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.

Before I jump into the statistics and the beaucoup dollars I made during March, I would like to address the frequency with which I post. As many of you know, I have a full time job, but I also have my own business that I run in the evenings from my home. I’m a freelance writer. The past month has seen my freelance writing jobs more than double. I suppose everyone wanted some explosive content!

So because I’ve been working at night more often, I’ve let the blog slide. Tim from The Money Kings asked in a comment why I’m not posting as often. I still have ideas, but have got to put the bacon in the fridge. I will be continuing this blog until infinity and beyond. You can expect two to three posts a week, including the weekly implosion, like this one.

So without further ado, I give you the March report.

March Traffic and Goals

March saw a great amount of traffic.

5,214 Visits
7,324 Pageviews

My goals for March were as follows:

1. Receive 200+ unique visits a day.
2. Increase my page views to over 10,000.
3. Increase time spent on site to average over 2 minutes. 
4. Network with other bloggers.
5. Guest post at least once.
6. Comment often on other blogs in my niche.
7. Raise exposure through Entrecard.
8. Increase RSS subscription numbers by 20.

I was right around 170 average visits a day. My biggest day was March 7th with 437 visits. The big pull for that day was my post entitled How to Write Well, Not Good. I made it to three quarters of the pageview goal. I’m not too disappointed about that, since I have a lot of content on my main page. My time spent on site average actually dropped. This could be due to not posting as frequently as well as Entrecard users dropping and flying. When I post, I usually see this number increase. Especially if I do a podcast, which I need to do again.

I continued to network with other bloggers, namely on Twitter. I even had the benefit of tweeting Problogger my best post title from March, which earned me a link off his blog. The Creating Stop Signs for Site Traffic post is listed at number nine, if you’re interested in looking.

I did do a guest post for Ben Barden.com early in the month. He asked me to write about BlogCatalog, which I think I did well enough.

I don’t think I did well enough with commenting. I was too busy to read a lot of blogs. I also had the flu this month, which did enable me to comment on neighboring blogs. It was either that or watch the Price is Right. I opted to read blogs.

I’ve continued to participate in Entrecard, although I think less than before. I drop maybe 75 - 100 cards a day.

The final measure of any blog’s worth — the RSS subscription numbers. I set a goal to go from 60 subscribers at the end of February to 80 subscribers by the end of March. I met my goal. I have 84 subscribers as of today.

Goals for April

1. Receive 200+ unique visits a day.
2. Increase my page views to over 10,000.
3. Increase time spent on site to average over 2 minutes. 
4. Network with other bloggers.
5. Guest post at least once.
6. Comment often on other blogs in my niche.
7. Raise exposure through Twitter and Entrecard.
8. Increase RSS subscription numbers to 100!

I took it easy on myself. Small steps on the journey. I hope to break 100 subscribers in April. It’ll happen!

Thanks to My Readers

I just want to take a minute to thank my readers. Stand up. Yes, you. Stand up and give yourself a hand. You’ve been wonderful. I couldn’t have done any of my goals for March without you.  

Ad Facts

I did make my first ad sale on the site. The sponsor On the Dot Designs should be visited by everyone. You can see their animated .gif in the sidebar. I should also mention I sold the ad through the Digital Folders network, so it does pay to join a blog network. I did nothing other than enjoy the benefits of the service.

Upcoming Explosions

I have one morbid topic in mind, which I’m debating whether or not to write. I’ve never seen any post topic discuss this. I’m going to keep the topic secret for obvious reasons, and hope that I can come to the right decision. The topic is only morbid, not the content. I’m not slagging anyone or anything like that. It may just not be enjoyable to read. More will be revealed.

I’m writing a new Powder Keg review as well. Can you believe its been so long since the last? I had the stop sign series which took me out of my rthym with the series. I’ll get back into it.

So March was great, but April should be fantastic!

We’re back again with another $100 contest for April. The rules are simple, so be sure to enter. It’s a quick way to make a buck (or 100 of them).

For those who entered the March contest, the results will be online soon. Keep your fingers crossed…

To gain entries into the contest, just do any of the following:

- Make a comment of value (not just “i agree”, etc.) on a post = 1 entry (remember to comment on all blogs)

- Subscribe to RSS via email = 2 entries (per blog you subscribe to!)

- Write a post about the contest on your blog (must include a link to this page and the links below to participating blogs) = 25 entries

Please note: If you are already subscribed to any of the sites below, you are already earning entries. Also, to get credit for posting about the contest, your post’s link must show up in the comments below or in the comments on one of the other blogs below.

How much easier can we make it? So you can sneak in with just one entry by simply posting a comment here, you can increase your odds by reading and commenting on a few more posts here and at one of the blogs below and maybe subscribe to a couple, or you can really up the odds and subscribe to all all of our blogs (which you’ll enjoy reading anyway), comment on a bunch of posts, and blog about this contest. The more entries you earn, the better your odds, of course. If you’re going to post about this contest, just grab the image and code from here.

The deadline for this contest is 12:00 AM May 1, 2008.

Who wants to pay you?

- JoeTech.com

- Link Bait

- Gorilla Sushi

- CK Marketing

- The Big Bald Blog

- How 2 Blogger

- Jason Boom

- Mr Javo

- AFrogtoKiss.net

In the wild, bloggers tend to group together inside networks to survive. These instincts have been honed over several years of dangerous online activity. For instance, they survived the Blogger buyout, the various Wordpress hacks, and the influx of comment spam. They’re strong creatures.

But there’s always one that stands apart from the rest. When you spot an Alpha blog, we suggest walking backwards slowly. Do not break eye contact, as the blog will likely take you down like a gimp zebra. Just stay calm. Here’s several ways to spot an alpha blog.

1. You notice your hair stand on end when you visit their blog. It’s a biological reaction to the blog’s superior writing, resources, and design. It could also be related to the large RSS numbers seen in the Feedburner counter.
2. When challenged, the alpha blog will exert superior debating skills, causing the beta blog to falter. Alpha blogs do not casually exist, but are regarded as authorities.
3. Alpha blogs eat first. Their posts circumvent other news sites as they have contacts within organizations. Who wouldn’t go to the alpha blog with their spectacular press release?
4. Beta blogs act on command of the alpha blog. The alpha blogs say, “Use this monetization method,” and within weeks thousands of loyal beta blogs have implemented the method. This also works for contests. Beta blog contests usually fall flat, while Alpha blog contests win the web.
5. Alpha blogs receive their status from sheer willpower. They gain momentum with readers through superior content and marketing maneuvers. They can however be toppled by beta blogs. In this highly social species, politics may take a part in determining the next alpha blog.

In this highly social society, it’s often blog eats blog. Be sure you know your territory well. You may be walking into the jaws of an Alpha blog.