The Art of Organizing a Successful Guest Blogging Contest

June 3, 2010 - Last Modified: April 1, 2014 by Hesham Zebida

Organizing successful guest blogging contests became a habit for us on FamousBloggers as one of our blogging goals is to create a healthy environment for bloggers and help them to make money from the internet, we are talking here about real cash money, so let me tell you about our exciting news and how FamousBloggers and The ComLuv Network united and working now together to change the concept of sponsoring online blogging contests and to bring to you the best blogging contest ever to our growing blogging community.

Why It’s Completely Different than any other Contest?

Probably you know about our latest successful blogging contest, and maybe you came across this post wrote and the poll I created last week when I asked our readers and bloggers about the best blogging contest prize they prefer and like to win from such blogging contests, and I have received some nice feedback and votes, I would like to thank everyone who added his vote and comment to the poll post.

Basically I didn’t put prize amount or how much it worth, that was to get the most honest feedback and votes on the poll! We have got 49 votes and most of the voters preferred the cash prizes than anything else!

I must admit that it was a smart decision because simply money can buy all other prizes (suppose you will win money enough to buy an e-book, theme, logo design or any other service), so.. I actually don’t understand why other people voted for other non-cash prizes and ignored the cash, it’s kind of weird and funny at the same time 🙂

But anyways, this is the main difference between our contest and any other contests running now on the blogosphere, we asked our bloggers what they want, and while they were voting, we was working hard to bring it to them, and this is how we organize it!

Contest Organizers

Andy of The ComLuv Network and CommentLuv plugin, Gail the Social Media Marketing Strategist and me, the three of us were planning and organizing together the biggest blogging contest ever, we have discussed this a lot in our emails last week while we are choosing the best way to organize our contest and make it unforgettable!

Check out our Great Sponsors and $2900 Cash Prizes

I would like to thank everyone who sponsored this contest for being so kind to respond to us from the first call, that was really impressing and show how much they care for the community.

$300 SPONSOR

– Main sponsor The ComLuv Network
– Claims.com specialists in Accidents at Work Claims and Compensation

$150 SPONSORS

– FamousBloggers ~ Group blog about How to Blog, making money and blogging for business.
– Brian Longest ~ GoDaddy Coupon FAN3 30% Off

$100 SPONSORS:

– Andy Bailey’s personal fiddyp blog
– FiredWok Chinese Takeaway & Delivery ~ Chinese Takeaway Lancaster
– GoodMillwork ~ Florida Based Millwork Architectural Mouldings
– Andrew Rondeau Ltd ~ Blogging Guide
– Marc Duquette ~ Scribnia Blogging Community
– The Happy Guy Marketing ~ professional SEO consultant
– The Online Recruiters Directory ~ Executive search firms
– Monster Auto ~ Auto Monster Cars Blog
– Bill – ANS Gear ~ Paintball Guns & Gear
– Cori Padgett- Big Girl Branding ~ Entrepreneur Business
– NowRelevant.com ~ Best new search engine
– The Internet Time Machine ~ Niche marketing software

$50 Sponsors

– DennisEdell ~ Direct Sales Marketing Coach
– Ditesco ~ Home Based Business Resources
– Firas ~ WP Worx – WordPress Services
– Kiesha ~ Blogging tips & tricks to help you blog better
– Melinda ~ Simple Home Organization
– Dan Keller – TycoonBlogger ~ Promote Your Blog
– ProjectCenter ~ Club Flyers
– PPI Claims ~ PPI Claims
– Free Gifts ~ Free Gifts
– Zoomit Canada ~ Social Bookmarking just for Canada
– Fence Houston ~ Houston fence contractor
– Fence Philadelphia ~ Philadelphia fence company
– Location Villa Espagne ~ Location Villa Costa Brava
– Lube Oil Sales ~ Buy Amsoil Motor Oil
– Olympic EyeWear ~ Designer sunglasses
– Miss Wise Law ~ Law & Legal Information

Want to sponsor our contest?

Contact us right a way and let’s have a little chat, we are open for sponsors till the end of the contest, remember… The more early you are the more links you will get.

It’s the Freedom to Choose!

It’s the choice of our community, and because we not gaming or playing, we are not blogging just to blog, no… no my friends, read our about page about and you will know that we are so serious about making money online, and because we want everybody in our community to make money with us, we have collected a big amount of cash prizes for our coming contest winners! YES.. it’s true.. We want you to win the cash prize you asked for, so you can buy what you need and want!

Why Cash money is the best Prize?

Simply because money can buy any other thing you need, even if it’s not for your blog or blogging proposes, I know a lot of bloggers who don’t need a new of fancy blog theme, they don’t need a $200 logo design, really.. they don’t need anything from that, they just need to pay the rent, they need to pay their life expenses, maybe buy something for their kids, or maybe they are not married yet and want to save some money, I think now you got the point!

When the contest starts?

Basically, we will start accepting articles on the 7th of June 2010, and we will keep it open for one month, it will be so close to our last guest blogging contest, you can learn more about the contest by reading the FamousBloggers ComLuv contest post on ComLuv.com, I will be updating you soon, so get ready and prepare yourself and time for this awesome coming contest, and let’s meet in a few days from now.

What if you didn’t win?

With us you will never lose because we are all winners. If you don’t win the cash prize, you will win the exposure and increase your blog readership, you will certainly enhance your blogging experience and skills, I am so sure you will learn something new from this experiment, and at least you will win our hearts and friendship!

Have a question about the contest? Ask me in the comments.

About Hesham Zebida

Follow @hishaman

I create websites with WordPress, and I develop Schema Plugins to help SEOs. I am a social network lover. I am also the night creature who works hard to keep this project up. Owner and founder of the Famous Blog.

{ 72 Responses }

Richard Brokenshire says:

I think I'd rather have a banner ad on a top 10,000 website like this! That would be worth more than the little bit of cash that's available.
Shariq says:

I will also vote cash prizes.
- Hesham says:
  
  Great! we have a new contest will start at the first of March 2011
Sagar Gholap says:

Whoa..that's a very big giveaway! A big thanks to all the upcoming and current sponsors. Anyone who wins the prize could be very lucky as he has been given a chance to get their websites going good ahead unlike the struggling newbies. I'll checkout the sites of all the sponsors above as I will be participating in the giveaway as soon as the details are out. Cheers! Regards, Sagar Gholap
- Hesham says:
  
  Thank you Sagr, the contest post will be publish in a few!
Roy says:

looking forward to this great and exciting contest. I hope I can come up with a rocking article for this :)
- Hesham says:
  
  Hey Roy, I hope you can participate, we are going to rock the internet this month for sure!
James Hampton says:

Hello Hesham! I think this contest will be great for me no matter what the outcome. I'm excited to participate. Thank you for sponsoring this contest. BTW: I missed the vote, and I would have voted for cash. Thanks -James
- Hesham says:
  
  wow! that was a very long line of keywords you add after your name, I had to keep only one and remove the rest! Glad you are joining, so.. keep around till we pronounce the start of the contest, and good luck James
Agent Deepak says:

Nice! I am in. Really want to participate in the contest. I need some cash too.
- Hesham says:
  
  lol Ah!... I love good decisions my friend ;) Great.. Good luck
benwaynet says:

wow, I better start thinking of a really good post for this contest.
- Hesham says:
  
  You better wait for a couple of days till you know the contest guidelines , so.. you better don't think about the article now! Want a good advice?!... Think about how you will get a lot of people to promote your article and add valuable comments to it, energize your thoughts buddy ;) It's a Writing & popularity contest
DiTesco says:

This is really great Hesham and I truly appreciate you making me a part of this. This is one of the best prize that someone can give to participants. Ca$h is king, lol. Anyway, good luck to all participants and obviously to the success of this contest (although I am sure it will be a killer). Hesham, will publish a post sometime today or tomorrow to spread the word. I am so excited I will maybe one of these days ask your help to organize a similar contest on iBlogZone, hehe
- Hesham says:
  
  lol no problem my friend .. at any time :) anyways.. you know me.. I love the Team work ;) It will be great if you can post sponsors links in your post like Kristi did at Kikolani! Thank you a lot DiTesco for sponsoring the contest
  - DiTesco says:
    
    Sure Hesham. No problem whatsoever, I was actually thinking of doing that. I'll let you know when it goes live. Sometime today. I hope it's ok with you, but I am thinking of using your image. Is that OK?
    - Hesham says:
      
      Cool, yes plz .. feel free to use the image, thanks alot
tonyknuckles says:

Standing by for the latest on how to get a crack at some of this good cash money. Hoping the requirements for the contest aren't too weird.
- Hesham says:
  
  Requirements will not be weired, but the most important thing is that you will have to write about the contest and include all sponsors links, this is why they are sponsoring our contest! so.. if you are OK with this one will be happy with other simple requirements :)
  - tonyknuckles says:
    
    I was refferring to how so many contests have you subscribe to this, tweet that, make a blog post, and a few other twists and turns in order to make a stake for the prizes.
    - Hesham says:
      
      On the 7th of June we will publish the contest post, it will has it all! For now, there is 3 basic things to decided who wins: - quality of the article - quality of comments + how many comments! - how many tweets article gets! So, basically you can promote your article the way you want, and try to get people to add a Good comment (not a Thank you comment or I love this post comment)! There will be no randomization to pick the winners, there will be real trusted people who give points to decided the quality of your article... ect!
Asad says:

I voted for the cash prize as the best prize and here it is.Hesham,you have really done a wonderful job by getting big sponsors like comluv.
- Hesham says:
  
  Thank you for the good vote Asad, ComLuv is a Partner and organizer before they became a sponsors :) I hope you will be able to participate and make some good cash out from our contest
BLOGGING ACCESS says:

Wow! What a good way to earn more money online... I am interested to become a sponsor but I think I can't reach the mimimum. Is there a minimum for sponsoring a prize? - Felix Albutra
- Hesham says:
  
  It's a great way for bloggers to participate and win some real hard cash, probably the first prize will be $300... so.. you imagine.. no body pays $300 for writing and promoting one article :) also not all bloggers are earning $300 a month! So.. it's a great chance for bloggers. The minimum is $50 and we are limiting that to a number, when we reach the number we will not accept any sponsors on that category level, we don't want to have too much links on the posts for better performance! so... If you are interested drop me an email and let's talk about it!
Tushar says:

will love to take part in this contest....just waiting for the official announcement about the contest and i will be fully prepared...thanks guys for presenting such an awesome opportunity to win cash prizes
- Hesham says:
  
  This is great Tushar, stay tuned for the main contest post! Good luck
Dana says:

Great! Finally another contest in count. I am surely ready for it. :D
- Hesham says:
  
  You better, because this time you can make it and add achieve one goal of your feature making money plan :) So... stay tuned buddy
Dennis Edell says:

Definitely shaping up to be good Hesham, congrats. :)
- Hesham says:
  
  Thanks buddy, it's really exciting ... I hope everything will go good and we can make everybody happy with the results!
Andrew says:

Hesham, You, Gail and Andy are going to have the best blogging contest ever! Cash is always the best, isn't it? That's what people want. Then they can decide what to do with it. It will be very interesting how big this contest gets...as word gets out! Andrew
- Hesham says:
  
  First of all thank you Andrew for sponsoring the contest :) this is much appreciate, we are all learning from you and you showed us how amazing you really are! We have reached $2450 cash prizes now, and we still getting emails, I have hard time replying to all of them :) but it's OK as we might make some bloggers happy next month by making real hard money from blogging!
Henry Pena says:

I love it! Cash is awesome... but I wonder how many people would have chosen a hot product like an iPad, and ride on its popularity. I'm also thinking about giving away a prize and that was my first thought... but I'm reconsidering just giving cash away too! What do you think, ipad or cash?
- Hesham says:
  
  I suggest you go for both options, give an iPad as a prize or the value in cash depending on the choice of the winer, and you will see this working like magic! I learned this from Andrew while he did his contest Win The Latest 8G iPod Nano. Good luck!
Gera says:

I’ve already voted for cash and I think is obvious - but not for all niches. In food blogs (not lot of techies), for example gadgets, coupons and food stuff can be looked better also ;-) Good luck for all! Cheers, Gera
- Hesham says:
  
  Thank you Gera for the vote and for your great support.. and for everything :) Oh! come on.. contests are valid for any niche, and prizes can be found more easily in your niche, I am imagining now and dreaming... man you can make a very good one if you want!
Dev says:

Another Awesome contest man ;) ! !Cash is always .. Great !! I am surely going to join it. Thanks ! ~Dev
- Hesham says:
  
  Of course Dev.. you will be in.. and we will have some fun ;)
Melvin says:

I was kind of jealous because I waited first for all of you to launch your contests and finished it before I launched mine and I thought mine was better and was backed well by a lot of companies. lols. :) Anyways, I think you've done awesome job Hesham. Collecting cash as prizes from sponsors is pretty hard and I really give you a pat at the back for organizing such this wonderful contest. And also expect me to join your contest full blast. I missed your previous contest and (bragging aside) Im currently dominating (or planning to dominate) the other contests around. ;-) g'luck
- Hesham says:
  
  Actually your contest is very good one and has nice prizes, you have put a lot of effort on it, it's very clear to me from the way you are organizing! I just want you to know since now that probably you will have some headaches while delivering prices and some bloggers will not be comfort with the prize you are giving, and this is not your mistake.. it's their mistakes.. let me explain to you... For example, someone will win the "Blogussion Thesis theme" which is not a "Theme", it's a "Thesis Skin", this means the winner has to have Thesis Theme in order to get benefit from the prize! how you will manage that?! I think the Blogussion Skin is not a good prize, because it's not going to work easy like this way! That was only one example, but from my experience with blogging contests I can give you more examples or what you will have to face while running the contest! This is why I wanted to avoid some of the problems and challenges I have faced before, and actually I have a service of my own, and it's a very good one, but I preferred to sponsor your contest by cash prize, so... after you safely end with your contest, you will know that cash prizes is the best choice! Everybody think it's easy, but actually it's not at all to organize and manage a blogging contest Melvin! Plz, don't think that you contest is not the best, your contest is awesome, and you will learn a lot from it, so .. keep going .. and contact me if you need any help or advice! Best of luck to you and your contest!
  - Melvin says:
    
    hey thanks for the lengthy explanation. No worries Hesham, I'm not sad about my contest. Im just explaining my side. Good luck to both our contests.. :)
Andy Bailey says:

we are going to rock the blogosphere with this contest!! I have people contacting me by email, linkedin and more asking to be a sponsor. I just hope my paypal can hold all this money!!
- Hesham says:
  
  Man... this is exactly what is happening with me, I am receiving emails from people since the day started!!! The really nice question that all of them asked was "Are you still accepting sponsors?" .. so I reply yes.. we actually haven't start yet ;)
Kristi Hines says:

Cash is definitely the prize that most people would want to win, I agree with that 100%. As far as sponsorship goes though, it is one of the hardest things to part ways with. I would have happily sponsored for ad space on the site, for example. But I'll happily settle with being able to enter the contest instead. I'm planning a rocking post as we speak! :)
- Hesham says:
  
  Ah!.. this is wonderful.. let's see who will make some cash ;)
- Tia says:
  
  I'm torn, too! I haven't even read the contest guidelines so I don't know if it's something I can do, but sponsorship is "calling my name" as I just launched a new company that's ranking well for some keywords but I'd like it to rank for some other ones. SO... I don't know. I don't know which one to choose. :)
  - Hesham says:
    
    There is no guidelines yet published anywhere, it will be on the 7th of June, means after 3 days from now! I see that you have a new project, so the best choice for you is to sponsor the contest, we are planning to rotate the $100+ sponsors anchors during the contest every week to get their different keywords linked on bloggers participants, this means you can add 4 keywords if you sponsor a $100 prize Anyways, the best thing to do now it to drop me an email and I will explain more to you then you can decide!
element321 says:

We've already talked about this =) I got several ideas for the contests. Cash is always the best prize in a contest. But goodies are always nice as well...
- Hesham says:
  
  Yes James... and cash will buy goodies lol probably will will give the first winner a prize of $300 Cash! what you think about that?!!! awesome .. eah?! Looking forward to see your great ideas buddy, I hope you had a good trip back home yesterday!
  - element321 says:
    
    It was good and no rain! But when we got back, we found our internet broadband router died and FIOS has to ship us another one since none of the local stores has one. So I will be off the internet tonight and then I will be off until until late Monday would be my guess.
    - Hesham says:
      
      Sorry to hear that.. waiting your return safely to the intent world
Colleen says:

After reading this article, I'm reminded I need to organize a blogging contest among my real estate piers. I think it would not only be rewarding, but fun.
- Hesham says:
  
  I assure you a great time, it's a lot of fun.. maybe stressing a little at the end but that's nothing compared with what you and your blog community will gain from it and the new people you will meet on your way to the success :) Set a good plan... and go for it!
  - Colleen says:
    
    You are right Hesham. I frequent money making blog like yours and I've read too many blog entries about blogging contests to not stand up and take notice. Now, I need to consider how I would approach doing a contest. Our main visitors are from Facebook and the search engines, and both are not apt to comment. I'll think about it.
Leone Parette says:

Uh Oh, I think I've been trashed by Akismet. I am leaving this comment without the url, so you will receive this message. If I include the url, Akismet will trash me. I left a comment (now sitting in your spam) about how I love the fact your blog, Hesham, treats new visitors well, and then immediately the blog trashed me. (How ironic!) This is not your fault Hesham. Akismet is under scrutiny by the ACLU for trashing people for all kinds of reasons, including ethnicity, political views and other things having nothing at all to do with spam. There is a great article about how Akismet trashes the innocent without blogger authorization at: Askimet Spam Filter for WordPress So, thanks for the offer of Keywordluv, Hesham. However, as I've said, I can't use the url on this site without the comment being trashed. If you do rescue my comment from your trash or spam folder, Hesham, would you let me know. That way I will be certain that you in fact do not support Akismet's trashing of new and prospective clients and fans. Then come on over to our site, and we will gladly give you a valuable backlink. Our blog is Do Follows as yours is. However, we do not use Akismet. Once we found out that hundreds of prospects have been turned away from acquaintances' WordPress blogs, we decided that Akismet was not for us. Hope to hear from you, and perhaps you could let us know how you enjoyed the Linda Christas Akismet article. Warm regards, Leone
- Hesham says:
  
  I am almost on the blog all the day, and I check everything every a few minutes, I sow your other comment but I was waiting a little to check it because it out! Anyways, I am setting comments not to approve the first time comment, I have to do this manually to check the person who is commenting first... now.. after I released your comment.. you are free Leone .. enjoy ;)
Latief says:

I just win the 3rd place on bloggodown.com guest blogging contest and this month I run a contest on my blog Hesham :) Lucky me you run another contest. I'll prepare for this one since I'm not participated on the latest one, truly I'm not after the contest but I miss to write an article here on famousblogger.net Hope this is will be another great contest, I love the energy around the contest :) Success for you bro!
- Hesham says:
  
  Congratulations Latief, and yes.. let's have some fun ;)
Leone says:

I really agree with you that creating a pleasant atmosphere for bloggers, for visitors to one's site is critical. I see you use KeywordLuv. That program is not only a welcoming sign to new visitors, but it encourages the person to return. That is so essential in business. The big three: Welcoming new prospects Having a great service or product Focusing on the correct niche withing that product or service area. I don't think you are going to have any problem at all being a success at famousbloggers. Warm regards, Leone
Thomas says:

Cash is always the best because people can spend it how they want. I will try and enter with an article when it launches.
- Hesham says:
  
  Hi Thomas, we will be more than glad to have you on the contest, thank you so much!

The Art of Organizing a Successful Guest Blogging Contest

Why It’s Completely Different than any other Contest?

Contest Organizers

Check out our Great Sponsors and $2900 Cash Prizes

$300 SPONSOR

$150 SPONSORS

$100 SPONSORS:

$50 Sponsors

Want to sponsor our contest?

It’s the Freedom to Choose!

Why Cash money is the best Prize?

When the contest starts?

What if you didn’t win?

About Hesham Zebida

Our Newsletter

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Why It’s Completely Different than any other Contest?

Contest Organizers

Check out our Great Sponsors and $2900 Cash Prizes

$300 SPONSOR

$150 SPONSORS

$100 SPONSORS:

$50 Sponsors

Want to sponsor our contest?

It’s the Freedom to Choose!

Why Cash money is the best Prize?

When the contest starts?

What if you didn’t win?

About Hesham Zebida

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{ 72 Responses }

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