Hope Writes a Contest

Congratulations Hope!

Hope Wilbanks of Hope Writes has introduced a new contest to celebrate over 1,000 unique visitors to her blog. She is offering prizes too.

So run on over to enter the contest and while you are there visit a while to see all the first-rate information Hope has compiled for you.

Write it down,

Carma

How to Enter David Airey's Super Blog Anniversary GiveAway

David Airey, a graphic designer specialising in logo design, is holding an anniversary prize giveaway. There’s more than $4,000 worth in free prizes! Find out how to enter by reading the details on David’s logo designer blog. This is the Blogging Contest of the Year! Let’s all wish David a huge Happy Anniversary.

Also don’t forget to give a huge round of thanks to all of the special people who are donating prizes. What a list! In my opinion they are all GOLD.

GOLD AWARDS

• 
  Logo design from David Airey. Add a touch of professionalism to your business with one of my logo designs.


• Custom WordPress theme design from Nate Whitehill of Nate Whitehill dot Com. It’s vital to set yourself apart from the crowd, and Nate will help a great deal with your very own custom WordPress theme.


• Personal marketing / advertising plan from Maki of Dosh Dosh. Maki is an expert where blog advertising is concerned, and he is kindly donating his time to help you make the most of your new custom blog.


• One year’s hosting and blog setup from John Boardley of I Love Typography. John has kindly donated his time and will do everything you need to get your new custom blog hosted on one of Media Temple’s dedicated servers.


• Signed copy of Blogging Tips by Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress. I bought this book myself, and it contains excellent blogging tips for beginners to pros.
  

SILVER AWARDS

• 
  Logo design from Tara Roskell of Graphic Design Blog. You only need to visit Graphic Design Blog to realise that Tara really knows a lot about great design.


• Website critique from Randa Clay of Randa Clay Design. If you want some expert advice on how to improve your website design, you won’t be disappointed by this offering.


• One hour SEO consultation with Lyndon Antcliff of Cornwall SEO. Lyndon will conduct a Skype consultation with the winner of this prize, and he comes highly recommended for search engine optimisation and linkbaiting.


• $60 of books from Amazon courtesy of Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. Is there a book you’ve been meaning to buy on Amazon? How about getting it free? A great donation from a professional blogger
  

BRONZE AWARDS

• 
  Logo / blog header design from Jonathan-C. Phillips of Smart Wealthy Rich. Jonathan has donated his expert skills to help your blog stand out from the crowd.


• One hour blog optimization consultation with Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips. This consultation will cover design, SEO, monetization and blogging strategy, from the author of one of blogging’s most useful resources.


• Revolution Premium WordPress theme package (personal package) from Brian Gardner, WordPress designer and consultant. Brian’s WordPress skills are second to none.


• Blog review and email interview published on Make It Great! with Phil Gerbyshak. The man to ‘make it great’ will critique your blog and feature you on his very own PR5 blog.

The following prizes will be drawn individually.

• Behringer Podcastudio USB Podcasting Kit, kindly donated by Fraser’s Affiliate Marketing Blog.


• Looking for a new way to express yourself? Ever wanted to be a famous producer? Then podcasting is the answer and the BEHRINGER PODCASTUDIO USB bundle has all you need to make high-quality podcasts and home recordings.


• $25 via PayPal courtesy of Gayla McCord of Mom Gadget. Free money! Who doesn’t want free money? Very kind of you Gayla


• 2GB USB storage key x 3 courtesy of Jamie Clague at Terinea Weblog. Three USB sticks will make up three separate prizes, with free worldwide postage.


• Jamie, Edinburgh Computer Services, has also kindly donated his valuable time to helping with the prize draw administration.
  


• Blog Reviews and Design Help


• Full blog review with deep links and images published on Blog-Op with Chris Lodge. Chris knows how to piece together an excellent blog review, giving you an added insight into the impression your website is giving.


• Blog review from Aaron Russell of miLienzo. Aaron has been coding WordPress themes for a while now and certainly knows his stuff where blog design is concerned.


• Expert WordPress blog help from Lakshmi Mareddy of Chilligavva. Have you ever had any ideas for your blog that you haven’t been able to incorporate? Lakshmi has kindly agreed to offer her WordPress skills, helping you out with either code or graphics.


• Blog review from Hock Ng of Marketing Tools Review. Hock will focus his review on your blog content, design, SEO and usability.


• Blog makeover from Charles Jordan of The Queer Chef. Charles is proficient with design for the Blogger platform, and can also design WordPress. He’ll tantalise your taste buds with one of his blog makeovers.
  
  Telephone and Skype consultations


• Blog writing consultation with Ben Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog. Ben has offered his expertise to review 3–5 of your articles, providing tips and giving suggestions on writing, plus a quick guide to social media and how you can benefit from it.


• Two 45 minute coaching consultations with Mark McGuinness of Wishful Thinking. Mark specialises in coaching creative professionals, and is a real expert in his field. The first session will involve goal setting, with the second session reporting on progress and making adjustments.


• 4 hour business growth consultation with Rebecca Caroe, via telephone / Skype, or face-to-face in London / Cambridge. Rebecca is a business growth consultant for creative agencies, so if you’re looking to expand your company then this is the prize for you. If you want Rebecca to visit your offices simply pay her travel expenses.


• Tele-Coaching with Tammy Lenski. A one-hour, private telephone consult with professional mediator and conflict coach Tammy Lenski. Figure out how to deal with a challenging client, strengthen your contract negotiations, or confront difficult conversations with more confidence and success. Free call within the U.S., via Skype outside the U.S.


• One hour product launch consultation with Design Translator (DT) of Design Sojourn. Whether you’re launching a line of t-shirts, custom furniture, electronics, or any other product, DT will lend you his product launch expertise.


• Blog improvement or monetization advice with Easton Ellsworth of Business Blogwire. You choose, do you want to generally improve your blog or do you want help making money from it? Easton has kindly offered his help.


• 
  Art and Literature
  Two premium quality books designed and produced by David Hyde of david the designer. John Hinchcliffe, internationally acclaimed designer-maker, is the subject of the richly illustrated first of two quality books. Crafts in the 20th Century is the second book kindly donated by David.


• Copy of Brand Aid by Brad VanAuken of The Blake Project. Brand Aid is a practical how-to guide on building winning brands. Derrick Daye was kind enough to offer this great prize.


• Watercolour print from Ed Roach Watercolours. Ed has quite a talent, and will graciously ship your favourite print from his watercolour studio.


• 
  Online Advertising
  728px by 90px banner ad for 30 days above the fold on The Blog Experiment, courtesy of Sara. This is quite a new forum for bloggers, but already there are approximately 5,000 posts! You must supply your own artwork.


• 125px by 125px image ad for 30 days on Smart Wealthy Rich. An excellent donation from top blogger, Jonathan.


• Ad icon located site-wide in the top left of Blog-Op, courtesy of Chris Lodge. Another kind gift from a fellow blogger in Scotland.


• 30 day text link ad shown site-wide on Contest Blogger. This is a great way to advertise your very own blog contest. Blogging is about giving something back, so get your contest featured.


• 125px by 125px image ad for 30 days on Freelance Folder. Another superb offering from Jonathan a.k.a Smart Wealthy Rich.


• 
  Forum Membership


• Lifetime membership to the paid membership site that Andy Beard, WordPress SEO and Niche Marketer, will launch on Andybeard.eu (eta and value yet to be determined). If the prize winner already qualifies for membership (some people will), then Andy will kindly come up with an alternative prize.
  
  Now go over to David Airey’s site and sign up.

Write it down,

Carma

Social Conversations

I have to come clean. I don’t know about you all but in my opinion if you blog, you are a social networker. Dawud Miracle’s post on social networking also got me thinking about this popular tendency to promote the art of Conversation. Social networking and conversation go hand in hand. Does that make sense to you?

I read a lot of posts talking about joining and promoting conversations and also how important conversations are to relationships. But I seem to have trouble finding out what the conversation is about because people are having a conversation about having conversations. To be perfectly honest here, there have been numerous times when I want to ask the question…What?

I know I am being a little “tongue-in-cheek” here but if I get confused then there must be thousands of others. Here is my analogy and how I understand the issue of Conversations and Social Networking as it relates to the blogosphere.

I belong to a chamber of commerce and go to the mixers. This is an activity that combines social interaction with business just like blogging does. Local chamber mixers are about business people social networking and blogging is about people social networking with business as the underlying interest.

I think places like My Space and Twitter should not be compared (if they have been) to social networking in regards to business. My daughter uses My Space to keep in touch with a lot of people and family members. These sites are for fun, a little diversion and much like an old fashion telephone party line.

This may sound simplistic to many of you but this is how I have been able to understand what people mean when they start talking about conversations and social networking. I was afraid I was doing this blogging thing all wrong because I didn’t know what the subject of the conversation was about. I would search for hours trying to find something to relate to and when I did, I posted faster than you could snap your fingers while twiddling your thumbs.

In my next post I would like to expand on the analogy between chamber of commerce mixers and blogging.

Write it down,
Carma

B-I-N-G-O Was His Name O

I must admit Cow Patty Bingo is not anything I had thought about lately. However it brings up memories of things... like going submarine hunting in Valley View Texas when I was a kid. Oh, hunting for raccoons was another favorite past time, which seemed to be played exclusively at night...right along with submarine hunts.

Go check out how Cow Patty Bingo works over at Bloggrrl, and while you're there find out why your dog is different than you.

Write it down,

Carma

Are You Addicted to Blogging?

I am 77% addicted to blogging. I am a little surprised about that. But I feel in good company with these two guys. Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great is 81% and Dawud Miracle is 71%. Being a novice blogger I feel pretty good about this type of addiction and I like Phil's take on it as a "commitment".

Write it down,
Carma


77%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

The Impatience of Success

"Instead of thinking about where you are, think about where you want to be. It takes twenty years of hard work to become an overnight success." Diana Rankin

Thomma Lyn responded to Writer In the Making’s meme tag and posted a “recycled post” on Failure that fits so perfectly with this quotation. Click here to check it out.

Wikipedia says that failure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desired objective. What is the criteria for failure? Is it a company failure or product failure? It could be a hyped event like the 1986 live TV special, where Geraldo Rivera had the public anticipating that Al Capone's vault was full of money, but all that was found was an empty moonshine bottle.

Failure is part of life. You have to string a bunch of them together in order to achieve the best possible result. You are only a failure if you stop thinking and creating. Your family won’t think you are a failure. Who is more important than that?



Write it down,

Carma

A New Look

For some time now, I have been wanting to brighten up my blog, but because of my technical abilities, I have put it off until tonight.

Some changes have been made and I hope they are to the good. I welcome your comments. I am making changes in my writing business as well. It is time to get it off the ground and move forward.

I look forward to getting back into the swing of things by Wednesday. Here are a couple of topics I am considering:

When Your In laws Have Keys to Your House

Lucky Juror Number 7

I received my juror pay today. The check was for $96. I must admit it was more than I had expected.

Write it down,

Carma

Hooray! So You Got Yourself a Harley

This is what I said to my husband when he came home on a brand new Harley Davidson Soft Tail. Up to this point in my life, my relationship with motorcycles was one of afar. I was not looking forward to climbing on the back of this 600 pound over exaggerated, motorized two-wheel scooter, which is capable of traveling at the rate of 100 mph or more. But safety precautions have been established and presumably it is safer to ride motorcycles than before.

Under the direction of our esteemed California law makers, it is mandated that all motorcycle riders and passengers wear a helmet in order to be protected from head injuries. The helmet law surpasses the absence of a seat belt law for motorcycle riders. This thought occurred to me one day, as the bike hit a pot hole and I rose 6 inches in the air while shrieking, I could fall off of this thing! My life span shortened dramatically.

The handle bars on a motorcycle serve a three-fold function, 1) the driver can guide the bike and 2) the driver can balance and hold on to the bike, 3) the driver can apply the brakes. While there are no such accessories for the passenger, (except to hold on to the driver, who at any given moment could be thrown over the handle bars) there is an optional add-on called the sissy bar. This piece of equipment is attached on the top of the back seat and is about 8 inches wide and 10 inches tall with a padded pouch that will fit just in the small of the passenger’s back, when leaned upon to give support to the passenger. Instead of flipping backwards into oncoming traffic, I guess it is better to flip sideways onto the side of the road.

This strengthens my case for seat belts on motorcycles. They strap down their packages and bed rolls, don't they?

It is not my purpose to take the fun out of riding motorcycles. Riding motorcycles can induce a sense of liberation, with the wind in your face and being outdoors in tune with nature, not to mention the camaraderie between bikers. When you ride a bike you are no longer a stranger. In a sense, riding a Harley is like writing on a blog. There are no strangers.

This action falls in line with risk taking. What kinds of risks are you willing to take for fun? As you get older do your risk taking days decline? Come on, live a little. But that’s the crux isn’t it?

Write it down,
Karma