Just a quick note to say that I've finally set up the BlogCoach Facebook page. Become a fan today!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Become a Fan of BlogCoach on Facebook
Monday, July 6, 2009
Weekly Widget: Total Posts and Total Comments
Here's a quick and easy script from Blog Traffic Tips that lets you display the total number of posts you've written and the total number of comments your blog has received. Just head to Blog Traffic Tips, copy the code, and paste on your sidebar (for Blogger, just add it into a new html/javascript gadget). Change "www.blogtraffictips.net" to your blog's url wherever it occurs. I used my browser's "find" feature to make this easy.
Of course, this widget's not so much a tool as it is another way to let your readers know you've been at this blogging thing for a while (if you haven't, and your blog only has three comments, you might want to skip this one).
Monday, June 29, 2009
Twiveaway Review Part 2: After the Giveaway
My very first Twitter giveaway ended last night at midnight. I conducted the giveaway to test out the new Twitter giveaway managing and automating service, Twiveaway. You can read the first part of the review here and see the actual giveaway post here.
Here are a few "after the fact" notes about using Twiveaway:
- As the giveaway progresses, qualified entries show up on a list. I had to wait about an hour between list updates. That means you'll need to wait for at least an hour after your contest ends before choosing a winner to make sure that everyone has shown up on the list.
- According to Twiveaway, 141 people entered, most of which were new Twitter followers. That's good, since that's 100+ more people that will see my Twitterfeed links to new BlogCoach.org articles and BabyCheapskate articles and 100+ more Twitter followers to interact with and get feedback from. {Hi new BlogCoach readers!} BlogCoach's readership isn't huge, and I feel like the giveaway got more entries because I ran the giveaway on Twitter.
- Ending the giveaway was easy. I clicked "edit campaign" and then clicked "choose winner." The service automatically disabled the giveaway, chose a random winner and then popped up a screen where I could type the Direct Message that would let the winner know she won (Congrats, Christina!).
- Will I use Twiveaway again? Sure. Once you know how the site works (read the .pdf or watch the video tutorial), it's easier to administer a giveaway on Twitter than on a blog, since you won't have to weed out duplicate entries, entries that don't meet the requirements, or entries that don't give enough contact information. Choosing and notifying a winner is completely painless. I consider the gain in Twitter followers as valuable to my readership as a gain in RSS subscribers.
- For this giveaway, I had followers retweet a tweet that sent folks to BlogCoach to find out about the giveaway. I'm wondering how much more viral the giveaway would have been if I had run the giveaway completely on Twitter, using a tweet like this:
Follow @BabyCheapskate and RT this tweet to enter a giveaway for $25 Amazon gift cert. Enter by Sun at midnight.
In my experience, giveaways always get the best results when you require readers (or Twitterers) to perform as few actions as possible. I'm so curious, that I just might run a giveaway like this one next week!
- Besides the lag in list updating, the only other negative about Twiveaway that I can think of is that all the RTs showed up on my @BabyCheapskate reply page and made it hard to see non giveaway-related replies and comments.
For more about running a giveaway, read How to Host Effective Blog Giveaways
Read More......
Saturday, June 27, 2009
BlogCoach Twiveaway Giveaway: $25 Amazon GC
As you can see from the post below, I'm trying out the new Twitter giveaway app, Twiveaway by running a real, live giveaway using it:
Giveaway Details:
I'm giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate to one Twitter follower who does both of the following by Sunday at midnight EST:
- Step 1: Follow @BabyCheapskate on Twitter if you aren't already.
- Step 2: Retweet the EXACT message below in bold (just copy and paste) on Twitter by Sunday at midnight.
There's no need to leave a comment telling me you entered. Twiveaway tracks your entry automatically when you follow me and retweet. I'll notify the winner Monday via direct message on Twitter.
If you're new to BlogCoach.org, I hope you'll take a look around, subscribe to the RSS feed, and come back often! We also feature a community of nearly 300 helpful bloggers who will answer your questions about blogging and help you grow your blog.
Good luck! Thanks for helping me review Twiveaway!
This giveaway is closed to new entries.
Read More......
Tools: Conduct, Manage Twitter Giveaways with Twiveaway
Today I'm trying out a new service that allows you to conduct and manage giveaways on Twitter. It's called Twiveaway (Sigh. Must every Twitter app be a pun on Twitter's name?). By "trying it out," I mean I'm conducting a real, live giveaway! See the post above this one for details.
To join Twiveaway, you'll need to enter your Twitter name and password as with so many other Twitter apps. You'll finish signing up by entering your name and email and creating a password.
At the "Add campaign" step, you'll choose whether you want one person to win, or everyone. You'll give your campaign a name, type in the message you want retweeted [begin it with @YourTwitterUsername] as well as a "Thank You" message, and indicate whether you want the campaign to start immediately. If not, your campaign will be saved to your dashboard.
Your third task is to get the word out about your giveaway (Twiveaway doesn't do that automatically). Post a message on Twitter, your blog, Facebook page, or all of the above announcing your giveaway and telling people how to enter.
Twiveaway has a great explanatory video as well as a helpful .pdf tutorial. I highly recommend that you take a look at them before running your first giveaway.
As your giveaway progresses, you'll be able to see the qualified giveaway entries by clicking "view candidates" on your dashboard. Twiveaway allows you to select your winner randomly from the pool of entries with one click. It will notify the winner automatically via Twitter direct message that you create beforehand. You can also let all of your followers know automatically that a winner has been chosen.
Read the rest of the Twiveaway review to see how it all worked out: Twiveaway Review Part 2: After the Giveaway
Be sure to let me know how you liked the giveaway. And if you use Twiveaway on your blog, I'd love to hear about it.
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