Blogging Idol Is Live!

blogging idol

Update: The first edition of the Blogging Idol is over. You can see the winner here.

Show time! All the competitors have until the July 31 (midnight) to prove their blogging skills and to improve their RSS subscriber base.

As you can see on this page you will be able to follow the evolution of the feed count of each competitor, day by day. I will post a link here to all the future Blogging Idol posts as well, including to the weekly roundups with a description of the strategy used by each competitor, so you can just bookmark this and come here to check for updates.

Update: The three weekly updates have already been published, you can read them by clicking on the links below:

The Sponsors

There will be only one winner, and he will take the grand prize of $3000. The prize comes courtesy of these people:

The Rules

  1. All participants must activate the Feedburner feed count at the beginning of the competition.
  2. Participants will need to send a short email weekly (100-200 words), describing their strategies to gain RSS subscribes, and what they are doing on their blogs.
  3. I will group all those emails and publish them on a single post every week, so that readers can follow and understand how participants are competing.
  4. Blackhat methods will not be allowed, so you can’t fake stats, try to damage the blog of competitors and so on.
  5. Paid promotion will not be allowed, else it would become a “who can spend more” contest. Any method where you need to spend money is not allowed therefore.
  6. All other strategies and techniques are allowed (guest articles, contests where you don’t spend money, give-aways, controversial articles, free eBooks), so you are free to get creative
  7. The winner will be the blogger that manages to increase his RSS subscriber base by the largest number (final count minus initial count).

The Score Board

Initial Count Current Count
#1 http://www.standoutblogger.com/ idol1
#2 http://www.stockmarketindia.net/
#3 http://theuniversitykid.com/
#4 http://crenk.com/
#5 http://www.winningtheweb.com/
#6 http://girlrobot.net/
#7 http://techathand.net/
#8 http://www.homedesignfind.com/
#9 http://phatmommy.com/
#10 http://www.roseslife.blogspot.com/
#11 http://www.gauravonomics.com/ 207
#12 http://www.economicshelp.org/ 141
#13 http://www.groovyvegetarian.com/
#14 http://www.bigmarketingonline.com/
#15 http://finaldog.com/
#16 http://www.rajaietalks.com/
#17 http://www.thepaparazzis.com/
#18 http://techie-buzz.com/
#19 http://blog.concholakeaz.com/
#20 http://www.imbloggingthat.com/
#21 http://www.absolutelybananas.com/
#22 http://www.shedblog.co.uk/
#23 http://everything-everywhere.com/
#24 http://umarsiddiqi.com/blog/
#25 http://www.dev102.com/
#26 http://www.theswgeek.com/
#27 http://techiesden.com/
#28 http://www.dsplog.com/ 84
#29 http://www.winningstartups.com/
#30 http://bookclubclassics.com/Blog/
#31 http://tryingtoblog.com/
#32 http://www.indiandevs.com
#33 http://inspiredology.com/
#34 http://www.talkingwithmyself.com/
#35 http://www.iblogtoblog.com/
#36 http://youareliving.com/
#37 http://www.kia-world.net/
#38 http://www.back-links.org/
#39 http://www.sellotapeandstring.com/
#40 http://www.workhappynow.com/
#41 http://www.catchtheposts.com/
#42 http://distilledrose.blogspot.com/
#43 http://www.ebookinformant.com/
#44 http://www.viperchill.com/
#45 http://www.melvinblog.com/
#46 http://nnothrthng.blogspot.com/
#47 http://webmasterplaza.blogspot.com/
#48 http://jobmob.co.il/
#49 http://www.pinoywebstartup.com/
#50 http://apocalypsepicturebook.com/
#51 http://neobluepanther.com/
#52 http://www.learningnerd.com/
#53 http://www.getonebillioneuro.com/
#54 http://www.jungleoflife.com/
#55 http://adhdguide.blogspot.com/
#56 http://www.ebookinformant.com/
#57 http://lovereads.today.com/
#58 http://www.techtreak.com/ 196
#59 dancingaboutarchitecture.org/
#60 http://monkeyblogger.com/
#61 http://mrjavo.com/
#62 http://reviewofweb.com/
#63 http://www.teenblogger.net/
#64 http://www.wardontheweb.com/
#65 http://www.abundancehighway.com
#66 http://romeuy.com/
#67 http://www.thenetfool.com/
#68 http://www.loghomescabin.com/
#69 http://www.crimeandcrooks.com/
#70 http://eavesdropwriter.blogspot.com/
#71 http://debitversuscredit.com/
#72 http://roshanbh.com.np/
#73 http://www.40redux.com/
#74 http://digitalphotographyblogs.com/
#75 http://www.marketeer.com/
#76 http://www.adampieniazek.com/
#77 http://www.solidsmack.com/
#78 http://www.wpthemedesigner.com/
#79 http://debbybanning.com/
#80 http://ml60milewalk.blogspot.com/
#81 http://moneybites.com/
#82 http://www.coffeesage.com/
#83 http://www.webdevlounge.com/
#84 http://www.themeplayground.com/
#85 http://technotip.org/
#86 http://www.technodiary.com/
#87 http://elitebydesign.com/
#88 http://revenuereservoir.com/
#89 http://www.historicalsidefx.com/
#90 http://freebirthdaytreatsblog.com/
#91 http://mommymeryl.blogspot.com/
#92 http://pursuitofyourboyfriend.com/
#93 http://ledgerpad.ath.cx/
#94 http://www.ruethedayblog.com/
#95 http://bensonbear.net/
#96 http://shakethesalt.com/
#97 http://www.hoei.com/
#98 http://www.asiogroups.com/
#99 http://thewmblog.com/
#100 http://www.protycoon.com/
#101 http://discoveringdad.net/
#102 http://debizblog.wordpress.com/
#103 http://applequack.com/
#104 lifewithharper.blogspot.com/
#105 http://www.stockmarketguide.in/
#106 http://messaoud.info/en/
#107 http://theserendipityeffect.com/
#108 http://www.bloggingisnotacrime.com/

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322 Responses to “Blogging Idol Is Live!”

  1. Missy (from Groovy Vegetarian) on July 1st, 2008 2:59 pm

    Sweeeet! Good luck to everyone participating, and you are all invited to come by my blog, and subscribe.

    Missy.

  2. Glen Allsopp on July 1st, 2008 3:01 pm

    Nice one Daniel, looking forward to seeing how this pans out, I submitted it to Sphinn.

    Just out of interest, how do sometimes have different current feed subscribers when this has just gone live?

  3. Glen Allsopp on July 1st, 2008 3:02 pm

    Sorry, that should be “some sites” not “sometimes”

  4. narendra.s.v on July 1st, 2008 3:02 pm

    wow got to see me in 58 :D All The Best guys! seems to be this is the hardest challage ;)

  5. SATISH on July 1st, 2008 3:04 pm

    Sir….

    I had also submitted my blog.Please visit http://technotip.org and see, I have even activated the feedburner feed.
    Please accept me.I am waiting for this contest from many days.Please don’t disappoint me.

  6. NeoBluePanther on July 1st, 2008 3:04 pm

    It is great to see “Blogging Idol” go live.

    Best of Luck to all participants (that includes me). :o)

  7. Jay on July 1st, 2008 3:04 pm

    HELL YEA! I’m tied for the 9th lowest on here!

    Good luck to everyone… I know a bunch of you guys in this contest already (you guys probably know me from DatMoney.com)… I’ll probably unsubscribe to you guys’ RSS Feeds for this month lol… just joking!

    Jay

  8. Josh on July 1st, 2008 3:04 pm

    Is it too late to enter? I only set my blog up yesterday but I’d love to have extra motivation to post daily. :)

  9. John Witter on July 1st, 2008 3:06 pm

    Can you publish an opml file of all the competitors?

  10. Missy (from Groovy Vegetarian) on July 1st, 2008 3:07 pm

    I wanted to add to my above comment, that i am looking to add green and vegetarian blogs to my RSS feed. So do send me an email, or leave a comment on my blog, if you want me to add you.

    Green bloggers and veggie bloggers especially wanted! Thanxs!

  11. Jay on July 1st, 2008 3:07 pm

    Matter of fact, I’m going to take the time to go through this list and subscribe to all of those whose blogs I like… so that way I can help everyone else out too!

    And Daniel, thanks for this friendly competition with great incentives!

    Jay

  12. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 3:11 pm

    @Glen, that is my fault, fixing it :).

    @Satish, adding you now, I missed your submission in the middle of the dozens we had. Sorry.

  13. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 3:11 pm

    I had also submitted TechnoDiary.com for the competition, not seeing in the list though.

  14. Jill on July 1st, 2008 3:12 pm

    I was entered into the contest and my blog is not above.
    You even email me about it.
    http://www.ruethedayblog.com
    Please enter me!

  15. Don on July 1st, 2008 3:13 pm

    I see a few sites and people I know…good luck to you all!

  16. CarolBEE on July 1st, 2008 3:14 pm

    Daniel,

    Are we surpose to posting all the contestants on our blog?? I don’t see anything mentioned.

    How did the vote go??

  17. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 3:17 pm

    @TechnoDiary, added it, sorry.

    @CarolBEE, up to you, I decided to let each one decide on his own.

  18. Brian on July 1st, 2008 3:17 pm

    Good luck everyone - just activated my feedcount and hope to see my name up on that list in a bit.

  19. Jason on July 1st, 2008 3:18 pm

    I’ll blog about it today. Looking good! :)

  20. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 3:21 pm

    My current count is ok but initial count is wrong.

  21. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 3:22 pm

    Also, there should be a column which would read the Subscribers Gain. That’ll be quite handy for all of us.

    ~Sahil

  22. Rohit on July 1st, 2008 3:23 pm

    WOW..

    This is great :)

    Can I get into this at this time??.Are the entries still open??

  23. Rome on July 1st, 2008 3:23 pm

    Blogging Idol has finally started :) I hope I win. lol That would be hard! I am just happy to be in the contest. Good luck to everyone!

  24. Kevin on July 1st, 2008 3:27 pm

    Best of luck to everyone taking part :)

  25. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 3:29 pm

    @Sahil, how do you suggest we do that? I sure won’t update it manually every day :) .

  26. Winning Startups on July 1st, 2008 3:35 pm

    Daniel, So we need to stop all google adsense campaigns and stumbleupon too? I haven’t done that yet.

  27. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 3:37 pm

    @Jill, I could not find the Feedburner link on your site.

    @Winning Startups, yes.

    @Rohit, entries are closed. You need to wait for the 2nd edition now :) .

  28. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 3:38 pm

    @Daniel, You can automate the process very well. There are scripts which can fetch the counts and display them in text. A quick search like “how to show feedburner subscriber count as number (or text)” takes me to http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/h.....t-in-text/

    You can save the initial and current value in a database table, and update the current values once a day using thise script in a cron job.

    ~Sahil

  29. Mommy Meryl on July 1st, 2008 3:41 pm

    Hey - I commented a long time ago to enter and you told me I was entered and I don’t see my name. . .please fix asap - thank you.

  30. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 3:43 pm

    We can also sort the Subscriber Gains, and show the current rank along side. That’ll make it more interesting. :)

  31. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 3:46 pm

    And you can also create badges showcasing the rank, which bloggers could put on their sidebars. This will help spreading the word and will also keep reminding the bloggers that they are in a competition.

    Sorry for multiple comments. Ideas are raining.

    ~Sahil

  32. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 3:48 pm

    @Sahil, you are assuming I know the feedburner ID of all competitors?

    I love your ideas, but still don’t see how to implement them.

  33. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 3:52 pm

    Ahh.. let me search some more.

  34. Julie N. on July 1st, 2008 3:55 pm

    Thanks Daniel for putting this together and for responding to my email so quickly.

    I’m looking forward to meeting some new bloggers and having fun in this contest! Good luck everyone!

  35. Mommy Meryl on July 1st, 2008 4:07 pm

    Daniel - thanks sooooo much for fixing this so quickly - I totally appreciate it!! :-)

  36. Mommy Meryl on July 1st, 2008 4:07 pm

    Daniel - thank you a ton for taking care of my submission!!

  37. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 4:08 pm

    http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2.....count.html

    It only requires FeedId which is freely available on feed pages. Like your feedid is 556178 as seen on http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyBlogTips

    A good php coder can automate the fetching of feed-ids as you already have a list of feeds.

    ~Sahil

  38. SEO Genius on July 1st, 2008 4:11 pm

    This is ace thanks Daniel and good luck to everyone :):)

  39. Missy (from Groovy Vegetarian) on July 1st, 2008 4:13 pm

    Julie, cool blog you have there.

    Guys, if you’re into freebies (and who isnt) check out the blog of (Julie listed above), its all about freebies on your birthday.

    Julie, count me as #3.

  40. Jacob from JobMob on July 1st, 2008 4:21 pm

    Good luck to everyone. My blog aside, I would love to see someone in the lower 50 pull off the win. I’m also looking forward to discovering some new blogger talents.

  41. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 4:33 pm

    @Sahil, OK we can try. Would you know how to do this? My PHP skills are not that good :) .

  42. Duane Brown on July 1st, 2008 4:44 pm

    I appear to be missing!

  43. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 4:45 pm

    @Daniel, I would have loved doing this, but won’t be able to invest the time. I know it can be done in 3-4 hours but still I am preoccupied with things.

    Even a novice PHP’er can do this. Don’t forget, you have heaps of contacts. :P

    ~Sahil

  44. Vishal on July 1st, 2008 4:45 pm

    thats nice, toady start the legend, waiting for tips to increase RSS.

  45. Getonebillioneuro on July 1st, 2008 4:56 pm

    Hehehe…

    Good luck all!

    I’ll win ;-)

  46. Jim on July 1st, 2008 4:59 pm

    Great! Looking forward to competing with all of you in this competition. Best of luck to you all! :)

  47. Debby Phillips on July 1st, 2008 5:01 pm

    Good luck everyone! If our blog wins, we will donate all of the winnings to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

  48. Lance on July 1st, 2008 5:04 pm

    Good luck to everyone participating - this should be fun!

  49. uchari on July 1st, 2008 5:06 pm

    Good Luck for everybody…
    I was checking some of the blogs and start adding it to my google reader… but damn there are sooo many… so I’ll wait for the resume in this site :P

  50. Yuen on July 1st, 2008 5:06 pm

    Hi Daniel!
    Is this only for English Blog?

  51. Jason on July 1st, 2008 5:08 pm

    Posted about it.

    Just before we begin, I’d like everyone to know that I hope you guys fail :razz:

    Just playing, good luck all! :)

  52. Dan Cole on July 1st, 2008 5:09 pm

    Joining Sahil conversation,

    Daniel,
    It isn’t hard at all to get the feedburner count number. I could throw together some php if you wanted me too and send it to you via an email.

  53. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 5:11 pm

    @Dan Cole, this would be nice.

  54. TechnoDiary.com on July 1st, 2008 5:13 pm

    @Dan Cole, Thanks, much appreciated!!

  55. Julie N. on July 1st, 2008 5:17 pm

    I’m with Vishal - I’d love some tips on increasing RSS! And to Missy - thank you so much! I’ll be working on finding some freebies for you Groovy Vegetarians out there!

  56. Julie N (FreeBirthdayTreatsBlog.com) on July 1st, 2008 5:20 pm

    @Daniel - just wanted to let you know I’m on there twice…#90….

  57. Winning Startups on July 1st, 2008 5:24 pm

    Daniel, Are we allowed permission to use your Blogginng Idol drawing on our websites to promote it?

  58. ~Kat~ on July 1st, 2008 5:26 pm

    Hi!
    I don’t see http://thewmblog.com on the list.
    I may have gotten my feedburner up a little late. I was out of town.
    And yes, may the best blog win, but I hope it is mine!

  59. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 6:00 pm

    @Winning Startus, sure.

  60. Rajaie AlKorani on July 1st, 2008 6:22 pm

    It’s finally time! Now to go and carry out my master plan!

    By the way, nice job on rounding up all the links and feedburner widgets!

  61. Anders Eastgrove on July 1st, 2008 6:43 pm

    Cool! We’ll see how it goes. My blog wont be live for a day or two so I’ll be at a disadvantage but I have some trickery up my sleeve. Good luck, everyone :)

  62. Adam Singer on July 1st, 2008 6:58 pm

    gooooooooo phatmommy.com!!! (love the domain name =)

  63. Jill on July 1st, 2008 7:00 pm

    I’m so excited, there are some great blogs on there. Question, are we allowed to use ANY method to win?
    Obviously signing up ourselves is cheating (BTW, how will we know if someone does do this), but what about bribing people to sign up with money or otherwise?
    Just curious.

  64. kailani on July 1st, 2008 7:07 pm

    What a cool contest! I wish I had known about it sooner! :-(

  65. Daniel Scocco on July 1st, 2008 7:45 pm

    @Yuen, no.

    @Jill, any method where you don’t need to spend money is allowed.

    Cheating is not allowed :) .

  66. Jill on July 1st, 2008 7:55 pm

    So someone cannot hold a contest for RSS subscriptions with a cash prize?

  67. Debi Zylbermann on July 1st, 2008 8:11 pm

    Daniel - I did indeed forget to activate my feedcount. I have done it now, and also sent you an email, so please do add me to the list.

    And good luck to all contestants.

    My blog is about Software testing and Quality, so I invite all of you interested in the subject to sign up and tell your friends, (and those of you who aren’t!)

  68. David Shaw on July 1st, 2008 8:43 pm

    Cant see my blog on there mate?

  69. Felicity on July 1st, 2008 9:05 pm

    Thanks Daniel. I’m very excited.

    To start the compettiion I thought I’d offer FREE custom shapes for use in photoshop. My collection icnludes: pen, pencil, notepad, *one red paperclip* and tape dispenser… enjoy!

    Looking forward to checking out the competition :)

  70. Mr. Javo on July 1st, 2008 9:15 pm

    Good luck to everybody!

  71. mitch on July 1st, 2008 9:41 pm

    am i too late to join this contest?

  72. Jeremy (Discovering Dad) on July 1st, 2008 9:47 pm

    I’m not on the list? I know we traded e-mails last week about the site address change, but…. I don’t see me listed. I sent you an e-mail just to make sure, and I can resend our other e-mails if need be. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but I’m really looking forward to participating and learning from this experience!

  73. Melvin on July 1st, 2008 11:32 pm

    Hey man I was waiting for this list yesterday.. btw, i’m very excited… I thought the bloglist is nofollowed… ;-)

  74. Winning Startups on July 1st, 2008 11:33 pm

    Hey Daniel, How about putting the contestants on your landing page so we can increase our page rank? you know, share the love?? This page of your site has PR of zero, like my blog does right now!

  75. Joseph @ Debit versus Credit on July 1st, 2008 11:58 pm

    I’m really psyched about this contest! As long as I pull off some more subscribers I’ll be happy. I’m glad you’re sponsoring this and I can’t wait to see the results!

  76. Krishna on July 2nd, 2008 12:55 am

    Let the best blog (-er) win ! Good Luck :)

  77. Stock Market Informer on July 2nd, 2008 1:09 am

    Great going! Nice to see a huge list of competitors. This is motivating me to increase my subscribers.

  78. Gerard on July 2nd, 2008 2:00 am

    Looks like stockmarketindia.net is leading as of now..

  79. CoffeeSage on July 2nd, 2008 2:46 am

    Exciting! Ok… now, … to have a plan…. I’ve never been to good at getting subscribers, but I’ma going to try it! ;)

  80. Debi Zylbermann on July 2nd, 2008 2:50 am

    Gerard - it’s not the starting number that counts, but the number of additional subscribers …

  81. Transcriptionist on July 2nd, 2008 2:52 am

    Wishing good luck to all the contestants, eagerly awaiting to see the results and the techniques used to reach the #1 slot.

  82. pcgamer on July 2nd, 2008 3:29 am

    I vouch for universitykid. The guy is brilliant! He amazes me all the time.

  83. KushMoney on July 2nd, 2008 4:39 am

    Good Luck to you all.

  84. uncle wilco on July 2nd, 2008 5:04 am

    Thanks Daniel, look forward to getting some great tips from the otherbloggers… and maybe get some more sheds shared in the bargin

  85. Pandu on July 2nd, 2008 5:30 am

    Spicy contest!. But I must wait and learn from other bloggers how they raise their RSS subscribers.

  86. Josh on July 2nd, 2008 7:35 am

    Man the techtreak.com blog is killing everyone by the looks of it. It’s sad to see many people are loosing subscribers..yikes.

  87. Daniel Scocco on July 2nd, 2008 7:54 am

    @Jill, correct

    @Winning Startups, you mean putting this whole list on my homepage? Sorry man it would not look good.

  88. ChiQ Montes on July 2nd, 2008 9:13 am

    Alright, I’m all in on this!! :)
    I’ll start tomorrow with my ideas and campaign.
    By the way Daniel, can we use your image above to serve as a logo of sort on our website? you know it helps to advertise it on our blog.. it’ll spark interest in our visitors. what do you think?

  89. SEO Genius on July 2nd, 2008 10:22 am

    Wow i have surfed on some of these websites that have entered the competiton and most if not all except from mine is a wordpress or blogger or some other sort of theme.

    You guys have it easy :P

    I have to manually submit everything and make a new page for everything i envy your first choice in templates and design, i am contemplating changing to a wordpress theme though myself.

    But i do like my uniqueness :P

  90. Ganesh on July 2nd, 2008 10:44 am

    Can we use you’re image on our blog?

    One more thing,

    May the best blogger win!

  91. Lola on July 2nd, 2008 10:44 am

    My URL sppears to be missing? Is this because I was late activating the feed count?

  92. Daniel Scocco on July 2nd, 2008 11:19 am

    @ChiQ Montes and Ganesh, sure.

  93. Leon on July 2nd, 2008 11:57 am

    Hi Daniel, It might be the stupidest question but I would like to know how to enter the contest.

  94. Nathaniel on July 2nd, 2008 12:45 pm

    Maybe I should have entered! It seems like a good contest! I will be following along and doing the same as the contest entrants just won’t win anything! :(

  95. David Shaw on July 2nd, 2008 1:23 pm

    Thanks for the link!

    Looks like I have made a good start!

  96. Jill on July 2nd, 2008 1:37 pm

    I don’t want to be a tattle tale, but I’ve already seen someone offering a cash prize for their RSS subscribers. It might be a good idea to point out that it’s not allowed -somewhere that everyone can read it.

  97. SEO Genius on July 2nd, 2008 1:47 pm

    Really perhaps send an email to Daniel about this?

    As we do not want cheats in the competition, or people that do not read things properly.

  98. Daniel Scocco on July 2nd, 2008 2:10 pm

    @Leon, contest is closed for applications.

    @Jill, this is clearly stated on the rules.

  99. VENKATAKRISHNA NALAMOTHU on July 2nd, 2008 2:13 pm

    I submitted my blog http://www.stockmarketguide.in/
    But it is not in the list. I have activated feed and count. Where is the problem?

  100. Leon on July 2nd, 2008 2:41 pm

    Oh, I missed it:(

  101. Winning Startups on July 2nd, 2008 11:47 pm

    Can we do giveaways if the prizes were donated?

  102. jagdesh on July 3rd, 2008 2:30 am

    I love this contest.It gives a chance to everyone to be more motiveted to post more quality post and promote their blog more.I will visit all the blogs and suscribe to hte ones I like.I hope the best blogger win and I would really looking forward on the tips how to raise rss suscribes.

    @Daniel,may I write about this contest on my blog and use the image.Thanks.

  103. Daniel Scocco on July 3rd, 2008 9:38 am

    @Winning Startups, sure.

  104. Jehzeel Laurente on July 3rd, 2008 9:39 am

    wow how can i join this? hehehe

  105. O. Messaoud on July 3rd, 2008 9:52 am

    And two extra subscribers already, keep’ em coming :)

  106. Krishna on July 3rd, 2008 10:30 am

    Daniel,

    Please check the below mentioned URL.
    http://www.FeedCompare.com/?fe.....p;months=3

    Can see that these three blogs (dsplogdotcom is mine) somehow got caught in a feedburner RSS count sneeze ;)

    Thanks,
    Krishna

  107. Klajdi Hena on July 3rd, 2008 2:41 pm

    Good luck everybody.

    I’m number 47 by the way.

  108. Life is Colourful on July 3rd, 2008 6:37 pm

    @ Krishna, as per URL http://www.feedcompare.com/?fe.....p;months=3 - The feedburner starting count should be taken from 29th June instead of 30th June. It will be fair competition here then.

    All the best to all participants!

  109. ChiQ Montes on July 3rd, 2008 7:09 pm

    @Daniel .. you should ask for blogger volunteers to be watchdogs for this competition.. they could discuss things they have observed privately with you.

    Or maybe you are doing it.. you know watching us out (a loooooot of worrrk)

    sure we know the rules.. but it would help if the ones crossing the line will be determined right away.. just to keep it fair.

  110. Josh on July 4th, 2008 5:35 am

    Just so you know, #43 and #56 are the same blog …!

  111. Stock Market Informer on July 4th, 2008 8:49 am

    @ ChiQ, this is a good idea, and Daniel - I don’t mind volunteering for being in group of watchdogs. I already shared couple of concerns with you.

  112. Anders Eastgrove on July 4th, 2008 11:02 am

    @Daniel

    I need a clarification on the weekly email. You mean what tactics we used the week that has passed and not the coming week, right? :)

  113. Daniel Scocco on July 4th, 2008 11:06 am

    @Krhishna, yeah I think I will make the initial count for those blogs as per 29 of June.

    @Stock Market Informer, ok you are in charge now of watching the tactics being used now :) .

    @Anders, that is correct.

  114. Life is Colourful on July 4th, 2008 11:30 am

    Well, I have done a quick analysis for you all guys. Statistics is my favorite subject and dailyblogtips is my favorite blog. So I would keep on updating you about the contest toppers:

    Top 8 Competitors:

    Blog | Increase | (%age) | [with stats of 29June, 30June, 1July, 2July, 3July]

    (1) gauravonomics - 64 -> 216 = 152 (237.5%) [207, 64, 205, 218, 216]

    (2) techtreak - 134 -> 221 = 87 (64.9%) [196, 134, 223, 221, 221]

    (3) economicshelp - 82 -> 158 = 76 (92.7%) [141, 82, 155, 156, 158]

    (4) romeuy - 759 -> 835 = 76 (10%) [46, 759, 797, 816, 835] - Before 46, it was 713 - looks like feedburner sneeze.

    (5) dsplog - 41 -> 98 = 57 (139%) [84, 41, 98, 93, 98]

    (6) stockmarketindia - 953 -> 1002 = 49 (5.1%) [944, 953, 956, 979, 1002]

    (7) dev102 - 394 -> 434 = 40 (10.1%) [329, 394, 415, 437, 434]

    (8) umarsiddiqi - 69 -> 105 = 36 (52.2%) [79, 69, 88, 91, 105]

    First three blogs and dsplog did not impress me much because of the deep on 30th June [It might be because of feedburner sneeze, in that case there initial count shall be considered from 29th June].

    Romeuy, stockmarketindia, dev102 and umarsiddiqi are in linear progress without hiccups.

    Guys, I might miss some of the high flying blogs so help me update the list with any missing blogs. I had missed to add dsplog in the list a while back.

    All the best to all participants!

  115. Rome on July 4th, 2008 1:48 pm

    Thank you so much Lifeiscolourful! :)

  116. Tom - StandOutBlogger.com on July 4th, 2008 9:26 pm

    Life is colourful - Something is a bit weird about 3 of the tops 8’s stats. They seemed to have a massive and I mean massive, dip in feed subscribers on the day of the start of blogging idol and then they were back to normal the next day :S

    I think to be fair all our starts should start from the day earlier or later to accomodate for this…

  117. Daniel Scocco on July 4th, 2008 10:07 pm

    @Tom and Life is Colorful, yes I will consider the 29 of June as starting point for those bloggers that presented the dip.

  118. Krishna on July 4th, 2008 11:38 pm

    @Daniel : Thanks, I am fine with the June29th start date. It ensures it ensures a fair competition.

    @Life is Colourful : Thanks for the nice stat summary.

    Any idea about the reason behind this RSS count sneeze? I have been blogging for almost an year and have not experienced such big fall-jum back till date.

    Thanks,
    Krishna

  119. Life is Colourful on July 5th, 2008 2:32 am

    Thanks everyone for appreciating my efforts!

    @ Krishna, the feedburner sneeze is not regular but appears quite often on your count graph. You would probably find it on most of the feedburner stats graph for any blog if you check for last 6 months. It’s a technical glitch that sets your count to some low number and come back to normal next day.

    I have seen it quite a few times by now and can analyze the feedburner data with some online tools available.

  120. Stock Market Informer on July 5th, 2008 3:36 am

    I am happy that due to this contest motivation - my feed subscriber count crossed 1000 milestone.

    Whether I would win this contest or no, I am happy if I could add 200-400 new subscribers like April-May months.

  121. fromDiana on July 5th, 2008 6:24 pm

    Hi Daniel,
    I sent you an e-mail but maybe you didn’t get it yet. You approved my blog but I hadn’t activated the feedburner yet. I did that a few days ago when I didn’t see my site, http://theserendipityeffect.com listed. I haven’t publicized my site yet since I didn’t see it listed. Can you confirm it to me. I’ve lost my internet…ugh! so I have to do this piecemeal right now. What a challenge.
    Thank you for the cool contest. Diana

  122. Peter on July 6th, 2008 4:50 am

    Stock market informer, hah it’s rather easier to add over 200 subscribers when quantity of your subscribers is over 1000. It’s more difficult, when you’ve 0 subscribers ;-)

  123. Umar in Dubai on July 6th, 2008 7:27 am

    @Life is Colourful: great work dude

    @daniel: is it possible to have a third column in the list to see current standings?

  124. Life is Colourful on July 6th, 2008 12:37 pm

    Here is the new list guys, I considered Daniel’s decision to consider 29th June as start date for blogs with a dip on 30th June.

    Top 7 today:

    (Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase | (%age)

    (1 From 4) romeuy - 759 -> 934 = 175 (23%)

    Wow, 99 Subscribers increased in last 2 days [2 days back it was 835] is hard to believe. But it’s just an awesome lead taken. I tried to dig out if any promotion done on the blog, but I did not find any. It must be either offline promotion [which I would certainly like to know] or I don’t know :).

    (2 From 6) stockmarketindia - 953 -> 1028 = 75 (7.8%)

    Seems like the email subscription box right in front on homepage is going steady. But in %age, it’s still too small.

    (3 From 8) umarsiddiqi - 69 -> 124 = 55 (79.7%)

    Steady increase for Umar from Dubai.

    Looks like Umar is rocking with highest %age increase.

    (4 New) standoutblogger - 30 -> 67 = 37 (123.33%)

    Nice enter into Top list, %age increase has left even Umar behind. Have to work on number increase now.

    (5 New) melvinblog - 16 -> 34 = 18 (112.5%)

    Small numbers will grow big soon

    (6 From 1) gauravonomics - 207 (Dip on 30th June considered or it was 64) -> 223 = 16 (7.7%)

    (7 New) phatmommy - 126 -> 142 = 16 (12.7%)

    Blogs from Past Toppers’ List:

    economicshelp - 141 [Dip on 30th June considered or it was 82] -> 147 = 6 (4.2%) [141, 82, 155, 156, 158]

    techtreak - 196 [Dip on 30th June considered or it was 134] -> 196 = 0 (0%) [196, 134, 223, 221, 221]

    dsplog - 84 -> 87 [Dip on 30th June considered or it was 41] = 3 (3.5%) [84, 41, 98, 93, 98]

    dev102 - 394 -> 337 = -57 (-14.5%) [329, 394, 415, 437, 434]

    Seems like dev102 is experiencing Feedburner sneeze, and I hope to see this blog back in action.

  125. Rome on July 6th, 2008 1:12 pm

    Thank you again Life is Colofourful. I checked this post more than 10 times today for your update :)

  126. Rome on July 6th, 2008 1:18 pm

    btw my feed count has been increasing that way since I started the blog about 2 months ago :) In two months I was able to get 700+ to subscribe. It’s not offine promotion but it is search engine promotion. High trend low density is the key.

    I did have a couple of my offline friends subscribe to my feed :D

  127. Life is Colourful on July 6th, 2008 2:04 pm

    @ Rome, thanks for awaiting for my analysis today. With this speed, you would win this contest by 10th July… LOL!

  128. Rome on July 6th, 2008 2:21 pm

    @Life is Colourful

    Your updates here are very helpful.

    nah. I really think some of the other competitors still has a lot of ideas on their mind. I on the other hand have nothing else. lol Will have to do more research now.

  129. Mommy Meryl on July 6th, 2008 2:26 pm

    Hey Life is Colorful - thanks for doing the stats! That is great - but I think I actually might be on the list (I guess I’m just kinda excited because I really didn’t think I’d be able to keep up with anyone on this list because I’m a Mommy Blog. . .) because looking at who is on your list I was at 17 and now I’m at 38 - so I have grown by 21 members. Anyways - no biggie, you don’t have to redo or put me on your list - I guess I just needed to toot my own horn! :-)

    Or - maybe you did look and somehow I’m not understanding my stats and I shouldn’t be on your list. . .that is a possibility too! :-)

  130. Life is Colourful on July 6th, 2008 2:36 pm

    @ Mommy, you are right. Your stats were overlooked by me - apologize. And you pretty much stand at 5th position in the list. I don’t enter all data in my excel sheet, but believe on my eyes and added 20 odd blogs that are running ahead in the competition.

    Please keep on helping me to update my list to get you the exciting analysis periodically. ;-)

    Hope you guys are enjoying it!

  131. Winning Startups on July 6th, 2008 2:38 pm

    When are our strategy reports due for the week?

  132. SEO Genius on July 6th, 2008 4:00 pm

    @Winning Startups i think the reports are due in today (sounds like homework :P) i have emailed Daniel mine.

  133. Tom - StandOutBlogger.com on July 7th, 2008 1:47 am

    4th :D… lets see if I can stay in the top 10!

    I forgot about the strategy. Do we have a guideline for these? or a word limit? I will have to start working on mine.

  134. Umar in Dubai on July 7th, 2008 8:36 am

    again, great job @Life is Colorful!!

    there should be a separate post or something with latest standings…

  135. SEO Genius on July 7th, 2008 9:15 am

    200 words is the word limit mate.

    Daniel has stated above that it should be 100-200 words in length and just briefly go over the strategies you have or are going to be using.

  136. Stock Market Informer on July 7th, 2008 12:46 pm

    @ 122. Peter, Yup I am aware of this fact. My comment was to tell more on the side of this contest that would help me to increase my feedreaders as I have part of focus is towards working on popularizing the feedreadership equal to other efforts on the blog :)

  137. Peter on July 7th, 2008 2:09 pm

    @ 136. Stock Market Informer, I’m working on popularizing feedreadership too ;-) I’ve some subscrisers with my 6 posts on my blog ;-) Now the main task for me - make a blog more famous - and, so, subscribers’ll come with the popularity I think :-)

  138. Evel on July 7th, 2008 5:42 pm

    Is anyone else concerned that they are losing readers? I notice it is not just me.

  139. David Shaw on July 7th, 2008 8:07 pm

    @Evel
    Many people notice a dip over weekends!

  140. Rome on July 8th, 2008 12:20 am

    It’s just a dip in the numbers. It will be back in a day or two :)

  141. Winning Startups on July 8th, 2008 12:31 am

    Evel: I see what you mean - if I counted correctly 27 people have actually lost readers from this contest.

  142. Hungama on July 8th, 2008 2:53 am

    This is fantastic!!! I am getting IN… Competition, fasten your seat belts… :)

  143. Mandy on July 8th, 2008 7:42 am

    Hi Daniel,

    My blog was accepted too but isn’t in this list? My husband has been ill which is why i haven’t mentioned it sooner, am I too late to participate. There were 94 participants when I was accepted on 24th June.

  144. Life is Colourful on July 8th, 2008 11:15 am

    Here is the new list guys, there is an observation which I would like to share with you.

    Top two are tough contenders and both of them offer something free to their readers. Such enormous kind of increase in readership is possible with such blogs with little bit of promotion.

    Well here are Top 7 today

    (Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase

    (1 From 1) romeuy - 759 -> 1000 = 241

    Man, Rome is burning!!

    (2 From 2) stockmarketindia - 953 -> 1120 = 167

    Stready increase! These both blogs are standing out from the crowd.

    (3 From 3) umarsiddiqi - 69 -> 145 = 76

    Bravo Umar!

    (4 From 4) standoutblogger - 30 -> 77 = 47

    (5 New) stockmarketguide - 559 -> 595 = 36

    New Entry!

    (6 New) roshanbh - 317 -> 346 = 29

    One more new entry!

    (7 New) solidsmack - 780 -> 809 = 29

    One more one more new entry!!

    There are 3-4 blogs very close to last couple of blogs, but I decided to limit my list to Top 7.

    By the way, my excel sheet shows many new entries in Top 12.

  145. Rome on July 8th, 2008 11:42 am

    Wow. Thanks again Life is Colourful.

    btw, How did you see my feed count? The counter I had on my blog displays 49 subscribers lol

    My subscriber count drops every 5 or 6 days :) I don’t know why that happens but a lot of people also has that problem so I just didn’t mind it.

    Do you think I need to contact feedburner about this ? :)

  146. Rome on July 8th, 2008 11:43 am

    oh its now back to the correct number. Sorry :)

  147. Joe on July 8th, 2008 4:36 pm

    Is it too late to enter? I don’t think I have a chance but it would be fun.

  148. Cris Cuthbertson on July 8th, 2008 11:52 pm

    Is there a place we can keep up todate with the Bloggers Idol stats? I mean without following the comments?

  149. Daniel Scocco on July 9th, 2008 9:04 am

    @Chrs, I am working on that.

    @Mandy, you missed one of the requirements, the feed count activated.

  150. The Guru on July 9th, 2008 10:22 am

    This is one of the finest blogging contest till date, and that too for corporate blogs. This clearly marks the era that corporates have increasingly started appreciating & accepting blogs as the next generation IT tool.

    Bloggers – we have come a long way!! CLICK on http://technology-nuggets.blog.....wards.html to VOTE for your favourite corporate blog…

  151. Life is Colourful on July 9th, 2008 11:16 am

    Till Daniel brings up some solution as he is working on it, here is the list today -

    Here are Top 7, interestingly there is a new entrant, at 6th position that shows initial count “0″.

    Till Daniel brings up some solution as he is working on it, here is the list today -

    Here are Top 7, interestingly there is a new entrant, at 6th position that shows initial count “0″. Umar has seen some drop in readers, but hope it’s just FB dip.

    Blog Initial Current Increase
    romeuy.com 759 1017 258
    stockmarketindia 953 1152 199
    umarsiddiqi 69 126 57
    standoutblogger 30 75 45
    bloggingisnotacrime 0 45 45
    solidsmack.com 780 820 40
    techtreak 196 232 36

  152. Umar in Dubai on July 9th, 2008 11:29 am

    yes that’s what I am hoping too…. I wonder where all the readers went! Does my blog suck that much?

  153. VENKATAKRISHNA NALAMOTHU on July 9th, 2008 2:46 pm

    I am posting to help new investors to make money in Indian Stock markets. I launched this blog in March, 2007. My blog acquired almost 600 subscribers in just 5 months. Helping investors to make money is my biggest promotional activity.

  154. Tom - StandOutBlogger.com on July 9th, 2008 5:33 pm

    Im still just hanging on to 4th spot :D

  155. Gary on July 11th, 2008 2:04 am

    I think I’m in 3rd now with a mention on PVPonline.com yesterday. I have a few more podcast tricks up my sleeve this month.

  156. Life is Colourful on July 12th, 2008 1:34 am

    I missed to update you on last couple of days, I am looking after the participation in my recent contest on my blog’s first anniversary with $3000 worth cash and prizes. There are only 2-3 days remaining for contest to get over. Check out my blog homepage and you would find the link to contest - Have your pie of prizes!

    Despite the controversy created by one of the participants, to get some attention [Though it was mentioned in the contest that this will be strictly for RSS subcription and it would be later for traffic etc as well but still people keep on discussing why not all parameters now - wait guys!] ;-) - did not stop the top participants to go on and on.. specially the toppers.

    Here is the analysis of recent changed numbers:

    Well here are Top 10 today

    (Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase

    (1 From 1) #66 romeuy - 759 -> 1105 = 346

    (2 From 2) #2 stockmarketindia - 953 -> 1200 = 247

    (3 NEW) #8 homedesignfind - 89 -> 231 = 142

    (4 NEW) #48 jobmob - 684 -> 782 = 98

    (5 From 3) #24 umarsiddiqi - 69 -> 148 = 79

    (6 From 4) #1 standoutblogger - 30 -> 101 = 71

    (7 New) #23 everything-everywhere - 559 -> 595 = 36

    There are two new entries today, homedesignfind and jobmob. Both of them shot up in last couple of days making the competition interesting.

    Alright, I am back to excel sheet for my Life is Colourful blog anniversary contest.

  157. Rajaie AlKorani on July 12th, 2008 3:51 am

    Hey Guys,

    I have made a list of the Top 10 Blogging Idol Contestants, be sure to check it out!

    Once again, I would like to thank Life is Colourful for giving me the idea to make this list, thank you :D

  158. Tom - StandOutBlogger.com on July 12th, 2008 5:12 am

    how is home design find getting so many new subscribers? Their rss links are barely visible and mainly at the footer? :S

    wish i knew his secret.

  159. Mommy Meryl on July 12th, 2008 3:22 pm

    @LifeisColorful - hey there, I think you keep forgetting me! :-) Maybe because we didn’t think a Mommy Blog would be doing okay. . .:-) Anyways, by my calculations I have 56 new subscribers, so that would put me at #7, right?

  160. Life is Colourful on July 12th, 2008 4:19 pm

    @ Mommy, no meryl, I did not forget you. You are in my list. When I updated the analysis yesterday, your subscriber count was 6 less than today, you had 40 increase yesterday. And it was my bad, that I did not update it correctly though the list was correct.

    The list could have been looking like this in my earlier comment done yesterday -

    ….

    (6 From 4) #1 standoutblogger - 30 -> 101 = 71

    (7 New) #23 everything-everywhere - 435 -> 506 = 71

    Yesterday while posting, there were six more bloggers between you and everything-everywhere with 41 to 56 subscriber count.

    Please don’t think that I am ignoring because you are a mommy blogger :-) - I am not cruel mommy :)

  161. Rome on July 12th, 2008 5:52 pm

    Thanks for the update again Life is Colourful :)

  162. Jehzeel Laurente on July 12th, 2008 6:15 pm

    this contest was extremely exciting and fun! :D

  163. Mandy on July 12th, 2008 7:20 pm

    Sorry Daniel I could have sworn it was activated for that blog already, can I still join in?

  164. Mommy Meryl on July 12th, 2008 9:41 pm

    @LifeisColorful - not biggie - I’m just giving you a hard time. Thanks for doing the stats at all!! I know there is no way I will actually win - too many in between me and the top guys, but someone had to pat a mommy blog on her back for doing okay so far! :-)

  165. Life is Colourful on July 13th, 2008 1:50 am

    @ Rome, you gonna win this contest it seems ;-)

    @ Mommy Meryl, you are always welcome to give me hard time. I would not mind it as long as you guys are getting what you want here.

    You are really doing a great job with your blog, and I have seen you increased your RSS number from 17 to 63 which is too good a number in percentage.

    Well, by