Are You Good For Your Word? … Really?

I have been thinking alot about the Blogging Idol contest coming up that I have entered into. For those of you that don’t know what it is, it is a contest that will face a pack of bloggers (currently 93) against each other for a whole month – to see who have gain the most new subscribers.

The prize is really nice. $1,500 value to one lucky winner, made up of $800 cash and $700 worth of SEO consultancy.

Just like any other blogger, I would love to win this prize, not only for the amazing prize but also for the fact that I would have increased my RSS feed count dramatically – having outwitted 92 other bloggers – bloggers that would be using every trick in the book to make sure that it is them and not me that takes home to title at the end of July.

Everyone knows the best (or should I say, most popular) way to increase your feed count is to start a competition of your own. All you have to do is contact your network of bloggers and ask them to donate prizes to your contest in exchange for promotion – and ‘ta da’ you have an instant contest and all you have to do is to set the conditions of entry (subscribe to your email feed) and you are easily able to increase your feed count.

But I have A Problem

The only problem is that when I decided to launch StandOutBlogger.com, I promised myself that I would not host a single competition begging people to subscribe – offering prizes as incentives. I wanted to build my blog on quality posting, being active in my niche, and by providing services that would make people want to subscribe because they would be afraid that if they didn’t they might miss out on something.

Enter The Annoying Voice On My Shoulder

I have been wrestling with this dilemma for the last couple of days, because I was convinced that a contest was the only way I had a chance at being competitive. My mind kept telling me things like:

‘You only promised yourself, what does it matter – just start a competition anyway’

‘Just think of all the rss subscribers this competition will bring in!’

‘$1,500 – that is a lot of money to pass up’

Now the first two statements didn’t do anything for me. I hold my word in high regard and try my best to keep even promises I have made to myself, and if I have to break that promise just to get more feed subscribers, I would be content with the amount I currently have.

But then money became the topic of choice to my little friend sitting on my should, and what he was saying sounded good. I mean who wouldn’t love $800 cash? So here I was with this battle raging inside me. Would I keep my word – even though it was only to myself. Or would I compromise for the sake of money? And if so – what was my ’sell out’ price?

I couldn’t Do It

I am proud to say that I have decided to keep my word. I realised that if I couldn’t keep my word to myself, how could I expect to keep it in regards to others.

I was a little disappointed because I was sure that my chances of winning Blogging Idol was gone, but you know what? Since I haven’t been able to do what I thought everyone else would do – it has forced me to think outside the box and come up with new and creative ways to increase my feed count.

So keeps your eyes on this blog during the coming month because there will be lots of benefits for my readers!

–OFF TOPIC–

You may notice that StandOutBlogger.com’s layout suddenly looks a lot cleaner. Well that is because I have removed one of the sidebars – making it a 2 column blog instead of 3. This was a result of an email that I received from Kevin (BloggingTips.com) as follows:

Hey Thomas,

It’s Kevin from BloggingTips.com. Saw that you commentated today so just dropping by to say hi.

Nice blog you have here. I like the design however I think that the sidebars are a little cluttered with ads etc. I really think that if you remove some ads or make it one sidebar instead of 2, more focus will be put on your content. As it stands just now, visitors eyes are drawn away from your blog posts because of this.

Hope you don’t think I’m being rude saying all of this :) If you need any help modifying it just drop my the bloggingtips forums and I’ll do my best to help you out :)

Best of luck

Kevin

I must say I agreed a lot with what he said, and it convinced me to focus more on my content instead of trying to make money off you guys! I would love to know your thoughts!

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