Blog Contest: The "Help Me" Group Reviewing Project

Posted on October 13, 2007 at 6:08 pm

If you’ve been blogging for a while now, you’ve probably participated in some kind of blog contest or group writing project. I have joined in on several group writing projects, i.e. BlueJar, DailyBlogTips, etc and think they are absolutely great because you get to network with fellow bloggers, get your blog some exposure, and write about what you enjoy.

However, one thing that I’ve noticed since starting to blog back in March of this year is that it would have been really great if someone could have taken a look at my OWN blog and critiqued it. Over the last several months, I’ve poured through Problogger, JohnChow, SEOMoz, Copyblogger, Lorelle, and a bunch of other top blogs to learn everything from the basics of blogging to how to analyze your traffic correctly.

It’s been very rewarding, but it’s still not a direct opinion from a fellow blogger. So that’s why I want to start the Group Reviewing Contest (or Project).

What is the Group Reviewing Project?

The Group Reviewing Project is very simple: open, honest and meaningful peer reviews of fellow bloggers blogs that will help them to improve their blog without having to shell out money. Also, it will give all bloggers who join the contest (beginners especially), the chance to get some exposure and a few links back to their blog.

How will this group project work?

Normally in a group writing project, everyone writes a single post about a specific topic, such as How-To or blogging tips, etc and then submit that article to the contest. For a group reviewing project to work correctly, things will have to be a little different.

First, everyone who wants to participate should leave a comment on this post that says they are joining in! Second, once enough people have joined, I’ll write another post where everyone can begin submitting links to their review post in the comments (I’ll be explaining more about the review post in the next section). Finally, once everyone has submitted their group reviews, we’ll close it out and I’ll create another post where everyone can vote on the top 3 reviews out of the entire list (not including their own, kind of pointless). You can either post the list of your top 3 choices on your own blog or in the comments of the third post on my blog.

After everyone has voted, we’ll tally it up and see who lands in the Top 3. Remember the prize goes to the best REVIEWER not the sites that are being reviewed (they just get free links). The winner will get the grand prize (the prizes are down below!).

The winners of the contest should meet this criteria: reviewed a good number of blogs and provided useful tips that are meaningful to the blog being reviewed. This does not mean that you cannot be very blunt or honest in your reviews. If you are turned off by something, mention it. Just do so in a nice way! Remember your peers will be voting for who has written the best review.

What does this review need to look like?

UPDATE: Since this seems like it could be too much work for most bloggers, I’m changing it to so that you can write about WHICHEVER points below that you like, it does not have to be all of them. If you want, you can write one sentence about a particular blog.

In order to make this a fun and useful contest, I’ve come up with a few rules. If everyone just starts posting reviews randomly with no structure etc, it’s going to be hard to choose the "best" ones out there. The review itself should only be one post on your blog, but should review as many blogs as is possible. Writing only one post will also not scare away any of your readers who normally would not read this. Here’s how the review should be broken down for each blog:

1. Name and a link to the blog you are reviewing - I want this project to not only give bloggers insights about their blog, but also some yummy backlinks!

2. Why you are reviewing this blog - Maybe you think that it has good content, but hate the design? Or maybe you really like this blog and want to help it out.

3. What is the blog about? Is the blog focused on a topic or about random stuff?

4. Is the content good? Is the content on the blog useful? Is it too much? Too little? Too personal? How many articles did you like? How many sucked and which ones?

5. Is the content unique? Does the blog provide value that you could not get from better places? How could they be more unique?

6. Is the design appealing? Does the blog look like it needs a makeover or do you really like some features about it? Are there too many ads, etc?

7. Easy to find content? Is it easy to navigate the blog? Can you get to what you’re looking for quickly? Can you search?

8. Technical details - This can include a wide range of things: Are they using the right tags? Are their titles optimized? Big SEO mistakes? Taking too long to load?

7. Any other comments or thoughts you might have on the site!

The reviews should be relevant and useful for the blog you’re reviewing. Don’t review JohnChow.com and say everything is perfect, we already know that!

Which blogs can I review?

In order for this contest/project to be useful for everyone participating, I am asking that you only write reviews for the blogs that join in with their comments below. I was going to make it so you can review any blog, but I think it’s better to keep it just within the group.

The only other thing I ask is that you review my blog in your post. This is not a condition in order to win the prize, but it would really be great to get feedback about my blog from everyone joining in!

So tell me what are the prizes?

1st Place Winner: Since this whole contest is about reviewing other blogs, if you’re the winner, you’ll get a free review paid for by me at JohnChow.com! Yes, that is a $400 review from one of the top bloggers on the net. That means traffic and backlinks for free!

2nd Place Winner - Since I’m shelling out $400 for the first place winner, I’m only giving the second place winner $100. Still that’s not bad for thoughtfully reviewing some blogs.

3rd Place Winner - Now I’m broke, so I’ll be giving the 3rd place winner $50.

Everyone gets paid via PayPal as that is the most convenient method for me.

Deadlines for contest

As of right now, I just want to get enough people to join the contest. Tell your friends, blog about it, get it out there. After I have enough people who have written a comment on this post that they are in (more than 25, hopefully), I’ll post a deadline for the initial sign up and then close out the comments on this post. I’ll then post solid deadlines for the review submissions and the voting.

Questions and Answers

If you’ve got any questions about the contest or any suggestions/feedback, feel free to contact me at any time! So get started by posting a comment on this post! Goodluck!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

» Filed Under Blogging

30 Responses to “Blog Contest: The "Help Me" Group Reviewing Project”

Nirmal said on : October 14th, 2007 at 12:26 am

Great prizes, but I would like to win the second prize,

Monika @ The Writers Manifesto said on : October 14th, 2007 at 7:53 am

Aseem,

Sounds like a great contest. I might just have to join this one. BTW, didn’t you get my message regarding my own contest? You are in and noted. Don’t forget to check back on the 20th for voting to start.

Cheers

Monika

Jacob Share said on : October 14th, 2007 at 9:31 am

This is a nice twist in combining the old review-for-link and group writing project, but 7 is too many points for a review if you’re hoping that bloggers will review more than one blog. 3 is better, 4 is borderline.

akishore said on : October 14th, 2007 at 11:07 am

Nirmal - Let some other people know too!

Monika - No I didn’t get the message for some reason. Thanks for letting me know though. I’ll be checking back for sure.

Jacob - You’re right, it might be too much even with those prizes! I changed it so that the points are just suggestions and the bloggers can write as little or as much as they want!

Spread the word for me guys!!! Now all it takes to win anything is one post and some votes from your own fellow bloggers!

Joanie Raisovich said on : October 14th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

This sounds like a great idea; count me in!

Jacob Share said on : October 15th, 2007 at 2:04 am

I’m in.

Just to be ultra-clear- do you expect people to review other reviewers blogs e.g. I review Jeanie’s, or just any random blogs? I get the impression that the latter is true, but the former would be much more cool in spreading around link love *and* tips/compliments.

akishore said on : October 15th, 2007 at 2:09 am

Jacob, I originally was making it so that you can review ANY blog, but then changed it to just the people that join. However, apparently not that many people want $400, so I might just change it back to ANY blog!

Jacob Share said on : October 15th, 2007 at 4:20 am

Hmm. Well, hit all the contest sites to get the word out. Although I think that’s I got here in the first place…

HeatherMara said on : October 15th, 2007 at 3:50 pm

Count me in!

werelax said on : October 15th, 2007 at 7:55 pm

Hi, I will join in on the reveiws

Debasis said on : October 16th, 2007 at 2:25 am

Interesting Contest! Count me in.

Contest Beat said on : October 16th, 2007 at 4:25 am

Hi there

I blogged about your contest on Contest Beat here - http://www.contestbeat.com/the.....w-project/

All we do is write about contests in the blogosphere so hopefully we can send you a few more entries too!

Regards, Matt.

ram said on : October 16th, 2007 at 4:43 pm

you contest is taking off, people are joining, good luck with your contest

bmunch said on : October 17th, 2007 at 12:26 am

I am in…Tell me which blog to review and when to submit.

Vijay said on : October 17th, 2007 at 2:15 am

I am interested in joining, however do tell me when you would be putting up the list of participating blogs!

denied said on : October 22nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm

I’m in - looking forward to reviewing some of the blogs represented here - and to get my own reviewed!

Monika @ The Writers Manifesto said on : October 23rd, 2007 at 8:23 pm

Ok Aseem,

I’m in too as I want to help you get this off the ground. What I think you need to do is post another entry that lists all the current participants who have committed to doing it.

Then minimize your rules as per “Jacob’s suggestions”.

Also you need a prominent link above the fold which makes your comp standing out. People who visit now and don’t know about it won’t find the contest.

I also like the idea of reviewing all the other contenders but in order to get more you will have to maybe posts all contenders so far and then set a deadline until newcomers can opt in. From that date reviews between bloggers can start in a specified time frame and then you can tally the votes.

Just a few suggestions from me. Not sure whether you like them or not.

Monika

Odile said on : October 25th, 2007 at 6:46 am

I would like to participate, I need to practice review skills. Greetings from the Netherlands.

Now about your blog, I found it looking for help to structure an article. I’m interested in participating for 2 reasons, I want new writing blogfriends and the other reason is that I want to develop my skills.
Your list of criteria: somehow I cannot remember it. Maybe it needs more particularities.

I’m not sure if you want me to give a review of your blog, of this post and where or when.
Maybe this is because you write about all these things in one post, in my mind I mix these up.

The writing style is clear and transparent in appearance, there is room for more personality.

Advice Network said on : November 13th, 2007 at 10:47 pm

I would like to join this - looks like fun!

NSpeaks said on : December 16th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

Where is the post announcing the winners?

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October 16th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Win $400 JohnChow.com review and $$$ | the Link Bait Says:

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October 17th, 2007 at 1:44 am
My Blog Contests | Innovative Group Reviewing Contest Says:

[...] We all know about Group Writing Contests. But, Online Tech Tips have done a slight twist on it and are calling it a Group Reviewing Contest. Thats very innovative. Let me come directly to the point. It is 90% the same as any group writing contest. But, just that the posts have to be reviews of specified sites. It could have been better, if it was a single site. But, the bloggers are given an option to select from a list of sites. Read more about the contest. [...]
October 19th, 2007 at 2:35 am
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November 15th, 2007 at 3:34 pm