Blogging Gal

The winner of the third Blogging Gal contest is Image Pik.  Congratulations!  Please email your 125 x 125 ad to me at chattiekat at gmail.com.  It will be posted on the site for the entire month of April.

Details on the next contest are coming soon…

If you’d like to win a 125 x 125 banner ad spot for the entire month of April, here’s your chance! Just subscribe to my feed and leave a comment indicating that you’ve done so. If you are already subscribed, just leave a comment below to get your entry!  A winner will be selected through random.org at midnight on March 31st.  Good luck!

The February contest has come to a close.  The winner is C-Squared of An Unsuspecting Notebook.  Congratulations!  I’ll be posting a review of your blog in the upcoming week.  Please email your 125 x 125 banner to tish at blogginggal dot com.  It will remain on my site for the entire month of March.

Details on the March contest will be posted shortly.

KieranG recently left the following comment on my blog.

“Someone needs to write a blog post about this Entrecard rubbish. I have no idea what it is, nor if it is any help with blog traffic.”

Kieran, this post is for you - and for anyone else who hasn’t already jumped on the Entrecard bandwagon.

Entrecard is an excellent networking tool that allows you to advertise your blog on other sites within the Entrecard network. Entrecard members display advertising widgets on their sites, and other members “purchase” these ad spots with Entrecard credits.

Entrecard credits can be earned in several different ways. You earn one credit when you drop your card into another blog’s widget. You earn a credit when a member drops his card into your widget. And, of course, you earn credits when someone purchases your ad space.

The price for each blog’s advertising space is equivalent to two times the average number of cards dropped on the blog per day. This ensures that for every two credits you spend, one unique visitor will be seeing your ad and clicking in its general vicinity. Purchased ads run for 24 hours, and visitors who click them are taken directly to the advertised blog.

I joined Entrecard a week ago, and I am averaging about 22 visits per day from the Entrecard website. My first ad is just now running, so I don’t yet know how many visitors to expect from ad clicks.

If you’re looking for a free, yet effective way to promote your blog, you should sign up for Entrecard. You’ll need a 125 x 125 banner ad. Tom Ross was kind enough to create my banner. Feel free to contact him for his rates. Mike Wheeler is another good source for banners.

If you’d like to score a bunch of Entrecard credits, there are a number of blog contests that are awarding them as prizes. Here are a few to get you started.

• BlogsWeLuv is giving away a blog review and 1,000 Entrecard credits. To get your entry, just participate in their 10 Question interview. All interviews will be posted to the site, which means free publicity for your blog! Earn an additional entry in the contest by dropping your card on their Entrecard widget. Deadline is February 29th.
• Things By Mike is giving away 1,000 Entrecard credits. You can secure entries by subscribing to the blog’s feed, blogging about the contest, and by dropping your card into the blog’s Entrecard widget. Deadline is February 29th.
• MeAndMyDrum is giving away 1,000 Entrecard credits. Get your entries by subscribing to the feed, posting about the contest, writing an Entrecard recommendation, and commenting on the contest post. Deadline is February 20th.
• VikingBlogger is giving away a total of 20,000 Entrecard credits to be split between five lucky winners. First prize is 10,000 credits. Get your entries by subscribing to the feed and blogging about the contest. Deadline is March 14th.

Good luck, and happy card dropping!

BlogsWeLuv is currently hosting a great contest in which you can win a blog review and 1,000 Entrecard credits. To get in on the action, just participate in a 10 Question interview about you and your blog. All interviews will be posted to the site, so this is a great chance to promote your blog!

If you do choose to answer the 10 questions, you can receive a second entry in the contest just by dropping your card on the Entrecard widget.

The deadline for entering the contest is February 29th. A winner will be selected through random.org at midnight that night. Check out the contest post for more details.

As you may know, BlogsWeLuv was founded by myself and Mike Wheeler of Things By Mike. It has since expanded to include several additional contributors. The blog features reviews of blogs we love, as well as interviews with fellow bloggers. We are currently looking for a few new contributors. Contributors should be prepared to submit one article, on a blog of their choice, each week. If you are interested, please contact us for more details. Include links to three or four articles that you consider to be your best work.

Thank you, and best of luck in the contest!

I recently discovered a great new blog called Push Standards. Authored by Tom Ross, a web designer and aspiring entrepreneur living in Scotland, the blog covers such topics as blogging, web design, and marketing. Though it was launched just earlier this month, there are lots of great, informative articles already available on the site. I’d like to share a few of my favorites.

15 Tips to Boost Your Blog’s Traffic - I’m sure there are at least a few tips here that you’re not currently utilizing, so be sure to check out this article. Though Push Standards is a brand new blog, Tom has been designing websites for more than eight years. He is no stranger to the techniques required to drive traffic to a site.

Please Subscribe! Plus RSS Tips. - This post contains some great advice on improving your RSS feed and securing new readers.

Bloggers are the Friendliest People in the World - I couldn’t agree more!

In addition to its wealth of quality content, Push Standards has a very visually pleasing design. The colors are brilliant, but not at all distracting. Everything is neatly positioned and free of clutter. Tabs across the top of the site allow you to easily navigate through the site’s content.

I always enjoy providing a few site suggestions to my fellow bloggers, but after spending considerable time examining Push Standards, I can come up with very little that can be done to improve the site. My only suggestion is that Tom add the custom banners he recently created to his portfolio page. Given the recently popularity of Entrecard, Project Wonderful, and other such ad programs, I think he should capitalize on the growing need for banner ads.

Push Standards is currently hosting a great contest in which you can win a month of free advertising plus $25 cash. Just post a review of the site to get your entry. The deadline is March 5th, and the best post wins.

It is Tom’s goal to live completely off his online endeavors, and judging from what I’ve seen so far, he’s definitely headed in the right direction. His writing style is impeccable, and his design work is some of the best I’ve seen. If you have any design needs, be sure to check out his portfolio for samples of his work. I’m sure that he can create a quality product to exceed your expectations.

I encourage you to add Push Standards to your list of regular reads. You’ll find lots of helpful information there, and maybe even a new friend!

Help me build my RSS readership, and you could win a review of your blog and a 125 x 125 pixel banner ad spot for one month!

All you need to do is subscribe to my feed and leave a comment saying that you’ve done so. If you’re already subscribed, just leave a comment to get your entry.

The contest will run until midnight on February 29th. At that time, I will select a winner through random.org. I will post a review of the winning blog during the first week of March. The winner will also receive a 125 x 125 pixel banner ad spot on this site for the entire month of March.

Even if your blog has already been reviewed on Blogging Gal, you can still enter to win the banner ad spot.

Good luck!

My first contest has come to a close. The winner is Mark of MeAndMyDrum! Congratulations, Mark!

I have already posted a review of MeAndMyDrum, but Mark also receives a 125 x 125 banner ad spot for the entire month of February! Just send me your ad, Mark, and I’ll get it up on the site!

Details on the next contest will be posted momentarily!

In just a few short days, I will be selecting a random winner in the Blogging Gal Contest #1. The lucky winner will receive a blog review as well as a 125 x 125 pixel banner ad spot for the entire month of February. All you have to do to secure your entry is subscribe to my feed and then comment on the original contest post. If you’re already subscribed, that’s great. Just leave a comment to get your entry.

I’ll host a similar contest each month, so if you don’t win in January, you’ll have plenty of other opportunities. Good luck!

If you’re looking for a little free exposure for your site, please consider visiting BlogsWeLuv. Mike Wheeler and I co-founded the site in June 2007, and it has since expanded to include several other contributors. We highlight unique and interesting sites by posting blog reviews and conducting interviews with bloggers.

The quickest and easiest way to have your blog featured on the site is by participating in our 10 Question interview. All bloggers are welcome. In fact, many of the blogs we have chosen to review on the site were discovered through the 10 Question interviews. This is your opportunity to share your thoughts on blogging and to promote your site. Even if your blog has already been reviewed on the site, you are still free to participate in our interview for some additional publicity.

We host a contest on BlogsWeLuv each month, with the winner receiving a blog review written by yours truly. You still have plenty of time to get your entry in the January contest. All you need to do is subscribe to the BlogsWeLuv feed and leave a comment on the contest post. One random winner will be chosen at midnight on January 31st. A review of the winning blog will be posted during the first week of February. And don’t fret if you don’t win. As I mentioned, we host a new contest each month.

Speaking of contests, you still have time to get your entry into the Blogging Gal Contest #1. You can win a review of your blog as well as a 125 x 125 pixel banner ad spot for the entire month of February! Good luck!