 format collection.

All four of them will also get 2 hours of free PR consulting, but I’ll send all the details about their prizes in an email.

Thank you and congratulations again to everyone who’s been part of this group writing project:

Brad Shorr – Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul

Sarah Welstead – 7 Rules for Effective Relationship Blogging

Andrew of Good Honest Dollar – Three Special Bloggers

Joanna Young – Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter

CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be

Jacquelyn – How I started the WParent blog

Lillie Ammann – Blogging Friends

Nithya – Building Strength through Support

Alina Popescu – Investing in relationships has excellent ROI

Important Update

As Brad already has a copy of “Dream or Destiny”, he’s donnated his to a random participant. He’ll be enjoying a Depeche Mode collection instead. We played with some numbers and the lucky winner is CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be. Congratsulations!

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Yesterday was the last day when contestants could submit entries to the WoBM Anniversary Group Writing Project Blogging and Relationships – Write about the wonderful people you’ve met. Here’s the complete list of submitted entries. The jury will now go behind close doors and deliberate! Not really, but we’ll be back with the three lucky winners as soon as possible!

Brad Shorr – Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul

Sarah Welstead – 7 Rules for Effective Relationship Blogging

Andrew of Good Honest Dollar – Three Special Bloggers

Joanna Young – Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter

CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be

Jacquelyn – How I started the WParent blog

Lillie Ammann – Blogging Friends

Nithya – Building Strength through Support

And my own – Investing in relationships has excellent ROI

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If you want to join the WoBM Group Writing Project “Blogging and Relationships – Write about the wonderful people you’ve met!“, you should really do it now. There are only 5 days left until the deadline, February 28. Four and a half if you think today’s morning is long gone. In case you’re wondering what your struggling for, other than your reader’s appreciation and lovely comments, here are the prizes:

1. A copy of IttyBiz’ SEO School
2. Depeche Mode – The Singles 86-98 in mp3 format (I love them and this particular collection holds all my favorites)
3. A copy of Lillie Ammann’s “Dream or Destiny”

Plus the 2 hours of free PR counseling from me included in each prize. And our cool jury: Loredana, Alex and myself.

Don’t forget to play by the rules in the announcement post!

And if you’re wondering who you’re competing against, take a look at the already submitted entries:

Brad Shorr – Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul

Sarah Welstead – 7 Rules for Effective Relationship Blogging

Andrew of Good Honest Dollar – Three Special Bloggers

Joanna Young – Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter

CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be

Jacquelyn – How I started the WParent blog

And my own – Investing in relationships has excellent ROI

Good luck everyone and don’t forget time is flying by!

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Another week went by since my last announcement about the WoBM Group Writing Project “Blogging and Relationships – Write about the wonderful people you’ve met!“. As the deadline is approaching fast, I’m back with some news and the obvious reminder to publish those posts in time and let me know you’re in for the prizes. Speaking of prizes, Lillie Ammann offered to also autograph the copy of “Dream or Destiny”! So here’s a quick list of the prizes:

1. A copy of IttyBiz’ SEO School
2. Depeche Mode – The Singles 86-98 in mp3 format (I love them and this particular collection holds all my favorites)
3. A copy of Lillie Ammann’s “Dream or Destiny”

Plus the 2 hours of free PR counseling from me which are an extra something for each prize. As I’m sure you remember, winning entries will be selected by a jury whose members are Loredana, Alex and myself.

If you want to play with us, don’t forget the rules!

• Publish an original article on your blog before February 28
• You may only have one entry per blog. If you have more than one blog, lucky you
• Link to the post announcing the group writing project
• Leave the link to your entry on the announcement post

Here’s the list of entries already submitted:

Brad Shorr – Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul

Sarah Welstead – 7 Rules for Effective Relationship Blogging

Andrew of Good Honest Dollar – Three Special Bloggers

And my own – Investing in relationships has excellent ROI

I don’t know if I’ve officially mentioned this, but my entry doesn’t count

Happy writing! Oh, yeah, and the clock is ticking!

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