I've Entered The Contest!

Brain Foggle Yourself to a New Contest!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:19:00 +0000

Ummm...I haven't been too active with this blog recently, but I can respect someone who contacts me to list their contest, especially as by so doing I am entering it, too. Brain Foggles has created The SEO Optimized Blog Giveaway where one lucky winner gets an SEO optimized Wordpress blog with:

1. Hosting for one year
2. Keyword research
3. Advice on picking a profitable niche for the blog
4. Complete set up of Wordpress and associated plugins
5. Your choice of SEO Theme
6. Technical support and continued advice through the Advisory Panel
7. A custom header made by Lori of A Cowboy’s Wife.

Entry is easy: comment, blog about it, post banners, Fave it with Technorati. Contest ends May 30th.

Feed Flare Big Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:18:00 +0000

Feed Flare is having a big contest, but before you copy and paste like I'm doing, make sure you read their entries entitled Really Simple Syndication and Feed Flare (contest details). Then enter by subscribing, blogging and commenting. $500 Grand Prise!

Here are the prizes!

1. Mini Unix web hosting package free for 1 year - Donated by BlurFur web hosting services (value - $70.00) - random draw
2. Advertising voucher with Bidvertiser worth $200.00 in free clicks (value - $200.00) - random draw
3. Blog branding package which includes (Favico, header, logo, 125×125 button) design package donated by Graphic Identity (value - $200.00) - random draw
4. Free advertising for one month in the form of a 125×125 button on Blogging Cents. (value - $35.00) - random draw
5. Win a free advertising spot on the “You Can Learn Series” blog in the form of a 125×125 ad button (value per spot - $5.00) - random draw
6. Exclusive Theme donated by Unique Blog Designs (value - $99.00) there is around 10 different themes you can chose from if you win - random draw
7. Win one of 2 copies of the “Written Promptly Everyday” E-Book donated by The Prompt Writer (value per book -$5.00) random draw
8. Win a copy of “How to launch a profitable free lancing business for under $50.00″ donated by the “Self Made Chick” (value - $12.00) random draw
9. Custom banner design and the size will be of your choice donated by Dat Money dot com (value - $50.00) random draw
10. One month free 125×125 advertising on Jason Boom dot com. (value - $20.00) random draw
11. Grand Prise - 25,000 Entrecard credits (one lump some, the largest amount to be given away in a contest to date) draw date is March 31st (value - not really sure but some where around $250.00 I think)
12. Bonus gifts - we have 200 pages on the “One Buck Wiki” to give away - the first two hundred contest enterer’s will be each given one page as a bonus gift just for entering our grand opening contest.You will still be able to win any of the other prizes we have as well. The current selling price for a page on the “One Buck Wiki” is $20.00 making this our largest prize package worth over $4000.00 in cash value.
13. Featured Grand Prise = $500.00 cash payable via PayPal with the draw date being March 31st. You can thank my nice income tax return for this prize!!!

Total prize packages are worth just over $5200.00 (cash value) plus the 25,000 Entrecard credits. Contest ends March 31st.

Debut Contest from EntreInsider

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:14:00 +0000

I'm guilty several times over (Entrebank, Entrepolls, Entremoney, etc.) of the EntreFad and so I was interested to see what the EntreInsider was all about. So far, the answer is an EntreContest. First prize is 300 ECs, small by recent standards, but I'm playing along because it's a first contest for a new site. Entries are earned by blogging, subscribing, and dropping your card 3x. Contest ends April 1.

Are Entrecard Contests a Waste of Time?

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 19:29:00 +0000

I didn't enter as many contests in February as I did in January. As a result, I didn't win much of anything. True, there are thousands of Entrecarders who have been added to the potential contestant pool...but there are also many more folks who are holding contests.

(Yawn.)

So what. I just can't get excited about a 200-1000 EC grand prize at this point. What with 20 different Entrecard accounts I get 200 ECs just on daily ad revenue alone. Drop like a madman for a couple of hours and I've rolled up 2000+ ECs. I've even burned out on subscribing to blogs as the vehicle for entering contests. By the time I get the email subscription I have already been to their sites and decided whether or not I wanted to read the posts. Archive. Archive. Archive. Oh, why bother signing up in the first place? You didn't really want me as a reader...you just wanted bigger numbers for your chicklet.

So, methinks, I'll enter those contests with larger prizes, as long as I don't have to write a 300 word review, Digg & Stumble, etc. Make me work longer than 15 minutes for the CHANCE to win 3000 ECs and I'm wondering why I just didn't drop cards instead and get a guaranteed 500 ECs. Still, I wonder how those bigger prize contests are faring....

Not too well, if some recent posts are any indication. Did you enter Saphrym's $250 Grand Prize contest? Apparently only 37 people did, myself included. I like those odds and was willing to spend 15 minutes posting and linking to get in the game. Radical Blogger was surprised to receive a measly 15 entries to his 10000 EC giveaway (1st Prize - 5000 ECs) and 13 year old Marko from Blogging Tips got a whopping 11 entries to his 3500 EC contest. I didn't even enter these latter two contests, opting instead to try to create a caption for some dogs and trying to crack a code.

I repeat, are Entrecard contests a waste of time?

I guess the better question is why did I participate in the contests listed above? As far as Saphrym's contest goes, it was due to the large cash prize. Putting a caption on the doggie photo? I liked the contest in that it was quirky and I could exercise some creativity. Cracking the code? It was a mental challenge (I failed).

I believe the time has come for folks to wschew the 100-1000 EC contests and step up to larger prizes where more work is required of the contestant. Why? Short term spikes in subscriptions due to "sign-up" contests will aid rankings but not gain readership over the long haul. There are other ways than holding a contest to spend your ECs that will build relationships in the Entrecard community, like repeatedly advertising on someone widget.

A suggestion for contest promoters: Shorter time frames, not ending on the last day of the month, guaranteed reward for submitting a fully qualified entry, and make if fun!

Saphrym's Largesse

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:28:00 +0000

Saphrym is holding a contest with a $250 Grand Prize and I've Entered it! Contest Guidelines state:

1. Pick a post (besides this one) from Saphrym.com and blog about it. The post can be positive, neutral, or even negative if you just don’t like me.
2. Include this link:
Saphrym
(Copy and paste that code into your html code for your post exactly as is. The link should look like this: Saphrym)
3. Include a link to the actual post you are blogging about.
4. Include a link to this contest post.
5. Comment below and leave a link to your post making sure to provide a valid e-mail address.

The post on Saphrym's site that I have chosen to blog about is My Turn For Thoughts. At first I found it odd that Saphrym would expose himself in such a personal post about God, Organized Religion, Evolution, Abortion, Flag Burning, Capitol Punishment, and Gun Control. That was likely a result of reading the post via email, right after 10+ posts on how to make money online. Saphrym has already shown his willingness to get personal with his posts about weight loss and other areas of life that many of us would choose to shield from the prying eyes of others. The fact that he stood atop the Entrecard Popular page for weeks shouldn't override his option to write about what he feels strongly about. Saphyrm isn't a spokesperson for Entrecard and I fully support his approach to stating it the way he feels it, even if I don't agree 100% with what he has to say. Kudos to you Saphrym for being honest to yourself.

Make the Dogs Talk!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Mapiles.com is holding a contest where you can help the dogs talk.

Contest Rules:
1) You must be an Entrecard Member.
2) Drop a card on my Entrecard Widget.
3) Make the Dogs Talk by putting the funniest caption you could ever think in the comments box.
4) Nothing more. Yes, it’s how simple it is.

This contest runs for one week and three winners will be declared on February 29, 2008.

Executive Apprentice 19" Inch Flat Panel Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:43:00 +0000

The execs over at Executive Apprentice are holding a contest entitled "The Ides of March Monitor Giveaway" et tu can be the winner. The rules are simple, subscribe, comment, blog, and blogroll your entries. From their contest page:

Entries will be accepted until Noon on March 15th, 2008. The drawing will be held on the evening of March 15th, 2008. The winner will receive a new 19″ Flat Panel display shipped with no further obligations, free of charge! This contest is open only to mainland USA entrants. We will not ship this item internationally.

Executive Apprentice is authored by Jon Griffith and is a "blog-powered website running on the popular Wordpress blogging platform....My vision for this site is to create a destination where you can go to learn how to blog using Wordpress."

General Marketing Blog 400 EC Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:42:00 +0000

This contest from General Marketing Blog has a twist in that you can enter by joining the forum at BlogChews.com, in addition to blogging and commenting about it. This one ends on February 11th.

The Asian Economist's 2000 EC Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:28:00 +0000

The Asian Economist has a contest running until February 12 and the prize is 2000 Entrecard credits. Entry is easy...just Blog, Link, Subscribe and Comment. I like this guy! He's trying hard to build his blog and you should help him out!

Tech Freak Entrecard Contest: 3000 credits giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:12:00 +0000

Tech Freak has a new outlook on contests as a result of a mean losing streak. He has structured his "Entrecard Contest : 3000 credits giveaway and everybody wins along with the top 3" so that even he could win something...along with you!

* 1st prize winner : Takes away 1000 credits
* 2nd prize winner : Takes 700 credits.
* 3rd prize winner : Takes 300 credits.

"You may ask, that's only 2000 credits where are others. So, the remaining 1000 credits will be distributed equally among the guys who participated in the contest, but didn't make it to top 3. Hence, Everybody Wins !!!"

Several ways to enter: Comment, Subscribe, Blog, Recommend, and putting an Ad on your site. (I'm doing all of the above.) The deadline to enter for the contest is Feb 29th 2008 midnight.

Bloggernoob is Laying Out Some Cash...Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:18:00 +0000

I might even be too late with this post, but check out Bloggernoob's progressive jackpot contest, with a minimum $50 payout.

Contest rules are pretty easy. Mention the contest, Link to Bloggernoob, and leave a comment.

Affiliate Lounge Non-Contest Follow-up

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:04:00 +0000

The best part of the Affiliate Lounge's non-contest wasn't earning an easy 500 Entrecredits, it was exchanging a few messages with site author Phillip van Coller. Nice guy, and considering that it was 3am his time (South Africa), a very generous guy indeed!

Xavier Media Contest Winner....Me!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:01:00 +0000

Xavier Media holds frequent contests and I scored 350 credits from their most recent one. Thanks guys!

The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Blog...Thanks!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:03:00 +0000

Chalk up another contest win for the BizBeacon! Mark Dykeman of The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain awarded me the 500 Entrecredits for winning his contest. (Read my review of his blog at my companion site.)

JoeTech Contest for Ad Space & Entrecredits

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:37:00 +0000

Just do ANY of the following to enter:
- Comment on this the contest post at JoeTech.com (1 entry)
- Send a visitor to http://www.joetech.com from your site (2 entries per visitor!)
- Sign up for JoeTech's RSS feed via email (10 entries)
- Favorite JoeTech in Technorati (10 entries)
- Put http://www.joetech.com in your blog roll (30 entries)
- Write a post about this contest (MUST link back to this post) (50 entries)
- Write a positive review of JoeTech.com on your blog (MUST link to Joetech.com) (100+ words)(100 entries)
- Stumble one of JoeTech's articles (20 entries)

REMEMBER: You do not have to do all of them. Any combination of any of the above works, but do all of them for the best odds.
Bonus: If your site or blog has an alexa rank under 50,000, DOUBLE YOUR ENTRIES
Entry deadline is January 30, 2008.

The Blog Entrepreneur's $100 Bonus Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:02:00 +0000

The Blog Entrepreneur's Revolution Premium Theme and $100 Cash Bonus Contest is ending soon and the easy way to enter is to subscribe to his feed and comment that you did as much. You'll get a code word in a post that you need to include in an email back to The Blog Entrepreneur in order to validate your entry. And, if you are the first of the two winners chosen AND you have blogged about the contest, there's a $100 cash bonus for ya!

Affiliate Lounge's Non-Contest for 500 ECs Each

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:59:00 +0000

There's such a thing as style points and Affiliate Lounge is definitely setting the standard for how to disburse Entrecredits. Here's the deal: Affiliate Lounge, one of the leaders in the Entrecard rankings, is flexing his spending muscles and tossing 20000 credits out to the tune of 500 ECs each for bloggers willing to do just what I am doing...writing about his site, linking back to it two times, including a screenshot or related picture, and commenting on the post to let him know where you posted.

I like this approach! I can appreciate that some Entrecarders are offering prizes of 350, 500, 1000 ECs or more, and I will still participate it those contests. But, honestly, I've got plenty of ECs myself and am playing along with Affiliate Lounge because of the boldness of his approach. I don't even know for sure that I am one of the first 40 bloggers to jump in and play, but it doesn't really matter. He wants to improve his rankings and I'll spend the 10 minute to help him out as a reward for his style. (But I'll still take the ECs if I qualify.) I like the way he thinks, as displayed in his post about Facebook and Entrecard.

So hustle on over to Affiliate Lounge and play along...you might even get 500 Entrecredits as a result!

Ask The Admin 500 Credit Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:17:00 +0000

Late notice on this contest as it ends today. 500 Entrecredits to the winner and there are a couple of ways to enter:

1) Comment on the Ask The Admin Contest Page with a link to your blog and you will get one entry,
2) Sign up for their rss feed via email and you will get one entry,
3) Blog about this contest and get 10 entries,
4) Comment on the Contest Page about your post and get another 5 entries.

Good Luck!

Android Guys Inaugural Contest, 1750 EC Payout

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:41:00 +0000

First place is 1000 EntreCard Credits!
Second place wins 500 Credits!
Third place wins 250 Credits!

There are plenty of ways to gain an entry into the contest: Comment on the Contest post on Android Guys site, drop an Entrecard on them, subscribe to their feed via email, write a blurb about the contest, put this ad (and link)

ON your site until the contest is over, and place another ad (see right sidebar) INTO your site until the contest is over.

The contest ends on January 31st at midnight (I think that what they meant to say as they are planning on announcing the winners on February 1st.)

Normally I wouldn't bother to display ads for another blog without any guarantee of remuneration, but this was such a cheeky request that I decided to go along with it.

3000 Entrecredits Up For Grabs at SBDC!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:00:00 +0000

SHANKER BAKSHI DOT COM has a January contest with 3000 Entrecard Credits to the winner. Shanker Bakshi describes himself as "cartoonist first, then a radio jockey, television anchor, caricaturist, voiceover artist, novelist..." and his blog subtitle is "The Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Dot Com Guru." recent posts include What is Page Rank? Everything you wanted to know about Google Search - Explained and What is RSS feed and how you can use it?

Enter by subscribing via email, which will earn you 5 entries, or via posting a 200+ word entry (and sending Shankar a copy via email), which will get you 3 entries.. I'm doing both...and it's not clear if that's allowed. Considering the effort to write a 200 word post, I would think that it would be worth several times the value of subscribing via email. Maybe it's just me, but perhaps Shankar will drop the post requirement by about 150 words for the next contest. Either way, I'm committed on this one and so 200 words it is. Do the 7 words in the title count? I suppose I should play it safe and assume they don't.

The contest is slated to end on January 31, 2008 and the winner announced and Entrecard Credits transferred on February 1st, 2008.

Broadcasting Brain 400 EC Contest Ends Today!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:25:00 +0000

The Canny Brain Broadcasting Blog is freeing some of his Entrecredits to migrate to another Entrecarder's account, but you'd better hurry as this one ends tonight! The rules are simple: post, link, and comment with your post url.

I Wanna Be A Shoeperstar!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:18:00 +0000

I'm venturing outside the Entrecard community to enter a contest that is being put on by some internet marketing rockstars, Jeremy Schoemaker of ShoeMoney and Ted Murphy of Izea. What's the grand prize? A chance to join Jeremy and Ted in an episode of Rockstartup, Web 2.0 Reality TV. Oh, and as the filming (yes, as in by a HD camera and possibly headed for national network distribution) takes place in Austin, Texas during the SXSW Interactive mega-event in March, you'll fly for free and be put up in a hotel (chosen by the staff, whom I hope isn't too warped with their humor) and given 1000 bucks to tip with, or whatever else you choose to spend it on while you are in town attending the conference via your free pass. All you have to do is convince the voting public that you deserve to be one of the 3 Finalists and then it's up to Jeremy and Ted to do the eenie-meenie-miney-mojo.

Why me?

Reason 1 - I am a committed Rock and Roll father. My two oldest sons have played in a local band called Side Dish for the past 6 years and when they were first starting out I functioned as their manager. (Nowadays I have been relegated to loading and unloading the band van.) They practice at our house and I really like their music! Even if Side Dish didn't make it to SXSW this year, I should be there to scout it out for them for next year!

Reason 2 - I'm a new and impressionable blogger and internet marketer. I have several blogs going at the moment and could really benefit from the collective wisdom of these two gurus!

Reason 3 - I'm a former AM Radio Talk Show host and can manage to speak without slobbering, and I'm actually a pretty good interviewer. I'd love to get these two guys under the hot lights and grill them about what they really think about Google AdSense!

Reason 4 - I have an interest in multiple intelligence theory and am well versed in temperament analysis, and I think that the world would benefit from as insights as to how Jeremy and Ted are similar, what makes them tick, and whether or not they'd pass a lie detector!

There you have it...4 reasons to pick me instead of one of a thousand hot blogger girls who would be more interesting to see on the show. I'll start packing...

1000 Thanks To Ken Brown of You Can Learn Series!

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:10:00 +0000

Honestly, when I started entering these contests it was more of a hobby than with any real expectation of winning. And yet I found my Entrecard account 1000 Entrecard Credits fatter yesterday after winning 1st prize in the You Can Learn Series Scavenger Hunt / Contest. Ken has one of the more comprehensive sites I've run across while participating in the Entrecard community, but what impressed me more than his site or the 1000 ECs, was his willingness to implement a suggestion that each contestant be rewarded for entering the contest. The idea was to offer each Scavenger Hunter 5-10 ECs for their efforts. Ken ended up giving them each 100 ECs. Job well done, Ken!

RenaisNet's 10,000* EC January Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:47:00 +0000

Tom Hanna is running a contest at RenaisNet that most people seem to be ignoring or not abiding by the rules on, but it suits me. As of this writing there are only SEVEN people who have completed their entries, so make haste and head over to RenaisNet.com to enter!

The instructions aren't entirely clear as to whether on not you have to perform all 6 listed items or if the 6 are mutually exclusive methods of entering. What is clear is that you need to send Tom an email to validate each entry attempt! Tom is putting all of his Entrecard Credits up as the grand prize and is increasing the count each day until the end of January. He updates the total here.

*The 10,000 figure is my estimate of what the total prize will be at the end of the contest and is not binding. What a bummer it would be if it was only 9000 ECs!

You Can Learn Series Scavenger Hunt Contest

noreply@blogger.com (biz beacon) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:18:00 +0000

This one ends soon...January 17th at 6 am ET. I made it more complicated than it needed to be based on how I read one of the 3 clues. So as not to invalidate my entry, I won't give you the entire clue that caused me to search fruitlessly throughout the You Can Learn Series site. This is what it says "What page can you find this partial image which is part of a larger image on the You Can Learn Series Website?" I interpreted that to mean where can I find the partial image (as it was shown) and not the larger image. Well, I found the larger image and not the partial image and after having invested more time in the contest than I intended to, I submitted the url of the larger image. I did think about sending the url of the contest page because it did contain the partial image and there was no rule prohibiting it.

1000 credits are up for grabs, and while the scavenger hunt was a good idea, I think that a 500 credit prize and 5-10 credits for everyone who sends in a correct entry might have been a better allocation. Most of these Entrecard contests just require me to subscribe, link or post and yet if I'm going to have to scrounge around someone's comprehensive site I'd like to know that my time expenditure was recognized.