Blog contests seem to run in the vein of money giveaways, Entrecard freebies, or something over the top. It’s all a ploy, right? Blog owners holding contests simply want backlinks and new subscribers. Exactly, but why not?

John Cow worked with his sponsors to create a unique contest where he’s giving away an Xbox 360 Elite with a copy of GTA IV. While this prize may not attract everyone, it certainly appeals to me.

The Cow has also decided to sell his blog. Do you want a MMO site to moo users? You could buy it right now. Heck, you’ll only have to pay $50K to snag it.

I talked a few weeks ago about the prospect of selling a blog. I still stand by my thinking that its up to the owner. I am still very interested in seeing how this pans out for John. I’m sure he’ll receive nice coin from the deal and he’ll be happy for a while, but can you really put value on the overall experience of running a blog like his? Maybe its just time to move on in life. It does happen.

Back to the original topic — the contest. So John worked with his hosting provider to offer the prize. THC also gives JohnCow readers 15% off their hosting purchases. I think this is a great way to go about holding a contest. It not only increases his backlinks, but frees him up from spending money on prizes.

I’ve been approached to sponsor contests in the past. Many of the contest owners seemed to be holding onto the idea that sponsors should want to just throw out large prizes. Where’s the real value though? In The Cow’s contest, the sponsor should see nice traffic. The prize costs around $500, but for a business this might net them more than $500 in return. That’s how it should be.

Contest owners shouldn’t approach Jason Boom to sponsor some outlandish prize. I’m not a business. I’m not selling anything. How could I receive a return for a $500 prize? Better yet — how could you convince me I would receive $500 worth of anything in return?

It will be sad to see The Cow taken over by someone else. I suppose it will be like that strange cow costume you always see on lame TV shows. The guy in the front half of the costume will switch with the guy at the back. Soon we’ll get used to his personality and one day he’ll probably sell the whole costume. By then it will worn and tattered – a shell of its former greatness.

It’s a question that this blog cannot answer. I’m not going to comment on the great beyond. There’s a twist though — what happens to your blog if you die? I thought of this topic a while ago, but held off posting. I didn’t want to cause anyone grief. Bloggers are typically young, vibrant beings. We’re not going to die, right? Well, according to a recent NY Times article, bloggers may be in peril of experiencing a Big Crunch, so I want to explore this morbid topic.

Before we kick the proverbial bucket, we often times setup wills to carry out our wishes. Our will forks over our boatload of affiliate earnings to our next of kin or the neighborhood postman, depending on our eccentricity. So what happens to our online lives? I’ve personally witnessed MySpace pages fill up with comments for the deceased. I’ve read blog posts written postmortem (gives new definition to that term). I’ve seen blogs with guest appearances from loved ones explaining the sad affair. Whatever the case, our content survives us. Isn’t this what we want?

What if we have affiliate programs setup where our family members don’t surf? Should we catalog our online affairs so someone could access our earning reports, blog posts, and other doings? We do have passwords and logins to a number of ad networks, affiliate programs, blogs, and social media sites.

I thought of building a website to capture this information securely, but it would be horrendous for convincing people it wasn’t a scam. The online safety deposit box. A virtual time capsule ready to store for that ill fated time.

But I don’t think it would be popular for one major reason. We don’t want to think about death. It’s the same reason I fretted about this topic myself.

I searched many sites, looking through Terms and Conditions on Amazon for instance, but couldn’t find anything related to death. I guess they don’t believe in customers leaving this world.

I also searched for websites related to retrieving passwords of the deceased. I expected to find harrowing tales of customer service calls by grief stricken relatives, but found instead a site dedicated to members of MySpace who died, aptly named MyDeathSpace.com.

How can it be that with a wealth of online content, I can’t find the answer to a simple question — what happens when we die? Are our online lives separated from health concerns, natural disasters, and other mortal fears?

The Solution As I See It

We need to create a spreadsheet with the sites we use that have importance to us. Our loved ones might need to know exactly in what pot we were cooking. The spreadsheet doesn’t have to include a password, but simply the URL and login used. I’m sure with the proper paperwork the person invoking the rights of your estate could secure access.

The only other solution would be to live forever. I don’t mind that solution. I embrace it actually. But unfortunately its not a reality. It’s better to keep a postmortem post handy and provide a loved one with a spreadsheet to our lives.

With the rain coming down all around you, have you ever paused between your car and the door of your house to feel the cool water?

Moments can be universal. We can share a specific instance with our readers and invite them to relate on an entirely new level.

We may relate to our readers through any of the following commonplace blogging dilemmas:

1. I have nothing to write about.
2. My comments have dropped dramatically.
3. I need more traffic.
4. Where’s my money from Adsense?
5. Will I ever make money from my blog?
6. How do I [insert WordPress functionality here].

The most important reason to write blogosphere truths? Trust. We can share a trial on our own blog and guide readers towards a solution. (What solution am I providing now?)

This isn’t groundbreaking stuff. Some of the more popular blogs offer advice, tutorials, life hacks, and more. They have found a way to give away what comes naturally to them. In this way, they’ve built a niche around their particular expertise and interest. It’s a win-win. Readers gain information and the bloggers gain an audience.

Blogging Like Kindergarteners

In kindergarten we all learned one thing — how to share.

It’s universal that we learn to share with others at an early age. The mountain of Web 2.0 content has been derived from this concept. It’s users sharing creations with others. It’s the pinnacle of kindergarten success. Mrs. Redwick would be proud.

So do what comes naturally, well, as naturally any lesson taught at an early age provides. Share you insights. Share you moments. Be yourself.

What can you share with readers that may bolster their opinion of you?

In the last installment, I researched a few sites and made claims to the areas that stopped traffic. I think this type of discussion contains value for any blogger. I almost considered adding green lights and nailing a few sites, but I’ll keep to the current motif and only add stop signs to my case studies today. Be wary, though — green lights may be coming soon!

The idea of keeping traffic contained on our site should not be new to anyone who’s been blogging or site building for a while. At times, traffic can seem like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off — running around vapidly, then silently departing our world. How can we rein in traffic? We need visitors to dig deeper into our site, write comments, subscribe to feeds, and interact with our community.

Case Study #3

The Viral King website still has the new blog shine to it. The site features content related to viral marketing, and does so with, well, with coolness. I love the look of it, the curved angles of the sidebar boxes, the over-sized RSS feed and Technorati favorite icons in the header, and, of course, the Viral King character. It all ties together well, and I’m sure new visitors to the site would give it more than a second look.

The site has a lot of stop signs in place. Remember stop signs keep the visitor from bailing out on the content — they force readers to look deeper into the site and idle a while longer. I already mentioned the two icons in the header as well as the character, but I think the header navigation may be a critical stop sign in the design.

The navigation separates itself from the blog in that it stretches the width of the window, while the content maxes out at 973 pixels wide. This makes a difference, not for its incongruence, but for its statement. It’s telling a visitor that its anchoring the page. The search form also appears in the navigation bar. If you need something, it’s there to show you. I would say this is a terrific stop sign.

The Viral King also offers a free Viral Resource Report, which adds another crucial stop sign. Offering free information in the form of downloadable content places your site onto a reader’s hard drive. When they open the ebook days, weeks, or months later, they will likely make a return trip to your site and opine on blog posts. It’s a great stop sign technique.

Lessons Learned from Viral King

The Viral King displays the site navigation in a way that doesn’t detract from the site’s balance, but does illuminate the content. Having over-sized RSS and Technorati icons ensures readers subscribe to your content in order to find you later. Once again, it pays to have a clean site with well thought out placement of graphics. And the Viral King character, definitely shines.

When is the title’s advice appropriate? On our blogs, elements of our personalities get left out of the conversation. A social media blogger may never reveal an affiliation with a 12 step program. A religious blogger may never speak about their left leaning political ideology. A mommy blogger may never reveal their stock trading woes.

Should I reveal religious and spiritual beliefs, political views, and moral stances? I don’t think so.

Should we ever discuss these items with our readers? And if so in what forum should we do this?

I feel it can hurt our brands if we dive into the religion topic with our readers on a blogging tips site. I read a post last week that drew inspiration from Atheism. Does this type of post hurt credibility or increase readership through controversy?

Drawing a Line

I’m a political junkie. I listen to NPR frequently. I watch the news. I listen to political podcasts. I don’t support a candidate on my blog, but I do Twitter various links and informative posts.

If our blog focuses on anything other than our personal life, shouldn’t the personal opinions regarding off topic items be left, well, off our blog? Or is this political correctness muckity-muck?

(Political incorrectness is) a term used to describe language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen as seeking to minimize offense to racial, cultural, or other identity groups. Conversely, the term politically incorrect is used to refer to language or ideas that may cause offense or that are unconstrained by orthodoxy. [Source: Wikipedia]

What happens when I open myself up to religious debate on my blog? Does it increase my readership? I don’t think so. It may increase traffic for a period of time. But the content doesn’t add value to my archives. I feel it alienates certain readers based upon a poor choice.

I’m all for telling the truth about online services, other’s blog posts, new online fads, etc. I do not believe it’s beneficial to demean anyone’s personal beliefs. It would ultimately hurt my content and my explosion on the Internet would be stifled.

Should blogs focusing on anything other than the individual be considered only a part of who a person is?

A Blog’s Character

My blog has my voice. I write blogging tips, review sites, and speak about online services and utilities for bloggers. I frequently use metaphors to describe blogging, because I think this adds color and flavor to my site. I would not demean, discredit or write disparaging metaphors towards anyone’s creed or religion. It would not benefit my brand.

I do see how this type of activity would help certain character blogs. We all know characters that invite conspiracy, demand attention, and create arguments for the sake of arguments. They invite the attention that comes with controversial blog posts.

So what do you think. Should our blogs cross the line into our personal beliefs? Do you want to know that the blogger writing about blogging tips carries Zoroastrian beliefs close to their heart?Or should that information be left off the table?