Yet Another Blog Contest
It’s finally happened … I’ve hit the big 750 with comments. This isn’t bad, considering the obscurity of the site and the topics that I discuss, but I’ll admit that I want more. That’s why I’m going to run the very first contest on this blog to entice some more comments from the blogosphere!
I want to hit 1000 comments before January 1, 2008, and I’m willing to pay money to see it happen. I’ll offer $50 to the person who posts the 1000th comment (or the person immediately after if I happen to be that person). I’m also going to offer an extra $25 to the person that leaves the best comment on any post between now and January 1. Cash will be paid in Canadian funds via PayPal on or before January 2, 2008.
There are currently 444 posts (including this one) that can be commented on, and there should be another 35 written before the end of the year. Hopefully that’ll give everyone an opportunity to leave a comment and tell me how stupid some of my ideas are 
The rules for this contest are quite light, but I have them for fairness:
- you must have a blog
- comments can’t be meaningless things like “first!” or “lol, you suck”
- you will need a PayPal or Canadian bank account that I can send money to
That all!
In the event this site does not reach 1000 comments by 23:59:59.999 on December 31st, there will be a $25 prize to the last person to leave a comment.
Edit: I’ve decided to add another $25 prize to the pot! One random comment (except mine, of course) will be selected from the database. This means that you could potentially walk away with $100 CDN if you happen to write the best comment, land on comment #1000 and also have the lucky random integer.
Good luck, everyone :)
Comments (37)
[...] J2fi.net has a blog Contest that ends on December 31, 2007. All you have to do is leave a meaningful comment on his blog and your entered! $25 CDN will be given to the best comment and $50 CDN will be given to the 1000th comment. To be eligible you must have a blog, and leave a meaningful comment. Winners will be paid through PayPal. Blog Contest post can be found here. [...]
Just blogged about your contest. Please check it out at the url below.
http://www.bloggingcontest.com/win-50-canadian-dollars/
Cool idea! I’m curious to see if the contest helps you get more comments.
Btw, the guy who wrote your Global Translation plug-in released a new version. Upgrading should fix the problem with the translations. Link here.
Whoa, Jason, that is a cool idea. I just won a mug for a halloween contest a week ago, so I’m definitely going to try my luck here … LOL!
It’s cool to do a contest but I’d change the rules.
What’s my incentive to leave a comment now when you’re so far away from 1000 and I know I won’t win?
No, the way to do it is to pick random commenters between now and then for the prizes. Or, give the higher prize to a random commenter (to push comment writing) and then give the lower prize to #1000, to encourage people (ever so lightly) to come back and comment again later as the number gets closer.
Jacob
@BlogContests : Thanks for the linkage. You have a great site and I’m curious to know how many hits I get from there
@Thomas : Thanks for the update. I’ve been meaning to re-write the plugin myself, but have been tied up with work. My blog posts are usually written on the train and uploaded soon after getting home, but it’s hard as heck to update source code with a little PDA
@Nick : Try you luck, Nick, you might just be the winner!
@Jobs in Israel : That’s a great idea! I should have thought of that, too. I think I’ll update the rules, but still have a prize for comment 1000
Thank goodness the prizes are in the almighty Canadian dollar! They’re actually worth something!
Yep, that’s half the marketing strategy right there … using a non-US currency
Don’t forget to post your blog contest information at MyBlogContest.com let more people know it.
[...] is your chance to win some Canadian dollars. j2fi.net is giving away some Canadian cash for commentators. If you are the number 1000, you will be reward [...]
Great idea for a contest. Short and sweet to enter! So the more I comment the more entries I get?
Oh, one more thought. I know you don’t know me, but would you send me an email when your comments are in the high 900’s?
Thanks for the comments, KatalinaMau. You’re right, the more comments you leave, the better the chance you have for winning any of the three prizes
When comment 1000 gets closer, I’ll write another post to let people know that time is running out. If you subscribe to my RSS, then you’ll have a better chance of knowing when the contest is about to finish.
That excites me that we can leave more than one comment. I’m going to have to look around on your blog a little and find out more about your “random thoughts”.
Yep, you can leave as many as you’d like. The only stipulation is that they’re semi-relevant to the topic.
Enjoy the site
I am cracking up over the comments mention of “no comments like you suck”. That would be just rude of someone to post something like that.
Fun giveaway by the way. Please enter me and I have blogged you as well http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/11/wednesday-edition-of-contests-galore_28.html
I hope that others will follow the link on my blog and pop over.
[...] Jason’s Random Thoughts is having a different sort of contest for Canadian money. Three ways to win, all through commenting. Ends December 31. [...]
@Laura : I’ve seen lots of blogs where such generic negative comments are made, and I didn’t want such a thing resulting in a cash payout of any kind.
I don’t mind if people disagree with my posts or call me an idiot, so long as they can justify it with their own opinion or, preferrably, with actual facts. There have been a few commentors that have said just as much while also providing some evidence showing why my position was wrong or unjustifiable. These are typically some of the most valuable comments I’ve ever recieved
I like it when a blog (mine included) provokes good debate. There’s nothing worse than people arguing badly or resorting to insults.
Wow! that a very good idea to pull in the traffic! Hopefully you will get more than 1000 comments for your effort
Good day!
good luck with your contest, i have started the same contest as yours a while back , so far worked wonders on my blog…
http://www.yeepage.com/my-dreaded-1st-contest
[...] Jason’s Random Thoughts is having a different sort of contest for Canadian money. Three ways to win, all through commenting. Ends December 31. [...]
Hey great idea for a contest and a terrific way to start the New year – with the possibility of winning money. Who can’t use money especially after Christmas to put towards bills. However, if I was fortunate enough to win, I would donate that money to the SPCA. This is one of my pet causes that I try to help out with as much as possible each year. They always have a need for donations and after Christmas people tend to forget about them.
Hi Jason,
Getting meaningful comments has been a great problem for almost every blogger. I think you are looking to raise the bar. I have written several posts on commenting (which are meaningful I think
)
BTW, I’ve posted a link to your contest here.
If you link back to my blog, you will also get an entry to my $ 10 plus link back contest (open till dec 17).
[...] Contest) by Ambo This contest is really simple. All you have to do is to leave a meaningful comment on his blog and your are qualified! $25 Canadian will be given away to the best comment and $50 CDN will be [...]
Whoa! Hope i’d win! I haven’t seen any canadian dollar yet! Oh by the way, i think i need to request paypal to give me a hard copy of this prize. lols
i blog this contest here http://pinoytek.net/win-50-just-for-leaving-a-comment
A crisp Canadian dollar on a new year? I wonder how that feels in my hand. Wheeeeh! That’s something to look forward to.
http://panalocontests.blogspot.com/2007/12/comment-and-win-100.html
Keep up the good work here. Hope to see you reach more than the 1000 comment mark.
Thanks for the links!
I also hope I’ll reach the 1000 comment mark, but it doesn’t look too good. I’ve done a rather poor job of marketing the contest. There are still 200 comments to go.
That said, I’ll still be giving out a prize to the person that makes the comment closest to 1000, as well as the person that leaves the very best comment for the month of December
[...] it or not, for the last two weeks I’ve been running a contest on this site. The idea was rather simple, I thought. I wanted to have 1000 comments in time for the new [...]
With all of the contest running out there, this seems to be the one that I am most possible to win. And I hope so.
This is very interesting and and fun. Good luck with your thousandth comment and I hope you achieve that goal.
[...] to begin. This, of course, means a few things. It means that there is very little time left to leave a comment on this site for a chance at Canadian cash, and it means that it’s time for yet another blog post talking about the things that have [...]
[...] my first contest has come to a close, and I’ve learned quite a few things from it. Back in late November I had [...]
So, hold the phone, the contest is over???
Yep. The contest ended at Midnight on January 1st (Japan time) and the winners were announced on the very same day. I still need to award the very best comment winner, and that will be done in the next few days as I have some time off work coming up. You’d be surprised how long it takes to read a few hundred comments and decide which is the best one
I was wondering…do contests like this do anything to boost search rankings?
It depends on the contest. In my case, I saw a temporary traffic increase of 8% over two weeks. For this site, the contest cost more than the return.
That said, some sites become huge hits after running a contest for great prizes.