And We’re Off!
Posted by Stephen on
February 2, 2007
I’ve been blogging since January of last year and in that time I’ve had a lot of visitors to my blog. It’s even been Dugg. Despite the occasional bit of publicity, I’ve always felt that this is my personal space to talk about whatever the heck I want to talk about where I saw what I want and do as I please. No one has to agree with me, and I’m not out to please anyone. It’s like me sitting around at home in my sweat pants. Come over if you like, but I ain’t cleaning up and changing for you if you visit. You’re welcome to grab a beer and shoot the shit though.
In the first day of the contest, there has been a huge swell in comments and I’ve even seen a few new faces that I’ve never heard from before. Thank you for letting me know you’re out there! 
So far our leaders look like this…
The competition looks pretty tight, but even though I’ve turned this into a contest, I’m pleased to see that the comments themselves are still of good quality. That was one of my concerns that was also voiced by one of the commenters: Won’t someone just whore things up and take the prize? I’m sure someone will come by and see an opportunity, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have to work for it. Being that the field is so tight, anyone looking for a fight might just get one and I know guys and girls alike love a good scrap!
But if you’re sitting this one out, why not just comment with some ideas on other fun contests I could do in the future? This might not be something you’re into this time, but it might be next time. Most importantly, I’ll get a chance to get to know who another one of my other visitors are 
Yeah it’s hard to tell who is visiting your blog if there someone never comments.
I am sure you know how John Chow got to know his visitors with the Review Me and now we are doing a similar drive. Perhaps something similar would work for you?
I’m sure that when I decide to give a few more prizes, I’ll need a little bit more than some Comment Whoring. But for now, let’s all get to know eachother and have a bit of fun. I did think about doing a Review Me thing, but I figure why not be different and give a little first before asking for something
I’d review this site. It is a very well thought out blog. Lets have a review my site contest there Stephen.
it would work out well for me, being as i have a review website….im suprised no one has asked for a free review yet, come on guys, free review!!!! all you have to do is ask and display a link to the review on your site, how easy is that.
It’s definitely one of the things I want to try. I’ve got some other ideas that I’d like to try that haven’t been done yet, so I’m going to give those a whirl first. Thanks for the vote of confidence
I think alot of people discuss and review other blogs already so giving them a link back is even more incentive. Plus you can get 100+ free links out of it which never hurths your PR. It’s one thing where no one loses and everyone wins.
Visitor participation is always a difficult thing and it is typical for there to be a silent majority when it comes to things like blogs and forums.
Competitions do appear to help boost user input but I’m not sure how far they go towards getting the no posters to post (of those responding to posts here it seems many have their own blogs to push so the trickle through of traffic from the comments and toplist benefit them).
From my point of view a competition or link back doesn’t influence me (the latter mostly as I don’t have a blog site or a site relating to this one and a link with “Idris” as the link tag wouldn’t give a boost in terms of SEO).
If it helps posting frequency and the content of those posts would have a much bigger impact on whether I respond. Even then, with the mass of blogs out there and the fact that reading a blog for me is mostly a procrastination, I’m probably more likely to skim a update and not reply.
Thanks for the comments and your points. If you didn’t say anything, I wouldn’t have heard them so I appreciate you stepping up
Not that i’m comment whoring for a new mouse, but it appears that the link you have for me is not even my current blog; it’s my old work related blog that i don’t write in anymore so i don’t get sued.
I actually didn’t link it. It was linked the first time you made a comment by the URL you put in initially. Your comment links are all working properly now though, but I have a feeling as you start to post going forward, we’ll see two “Fluxx”. I guess we’ll find out.
flag on the play, no player is eligible to have 2 names on the same scoreboard, the penalty is minus 5 posts from the time of the infraction.
Remains, 2nd down.
now that the superbowl is over i guess we should convert to basketball, since its about to be march madness.
and the possesion arrow points to me since i am in the lead.
BlueFur, I have to tell you I love the name of the new hosting site. Really sticks in your head. I mean I come across hosting companies quite often but yours actually stuck in my head. Good job to whoever thought it up!
K
I just don’t know about the “Experience the Legend” thing. Sounds like BBQ sauce. Unless you’re serving up Blue Fur Burgers, I don’t think it fits that well, but it does have people talking about it.
Would that be a Blue Pho Burger? Gotta love the buzz it has created. Stick around, its gonna get even better.
I agree that it might not be 100% right just yet but that is the point of the review competition. It gives Blue Fur’s management a chance to see what is working and what isn’t so they can change the line or anything else people don’t like to be more appealing to the masses.
Like I said on John’s blog, something like “Let the fur fly” is probably more appropriate.
Stephen, for your next contest, you could copy Mr. Chow and do “add my to your technorati favorites” thing too.
Or I can do something totally completely off the wall…different LOL
how about, for a contest you give a guest writer post, the winner of the contest gets to write a post on your blog about whatever they chose as long as you review it before it is submitted of course…what do you think?
That’s pretty good. I’ll keep that in the idea jar
I too like the add to technorati drive some blogs have done. I think you can then just randomly pick from the people who picked favored your blog and give them a small prize. Gotta have some incentive usually to get much participation. Nearly everyone in the world wants something free (me included)
I agree I don’t quite get the experience the legend part but hey, with a name like blue fur who needs another line to remember it by. I agree with you guys that it should be changed or at least removed. “Let the fur fly” is more appropriate and not a bad choice in my book.
I think the comment contest is a good starting point too, the increased activity will benefit you anyway, by engaging more readers in discussion they’re far more likely to return and regularly. I mean, when you post a topic at a forum you’re always keen to see how people respond, right? Not only will you meet some new people but there may be some SEO benefits behind the increased user generated content. Anyway, keep it up.
The SEO benefits are a bonus, but I would like to know who’s hanging around
Yeah I never commented before and this contest is only one reason I am posting more. I am a blogger and I always commented on blogs but never as much as I should. This game me inspiration and now I alot an hour a day to commenting and building up networked relationships to drive more traffic to my site and make a name for myself.
I just came across your blog a few days ago via tyler cruz so that was the other reason I hadn’t commented. I agree with Thomas, by putting up a prize but ensuring comments are of quality the surge should be a really great way to get user involvement even after the contest ends.
Well, thanks for finding me Kris! Both Tyler and I were raised in Nanaimo, though it looks like Tyler decided he liked the place enough to stay
Setting aside the time each day to devote to your business is an excellent start. Also, networking with others that are doing the same thing as you is a fantastic way to build your outer support network. No one understands you more than those that are taking the same path. Of course your first line is always the people closest to you which include your friends and family. Even if they don’t understand, as long as they understand your passion, then you’re good to go.
For everyone, in case of a tie, the winner will be decided by quality of comments. But if you win, and your comments are crappy, I reserve the right to 86 your winnings and award it to second place. So far, no one has anything to worry about
i try to promote my site through networking as well, its hard though to establish new relationships on limited time. I go to school, work, and try to develop the site and that leaves limited time to promote the site. Also, how am i supposed to fit in 4 hour bike rides at the same time?
I call it a fluid trainer. Cycle Ops makes them. If you enjoy danger, you can try mounting your laptop to your handlebars and using rollers. Kreitler makes an exceptional pair with aluminum drums that don’t warp
i have a mag 2 or whatever it is called, i dont think i would want to ride and work at teh same time unless i had a huge fan or two in front of me, once i get going on mine i start sweating like crazy. as far as rollers, im too scared to try those…even in a hallway i would find a way to land on my head.
You don’t fall on your head technically. Your bike sort of jacknifes and flies out from under you sideways. If you’re clipped in, you go too. However, you wouldn’t want your laptop perched to your bars when that happens
I work in a bike shop and we had a set of rollers out and we didnt have any customers, so one of the guys who works there also does BMX riding and he got on there, he started doing little wheelies and before long it turned out to a bar spin. There were a couple of really close calls where i thought he was going to knock down a row of bikes but he kept his balance.
There’s a prize?
Thanks for the advice Stephen. I am formulating a business plan now and hope to have an infrastructure in place by summer so when I am on a break from school I can simply work on my sites and freelance write on the side for some quick cast to sustain me until my sites begin earning more. You should be haring from me in a few weeks via email!!!
Cool. If the questions are good, I might have to use it as blog content
when i first started reading blogs like yours and johns, i was shy to comment because i was in awe of how successful you guys were. I had my own website but i definately did not want to display it to the public after seeing how well yours was run, it took a while to get over it and now i post replies in everyones blogs.
I think everyone should comment as long as they have something worthwhile to say.
especially if they are new blogs or have limited replies, owners love to see that people are actually reading their posts and replying, i always smile when i go to my site and see that someone has actually read and replied to a review
I totally feel the same way. It puts a big smile on my face when I see traffic steadily increasing and *gasp* there’s actually a comment to one of the posts (unlike the 100s of comments on any given John Chow post, or… here on Stephen Fung dot net, given the comment whore contest).
i would add the top commentators thing to my blog but im sure that if i did there wouldnt be any real increase in comments. The highest at the end of the month would probably be 10 comments.
I think it is a nice reward that your top commenters are rewarded with a link back for getting involved. I like getting links on blogs that use this because they can drive some nice extra traffic.
Man, I soooo can’t keep up with people commenting 50 some times by the 7th of the month….geez people, get lives…it’s just a mouse!
I mean I am only at 30 something but 50 over 7 days is not really that many. It is only 10 per day which really is not at all hard to write. With the threaded comments plugin it makes comments more of a forum atmosphere so 50 comments doesn’t seem all that absurd to me.
By the way, I love threaded comments simply because answers are more directed but it can be so annoying when trying to simply scan a post for new comments. You really have to look because the bottom one is not necessarily the newest.
You can go “inline view” on the front page, to see what’s new. Then you can comment by thread when you click on the comments, but yeah, You’ll have to find where it was replied to.