Blogging Idol Is Live!
Update: The first edition of the Blogging Idol is over. You can see the winner here.
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322 Responses to “Blogging Idol Is Live!”
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Sweeeet! Good luck to everyone participating, and you are all invited to come by my blog, and subscribe.
Missy.
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?
Sorry, that should be “some sites” not “sometimes”
wow got to see me in 58
All The Best guys! seems to be this is the hardest challage 
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.
It is great to see “Blogging Idol” go live.
Best of Luck to all participants (that includes me).
)
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
Is it too late to enter? I only set my blog up yesterday but I’d love to have extra motivation to post daily.
Can you publish an opml file of all the competitors?
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!
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
@Glen, that is my fault, fixing it
.
@Satish, adding you now, I missed your submission in the middle of the dozens we had. Sorry.
I had also submitted TechnoDiary.com for the competition, not seeing in the list though.
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!
I see a few sites and people I know…good luck to you all!
Daniel,
Are we surpose to posting all the contestants on our blog?? I don’t see anything mentioned.
How did the vote go??
@TechnoDiary, added it, sorry.
@CarolBEE, up to you, I decided to let each one decide on his own.
Good luck everyone – just activated my feedcount and hope to see my name up on that list in a bit.
I’ll blog about it today. Looking good!
My current count is ok but initial count is wrong.
Also, there should be a column which would read the Subscribers Gain. That’ll be quite handy for all of us.
~Sahil
WOW..
This is great
Can I get into this at this time??.Are the entries still open??
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!
Best of luck to everyone taking part
@Sahil, how do you suggest we do that? I sure won’t update it manually every day
.
Daniel, So we need to stop all google adsense campaigns and stumbleupon too? I haven’t done that yet.
@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
.
@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/how-to-display-feedburner-subscriber-count-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
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.
We can also sort the Subscriber Gains, and show the current rank along side. That’ll make it more interesting.
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
@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.
Ahh.. let me search some more.
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!
Daniel – thanks sooooo much for fixing this so quickly – I totally appreciate it!!
Daniel – thank you a ton for taking care of my submission!!
http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2008/03/stylish-way-to-show-off-your-feed-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
This is ace thanks Daniel and good luck to everyone
:)
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.
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.
@Sahil, OK we can try. Would you know how to do this? My PHP skills are not that good
.
I appear to be missing!
@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.
~Sahil
thats nice, toady start the legend, waiting for tips to increase RSS.
Hehehe…
Good luck all!
I’ll win
Great! Looking forward to competing with all of you in this competition. Best of luck to you all!
Good luck everyone! If our blog wins, we will donate all of the winnings to the Susan G. Komen foundation.
Good luck to everyone participating – this should be fun!
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
Hi Daniel!
Is this only for English Blog?
Posted about it.
Just before we begin, I’d like everyone to know that I hope you guys fail
Just playing, good luck all!
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.
@Dan Cole, this would be nice.
@Dan Cole, Thanks, much appreciated!!
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!
@Daniel – just wanted to let you know I’m on there twice…#90….
Daniel, Are we allowed permission to use your Blogginng Idol drawing on our websites to promote it?
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!
@Winning Startus, sure.
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!
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
gooooooooo phatmommy.com!!! (love the domain name =)
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.
What a cool contest! I wish I had known about it sooner!
@Yuen, no.
@Jill, any method where you don’t need to spend money is allowed.
Cheating is not allowed
.
So someone cannot hold a contest for RSS subscriptions with a cash prize?
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!)
Cant see my blog on there mate?
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
Good luck to everybody!
am i too late to join this contest?
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!
Hey man I was waiting for this list yesterday.. btw, i’m very excited… I thought the bloglist is nofollowed…
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!
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!
Let the best blog (-er) win ! Good Luck
Great going! Nice to see a huge list of competitors. This is motivating me to increase my subscribers.
Looks like stockmarketindia.net is leading as of now..
Exciting! Ok… now, … to have a plan…. I’ve never been to good at getting subscribers, but I’ma going to try it!
Gerard – it’s not the starting number that counts, but the number of additional subscribers …
Wishing good luck to all the contestants, eagerly awaiting to see the results and the techniques used to reach the #1 slot.
I vouch for universitykid. The guy is brilliant! He amazes me all the time.
Good Luck to you all.
Thanks Daniel, look forward to getting some great tips from the otherbloggers… and maybe get some more sheds shared in the bargin
Spicy contest!. But I must wait and learn from other bloggers how they raise their RSS subscribers.
Man the techtreak.com blog is killing everyone by the looks of it. It’s sad to see many people are loosing subscribers..yikes.
@Jill, correct
@Winning Startups, you mean putting this whole list on my homepage? Sorry man it would not look good.
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?
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
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
Can we use you’re image on our blog?
One more thing,
May the best blogger win!
My URL sppears to be missing? Is this because I was late activating the feed count?
@ChiQ Montes and Ganesh, sure.
Hi Daniel, It might be the stupidest question but I would like to know how to enter the contest.
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!
Thanks for the link!
Looks like I have made a good start!
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.
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.
@Leon, contest is closed for applications.
@Jill, this is clearly stated on the rules.
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?
Oh, I missed it:(
Can we do giveaways if the prizes were donated?
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.
@Winning Startups, sure.
wow how can i join this? hehehe
And two extra subscribers already, keep’ em coming
Daniel,
Please check the below mentioned URL.
http://www.FeedCompare.com/?feed1=offconsumption&feed2=dsplogdotcom&feed3=EconomicsEssays&feed4=&months=3
Can see that these three blogs (dsplogdotcom is mine) somehow got caught in a feedburner RSS count sneeze
Thanks,
Krishna
Good luck everybody.
I’m number 47 by the way.
@ Krishna, as per URL http://www.feedcompare.com/?feed1=offconsumption&feed2=dsplogdotcom&feed3=EconomicsEssays&feed4=&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!
@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.
Just so you know, #43 and #56 are the same blog …!
@ 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.
@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?
@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.
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!
Thank you so much Lifeiscolourful!
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…
@Tom and Life is Colorful, yes I will consider the 29 of June as starting point for those bloggers that presented the dip.
@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
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.
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.
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
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
@Life is Colourful: great work dude
@daniel: is it possible to have a third column in the list to see current standings?
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
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.
Thank you again Life is Colofourful. I checked this post more than 10 times today for your update
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
@ Rome, thanks for awaiting for my analysis today. With this speed, you would win this contest by 10th July… LOL!
@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.
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!
@ 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!
When are our strategy reports due for the week?
@Winning Startups i think the reports are due in today (sounds like homework
) i have emailed Daniel mine.
4th
… 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.
again, great job @Life is Colorful!!
there should be a separate post or something with latest standings…
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.
@ 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
@ 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 
Is anyone else concerned that they are losing readers? I notice it is not just me.
@Evel
Many people notice a dip over weekends!
It’s just a dip in the numbers. It will be back in a day or two
Evel: I see what you mean – if I counted correctly 27 people have actually lost readers from this contest.
This is fantastic!!! I am getting IN… Competition, fasten your seat belts…
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.
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.
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 ?
oh its now back to the correct number. Sorry
Is it too late to enter? I don’t think I have a chance but it would be fun.
Is there a place we can keep up todate with the Bloggers Idol stats? I mean without following the comments?
@Chrs, I am working on that.
@Mandy, you missed one of the requirements, the feed count activated.
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.blogspot.com/2008/07/computerweekly-corporate-it-blog-awards.html to VOTE for your favourite corporate blog…
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
yes that’s what I am hoping too…. I wonder where all the readers went! Does my blog suck that much?
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.
Im still just hanging on to 4th spot
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.
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.
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
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.
@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?
@ 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 
Thanks for the update again Life is Colourful
this contest was extremely exciting and fun!
Sorry Daniel I could have sworn it was activated for that blog already, can I still join in?
@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!
@ 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, bye for now till next analysis. My blog anniversary contest is finishing up in next 2 days, so I am little busy.
If you haven’t had a chance to participate, you can still participate by 14th July at http://www.lifeiscolourful.com/colourful-blog-anniversary-contest-win-over-3000-in-cash-and-prizes/
No spamming anymore
Are you guys waiting for my analysis on this Sunday or not?
– I hope you like to check out the Top list I prepare.
Daniel needs to give me a special award for live coverage of this contest, Ha!
I observed that Romeuy is running with tremendous inorganic growth and he already crossed 500 subscribers within first couple of weeks [that would be 600 I believe by end of 2 weeks of July with this speed]
stockmarketindia.net is growing with it’s steady speed, everyday adding up readers.
There were couple of new entries yesterday, the latter gone back to the original count suddenly today. I could not understand, people are seeing DIP here sometimes, but this blog jobmob has seen a spike and went off…
My dear mommy meryl finally made my list. I was already feeling guilty without doing nothing but she is just doing great I believe – considering the readerbase she has.
Well here is the list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 1) #66 romeuy – 759 -> 1275 = 516
This is tooooooooooo much man! I wish I get 50% of them, and that would be double of my current number of subscribers. By the way, if you subscribe to my blog today – you would be part of my contest ending in 2 days – Hi hi!
(2 From 2) #2 stockmarketindia – 953 -> 1228 = 275
Looks like weekend was flat for this blog – seems all investors are taking rest to start off on Monday. The numbers remained almost same over the weekend – rather 2 less than yesterday.
(3 From 3) #8 homedesignfind – 89 -> 210 = 121
This blog lost some of the readers. And you know what, many blogs have seen small deep in readers except Romeuy.
(4 From 5) #24 umarsiddiqi – 69 -> 146 = 77
Even if small dip, Jobmob’s big dip helps this blog to go up by 1 rank.
(5 From 6) #1 standoutblogger – 30 -> 99 = 69
Again 2 readers gone from this blog like umar, I will call it as “Sunday effect”
(6 NEW) #91 mommymeryl – 17 -> 69 = 52
I can see smiles on her face already. Mommymeryl must be happy to see her blog making to the top lists today
(7 NEW) #58 techtream – 196 -> 247 = 51
You must have read this name before. This blog was pushed out of the list but seems he made it back to the list today
I will mention 3 more blogs today to make it Top 10 list.
(8 NEW) #108 bloggingisnotacrime – 0 -> 49 = 49
New entrant in the list as well as to the feedburner. Seems like shooting up for the competition
(9 NEW) #105 stockmarketguide – 559 -> 601 = 42
New entrant in the list, not sure if this blog was in Top 10 yesterday.
(10 From 7) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 -> 475 = 40
Dip of 31 readers, pushed E-E to 10th position today. Yesterday, as you read – though I calculated increase correctly for this blog, the counters mentioned were not correct.
Anyways, so here was the list of Top 10 competitors of the post. God, it took me almost 20 minutes to write this – could not I just post it on my blog as a post – LOL!
@LifeisColorful – thanks so much for your efforts! And yes, you were right – you can see my smile and I get listed in with all these tech and info blogs!!
I am not far off the list!!
Should be there in 2 days time!!!
Thanks for the update again Life is Colourful
Your updates give this contest life 
Dude Rome! You are rocking this contest… I think Daniel should think over this.
1. Finishing up the contest today on 15th July
and declare you as clear winner
2. Giving away consolation prize to stockmarketindia.net for being 2nd strong outstanding contestant.
and
3. Give me a surprise gift for coverage of this contest
I had a massive dip today!!!
What is going on, lol
I doubled my RSS Count
From 7 to 14 LOL !
I will be the winner.. I am sure about that
@ David Shaw, it looks like many blogs saw dip yesterday. Even my blog was only showing 84 but today it’s back to 164 or something.
Anyways, I did not post any analysis yesterady, reason being there was across the board dip in feedreader stats it seems.
I just talked about Daniel about award on this live coverage jokingly, and he really mentioned me in his latest post of 2nd week round up. Thanks Buddy!
So without taking much time, I would touch to the Top 10 list today. I am very happy to say that many blogs gained lot of RSS subscribers in last couple of days.
So here is the list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 1) #66 romeuy – 759 -> 1516 = 757
I don’t have words to talk about this guy. His blog’s topic, content and search engine optimization tactics are gaining him loads it seems if I believe what is been said. I am of course not raising any fingers on him, when I say “if I believe what is been said”. Mostly unbelievable things are questions like this only – is it possible? right!
Did you observe that he is only 2 subscribers less than his original number
(2 From 2) #2 stockmarketindia – 953 -> 1268 = 315
This blog crossed the 300 milestone and heading which is 33% increase. This blog is also doing very well it seems in terms of subscriber. Both these blogs are being mentioned all over the blogosphere, with whatever their fool minds think of.
Now as I anyways mentioned about it,
In my opinion, I think people should respect both of their efforts until it’s declared that they were doing something wrong. Now tell me, without knowing the domain or niche of their blogs, how would you decide whether they are adopting wrong tactics.
Even I have subscribed to both blogs just because I want to know whatever they would say whenever. And I did not even visit them since I have subscribed. Did I do something wrong? No! I am subscribed their blogs because I would get that info in my mailbox and it will be useful at some moment of time. It might be even useless for me, but that does not stop me from being their subscriber. Simply because niche of their blogs is not like what we see, interactive!
Taking example of MMO niche, in so many money making blogs around, I would only subscribe if it’s worth joining. There won’t be any out of the world information on any money making blogs so I would think twice before subscribing any money making or other niche blogs.
(3 From 3) #8 homedesignfind – 89 -> 244 = 155
This blog is going steady as well and crossed milestone of 100.
(4 From 5) #1 standoutblogger – 30 -> 147 = 117
Huge jump in last few days, bringing him back to No. 4. Congrats for crossing milestone of 100.
(5 From 9) #105 stockmarketguide – 559 -> 659 = 100
Right on the spot of 100. Good going man! Following the big bro, Stockmarketindia.net
(6 From 10) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 -> 526 = 91
There was a dip of 31 readers, but I think it was a feedreader dip as he is back in action and above his figure of 500+ subscribers. He had also mentioned about his 500 milestone in his blog and I am really happy that he is back above 500.
(7 From 4) #24 umarsiddiqi – 69 -> 158 = 89
As few others took over Umar, he is down to No. 7 now with more than 100% subscribers increased during this month. Congrats! Keep it up.
(8 NEW) #3 theuniversitykid – 417 -> 490 = 73
TUK entered in the list finally this week with considerable increase in his RSS readers in last 2 days. I need to check if he is offering something for subscribers now – so I can unsubscribe and subscribe again
.
(9 NEW) #91 solidsmack – 780 -> 847 = 67
He is back again in the list, meanwhile he had taken some rest and now back at No. 8
(10 From 7) #58 techtreak – 196 -> 259 = 63
This blog is again down to 10 from 7, but can come back anytime soon like last update.
Again, half an hour investment in this comment but it’s worth as I am damn sure many of you like to read this.
Good luck everyone.. Its interesting to watch the amount of readers these blogs are aquiring.
Blast, I completely forgot to write in with my list of tactics for the week. Guess I’ll have to wait for next week’s list
ohhhh – I took a dip today. . .
I am around 18 off the top 10!!
Should easily make that up!
I’m at 589 today, which puts me at a gain of 154. I have no idea why I had a big dip a few days ago.
I had two (maybe 3) big things planned for traffic in July and so far one of them is done, and its performed very well.
Even if the second one goes well, I can’t see ever getting in first place.
Even though it isn’t part of the contest, I’ve also seen my podcast subscriptions via iTunes jump by 120 this month.
My feed is pretty flat right now. Don’t know if we have a chance to catch up to the top two contenders.
. But we’ll do our best! I have a contest this week to try to kick that number up!
Ok – totally don’t understand. I started a new contest yesterday and had 10 new subscribers – but my count only went up by 3 – can anyone explain this to me???
Hi everyone,
You may remember my post on breaking all the branding, SEO and Blogging rules, about how I ended up with 2 blogs, and a prize advert that I didn’t know what to do with?
Well, I sorted it out (I think!)
I’ve created a new blog, with all the posts and comments and stuff from my old blogs.
I’ve also given it a new layout. I prefer it, I hope you will.
I’ve changed it’s name so that it’s not just about QA, but also about SEO, Business, Work and just Life in general. The “Who am I” has changed (both the link and the content)
You can access it at Debi’Z Blog (which in URL terms is http://debizblog.wordpress.com).
All subscribers have automatically been redirected to the feed of the new blog.
I’m putting this feed on both the old and the new blog, so you may recieve it twice. If you do, that means that all this worked !! If you don’t, it still may have worked (if you received it from the new blog) ….
I’m also putting this as a comment on all the blogs that I commented on, so if you also commented on the same blog, please note my new url.
Now all I have to do is to get all my links from the world redirected to the new URL
Hi fellow competitors! I didn’t realize folks were leaving comments here (I should have) since I just check my reader, etc…
I’ve gained 16 new readers and I’m thrilled since I had plateau-ed a few months ago. I know my bump is due to implementing the great ideas I’ve heard about through this conversation. Plus, I’ve been really transparent about this contest and some of my readers have enjoyed the journey.
When you do this in the future, I hope to enter my brand new blog. I hope you keep it really laid back, Daniel, even if some blogs are “gaming the system.” The prize wasn’t my motivation to begin with — I’m just thrilled to get new, valid readers.
As I’ve told my high school students for years, sacrificing your soul for points, a grade, or even money will catch up with them eventually… I’m just really glad you did this!! Thank you!!
Kristen, kindly donot use the words like “even if some blogs are “gaming the system.”” – if it’s not proved yet. That would bring moral of people down for no reason.
I feel great if my blog http://www.stockmarketguide.in stood in top 10 by the end of this exciting contest. This is the first time I am participating in an online contest. New blogs need these types of contests for encouragement. Thank you.
Personally, when Daniel wrote: “Remember that I will be strict in evaluating the tactics used by the winner, and one or more people could get disqualified, so even the third and fourth runners up have a chance” and when Jill pointed out in the comments that someone was paying for RSS subscribers, it didn’t affect my morale at all!!
My point was, I think most of us are doing this just to get exposure to other bloggers and to get the word out about our blog, so even if the allegations are true, it wouldn’t affect my experience at all.
My comment was actually the opposite of your interpretation, so I’m glad I could clarify in case others felt the same way!!
I think I am pretty close to the top 10 now!
Daniel,
It takes less than a minute to see that romeuy dot com is completely gaming the system. Everyone seems to be tip toeing around this issue and I’m not sure why. Take a look at his Feed Analysis stats
http://www.blogperfume.com/feed-analysis/index.php?months=6&uri=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Fromeuy
The graph shows the typical footprint of anyone who buys email subscriptions – ie. a steady rise in subs but no hits. In other words there are no visitors to the site and yet his subscriptions miraculously increase day in day out…
1700 subs and 7 comments?
Alexa (poor as it is) shows no traffic?
When his feed drops (and it has several times) he is left with 49 subscribers. How many of you lose 95% of your subs when a feed drops? Most people have a variety of subscribers using different platforms – this site has all 1700 new subscribers using the same platform? Really?
This was a clever idea – good for you and good for your readers but please dump the scammer so that the others feel they have an honest chance at winning this.
Just my 2c but I think it needs to be said.
@Grizzly, I am investigating it don’t worry. This weekend I will get in touch with him to perform some analysis.
You analysis is not conclusive though. It you take a look at the graph, the number of hits did rise with the number of subscribers indeed, didnt it?
I do think his rise in subscribers is odd, considering his site does not seem to get any traffic, no comments etc.
Will leave it with Daniel to sort out! Alot of people have put the blame on Daniel for the cheating of a few individuals, it is not Daniels fault that some people want to cheat. Lets let him get on with running the contest.
Well, I think we should focus more on increasing the RSS subscribers than pointing out at each other. Let Daniel do that job! Your job is to get the RSS count higher.. or my live coverage won’t see any ups and downs, and that won’t be fun – right!!
So guys, mess up with the top 10 list and let me see who can be a “NEW Entrant” this time
Hopefully I am getting close.
My aim is to break into the top 10 on the final week!
@Life is colorful
I don’t know why we should put our hands to our ears and go “LA LA LA LA LA” and ignore what is happening.
I agree that increasing traffic is its own reward, but someone is clearing trying to do it to scam money. It would be wrong to sit back and do nothing.
It is so obvious that Romeuy is cheating, it is the 800 pound elephant in the room. Everyone can see it, but no one wants to say it. I don’t think you can show me an RSS graph in the history of the web that shows a trend like his site has shown.
Romeuy is a shady MMO site operator who runs a gaming website on the side. For obvious reasons, he entered the gaming website instead of the MMO website he runs (which share the EXACT same design). We are supposed to believe that he has increased his subscribers day after day without any pause or drop, without links or traffic to his website.
This contest was a good idea, but it was done without any rules or guidelines. When Feedburner shows subscribers greater than hits, that should be ground for elimination.
You have a point to say, but the hits are not always needed to be above the subscriber count. I myself don’t check so many blog email subscriptions that I opted for many times due to lack of time. And that let me think that there may be many like me who don’t even bother to go to the website just looking at the title of the post.
Does it count a hit, if I just read it in the mail, and don’t bother to visit the blog – I believe No! That was the only reason I was saying not necessarily the hits should be the parameter, in my humble opinion.
But yes, if someone is gaming the system – that is not acceptable here. And even if we have hands on our ear, that does not mean Daniel has. He must have been doing his ground work – so I was just saying there is no point in discussion until Daniel comes up with something.
I am right now not in favor or against of anyone! What say?
Obviously it is his contest, but if he doesn’t say or do something, 1) he is going to look really bad, 2) it will legitimize this sort of behavior, and 3) he is throwing the money of his sponsors down the toilet.
The contest was done with all good intentions, and 98% of the people who entered are playing fair, and honestly, really would like to increase readership for its own sake.
The lack of rules, and the large prize has made it an easy target for scam artists.
All this drama aside, it would be nice if Feedburner could provide some additional information in its data. Unique IP’s, percentage of readers vs email subscribers, etc.
Normally, if you fake your RSS numbers, you are only making yourself look bad and are ultimately hurting yourself by spoiling one of your best performance metrics.
If Daniel does a contest like this again (and I think it would be a good idea), he should use RSS as one of several measures. You can set anyone up to see your Google Analytics numbers, so you could require everyone to do that as well.
Hey guys, its me Rome
@Life is Colourful
Thanks for everything!
@Gary
Everything will be cleared soon.
Don’t worry man. Daniel knows what he’s doing
Just a thought… Maybe the next Blogging Idol (please do it again!) shouldn’t have prizes? Maybe if the prize was intrinsic, some of these (alleged) issues would resolve themselves?
I think that we can let Daniel handle this his own way.
I know that I’m mainly in the competition for the learning experience, since I’ve only been blogging for less than 1 month.
Speaking of which, if you haven’t subscribed to my blog yet, take a quick look at my SEO give-away competition (it’s the latest post on the blog) – just 9 hours left till the end of round 1 !!
Debi
Anyone who the latest scores?
guys, I need help. Please subscribe to my blog, it’s not that bad… its about Dubai, the fastest growing city of the world. I am sure you will enjoy reading whatever’s happening in Dubai. If not you can unsubscribe anytime (after July 31, of course
Wow, it has been almost 6 days I did not do a running commentary of this contest. I was really busy in lot of stuff, was not online for most of the times and when I was, used to be busy in getting out the list of winners of my colourful blog anniversary contest. Finally, I could announce the winners of the contest worth $3000 in cash and prizes few hours back and now free for analysis of this contest
.
So here is the list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 1) #66 romeuy – 759 -> 1941 = 1182
Enormous increase. It’s almost going 200% increase in a month :O – no comments!
(2 From 2) #2 stockmarketindia – 953 -> 1377 = 424
I shall not say but initialy it looked like this blog will be tough competitor for Romeuy, but no noticeable spikes in RSS subscribers with on an average 20 new subscribers added up everyday compared to Romeuy’s 80 to 100 of increase everyday, brings this blog in mentionable blogs in this competition with the steady increase.
(3 From 3) #8 homedesignfind – 89 -> 293 = 204
This blog is going steady as well and crossed milestone of 200 today.
(4 From 6) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 -> 589 = 154
Coming back into action, this blog jumped from 10 to 6 and now at 4. Bravo!
(5 NEW) #108 bloggingisnotacrime – 0 -> 146 = 146
A new entry in last lap of competition. Good luck buddy!
(6 From
#3 theuniversitykid – 417 -> 559 = 142
TUK entered in the list last week with and going with speed. Let’s go where he can reach by end of this month.
(7 From 6) #105 stockmarketguide – 559 -> 694 = 135
Little down from last week’s position but still strong.
(8 From 4) #1 standoutblogger – 30 -> 157 = 127
With marginal increase of 10 subscribers in last 6 days, my friend slid down 4 positions this week. Don’t lose your hopes dear!
(9 From 9) #91 solidsmack – 780 -> 900 = 120
Retained his last week’s 9th position though there are lot of changes in the list.
(10 OLD) #58 dev102 – 394 -> 500 = 106
Why old? Because it’s an old entry – re-entered in the list. Welcome back fella!
I hope to see some action in last week, and will try to update you as often as I can even if not possible everyday.
I broke top 5 position. I am now targeting top 3 but i am stunned by seeing the growth of number one blogger. Good competion but my suggestion is prize should be given to atleast top 3 winners.
I think you are 7th rank today, how did you break the Top 5?
Is it just me or are others experiencing the up and down rollercoaster ride with subscribers? I’ve been told there is a way to see the email addresses of subscribers, but where do you look?
Ok off to write a post about all the birthday freebies and discounts that are flooding my email box since my birthday is next Monday!
Anyone want to subscribe as a birthday gift to me? LOL!!!
I am not giving up. I just had technical dificulties over the weekend (keyboard died) – will be getting straight back into it!
Here is the latest update on Blogging Idol
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/blogging-idol-third-week-update/
@Life is Colourful
Thanks for everything
Wish that I would have come across this earlier … it is July 23rd today … 23 days too late. Then again not sure how many new subscribers I would have managed to pick up … my readership seems to be favorite/bookmark returnees.
What a brilliant idea to give some exposure to bloggers and readers alike. You know … looking for some fresh stuff to read … well … here it is! I am definitely going to check some of these blogs out
I am sad to see Rome going off the list today. He has been always leaving me in an aww everyday. I was proactive to check his RSS count even on the dates when I was not updating the analysis. That leaves us behind with some believable growth pattern blogs. [Rome's was really unbelievable with legitimate number of RSS subscribers]. So let me update you.
So here is the list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 2) #2 stockmarketindia – 953 -> 1413 = 460
After Rome, Stockmarketindia is leading the group with steady increase in RSS subscribers. But there is good competition coming from blogs like homedesignfind and everything-everywhere. Keep in mind guys, anything can happen in this last week. So cheer up!
(2 From 3) #8 homedesignfind – 89 -> 304 = 215
This blog is going steady as well and crossed milestone of 200 yesterday.
(3 From 7) #105 stockmarketguide – 559 -> 739 = 180
Awesome jump! Stockmarketguide almost breached the Top 5 and entered into Top 3 as he claimed yesterday.
(4 From 4) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 -> 596 = 161
SMGs jump did not allow E-E to take benefit of topper’s exit.
(5 From 5) #108 bloggingisnotacrime – 0 -> 145 = 145
One subscriber less today, wass up!
(6 From 6) #1 standoutblogger – 30 -> 169 = 139
Going good bro!
(7 From 6) #3 theuniversitykid – 417 -> 552 = 135
7 Subscribers left TUK today bringing him down in the list. Whatsoever, this is one of my favorite blogs along with Dailyblogtips.
(8 From 9) #91 solidsmack – 780 -> 911 = 131
One position up with solid strength.
(10 NEW) #58 inspiredology – 829 -> 954 = 125
I am really sorry but this blog was ignored for last few days. I was actually updating a list of some 25-30 same top blogs and missed this for long. Sorry fella! He or she stood at 10th position and it would be interesting to track a new blog from today.
So that’s it for now! Would you wait for my next update
?
Indian stock markets gained more than 20% in the last 1 week. Boosing investor sentiment changed my blog fortunes. I hope Indian stock markets will continue to gain to improve my blog ranking. Afterall sentiment rules everywhere.
Here is the latest list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 1) #2 stockmarketindia – 953 -> 1437 = 484
Stready increase as usual!
(2 From 2) #8 homedesignfind – 89 -> 300 = 211
Steady increase again!
(3 From 3) #105 stockmarketguide – 559 -> 763 = 204
Good jump today, retaining 3rd position.
(4 From 10) #58 inspiredology – 829 -> 1002 = 173
Outstanding jump from 10th position to 4th position with 50+ increase in a day.
(5 From 4) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 -> 603 = 168
Going steady!
(6 OLD) #23 jobmob – 684 -> 838 = 154
Yesterday, the feedburner sneeze pushed it out of the list, for today’s return!
(7 From 6) #1 standoutblogger – 30 -> 177 = 147
Need to push more!
(8 From 6) #108 bloggingisnotacrime – 0 -> 145 = 145
No increase today!
(9 From
#91 solidsmack – 780 -> 920 = 140
Can do better!
(10 From 7) #3 theuniversitykid – 417 -> 551 = 134
Went down from 7th to 10th, due to 1 subscriber down
Alright guys, that’s it for now! See you tomorrow!
With a few exception, most of the sites in the top 10 are sites which had high RSS numbers to begin with. I think it is much easier to get your second 100 RSS subscribers than the first 100.
Also, going from 500 to 600 is a 20% increase where going from 100 to 200 is a 100% increase. I think that is something which might want to be considering in future contests. A 2 year old blog will have a different set of challenges and opportunities than a brand new blog.
@Gary, I considered that, but I still found that the limits I used were as good as we could go.
Using % is not an option. Else someone starting with 1 subscriber will be everyone else.
Perhaps the cap could have been lower, say at 500 subscribers max.
It really just depend on how well you know how to get subscribers. There are a ton of ways to get them
The starting number really doesn’t matter.
Today, I dont have much time but still dont want you to miss the Top 10
Here is the latest list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 1) #2 stockmarketindia – 953 -> 1461 = 484
(2 From 2) #8 homedesignfind – 89 -> 309 = 220
(3 From 4) #58 inspiredology – 829 -> 1037 = 208
Outstanding jump from 10th position to 4th position last time and now at 3rd position.
(4 From 3) #105 stockmarketguide – 559 -> 763 = 204
(5 From 4) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 -> 608 = 173
(6 From 7) #1 standoutblogger – 30 -> 188 = 158
(7 From
#108 bloggingisnotacrime – 0 -> 151 = 151
(8 From 10) #3 theuniversitykid – 417 -> 566 = 149
(9 OLD) #24 umarsiddiqi.com/blog/ – 69 -> 199 = 130
(10 From 9) #91 solidsmack – 780 -> 906 = 126
Rome,
I don’t want subscribers per se. I want readers. I want real human beings who really want to read what I have to say and to follow along with what I’m doing. Almost any single number can be gamed to some degree.
Long term success involves getting people to care about what you are doing. No amount of gaming can ever fake that. The long term value of real people who are interested in what you have to say will outweigh the benefits of winning an RSS contest. They will share your site with others, will be more apt to buy books and/or merchandise, and will be more likely talk back to you.
So just “getting subscribers” via some gimick doesn’t mean squat if they only reason they are subscribing is some contest or something where they just unsubscribe the moment it is over, because they don’t care about the content to begin with.
RSS is, I think, a very good approximation of real readers, but it isn’t perfect. Having a black hat method of making a number bigger wont make you or your site a real influence in your niche, which is the ultimate goal.
@Daniel
Obviously, a percentage contest wouldn’t work.
You could have different divisions (0-100, 101-250, etc) or use multiple metrics and assign points to them: Technorati rank, alexa rank, Google Backlinks, and RSS. Each of those metrics is flawed, but taken as a whole, they might be better.
Even if there was no prize, I think competitions can be helpful. My traffic and subscribers have increased more in July than in the previous two months, just because I had extra incentive given the contest.
One other idea, would be to make Blogging Idol more closely mirror American Idol. Use something like the above methods to try and get about 20 sites.
Get a panel of blogging celebrities to review sites, make suggestions for improvement, and then let people vote sites out of the contest. To a certain degree, this would be impossible to game. If a site sucks, it sucks no matter how much you can game numbers.
I like the contest and I think a lot of good can come from continuing it. I’m sure you’ve learned a lot from this first attempt at it.
No updates today, as I am seeing dip in many blogs’ RSS subscribers. Tomorrow hopefully feedburner sneeze would not be playing with the numbers.
Speaking for myself, my blog has a regular subscriber dip on weekends. Since I blog about work-related topics, people tend to read during business hours. Since FB is one day back, that means my numbers are always lower on Sat/Sun/Mon (Israel’s weekend begins on Friday) and so I would expect the same for at least some of the other blogs here, and Life is Colorful seems to confirm it.
Luckily, the contest is ending mid-week. Hopefully there won’t be a FB sneeze then.
Weekend drops like this are natural. Likewise, sites which NEVER show drops in subscribers is not natural. Hint.
It Seems Nice Competition……
If you’re count drops regularly. You could go to feedburner and they have a link their to google groups or another google site. Just ask why your count dips once every 5-6 days. They will ask you for your feed and it will get fixed
Small fluctuations are natural. The number is a function of how many people poll the XML file on a given day. That is the ONLY way which feedburner knows how many subscribers you have. They can’t fix that. There is nothing to fix. People sometimes don’t check RSS every day or are away from their computers.
Show me a well known, respected site where RSS numbers increase every single day without decreasing. I’ll also bet they have hits >>> subscribers.
Gary, you are talking about only one side of the coin, that is only RSS subscribers. The feedburner if delivers the email successfully to email subscribers, count those subscribers in the number shown.
And that is the reason some of the blogs don’t show decrease in number due to higher portion of email subscriptions. I hope it resolves your query, doubt and suspicion.
im suprised didnt know theres something like blog idols!
Seems like Feedburner came back with right numbers. Here is today’s top 10 with two new entries at the bottom.
Here is the latest list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 1) #2 stockmarketindia – 953 => 1499 = 546
Monday worked for this blog it seems, compared to lull weekend. Just short of 1 subscriber for 1500.
(2 From 4) #105 stockmarketguide – 559 => 768 = 209
Gained 2nd position after deciding to make it Top 3 in comments over here.
(3 From 2) #8 homedesignfind – 89 => 292 = 203
Going steady, but lost the 2nd position
(4 From
#3 theuniversitykid – 417 => 588 = 171
Great going TUK, Love your growth in last 2-3 days.
(5 From 4) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 => 600 = 165
Gary, you are going steady too bro!
(6 From 6) #1 standoutblogger – 30 => 187 = 157
(7 From 7) #108 bloggingisnotacrime – 0 => 148 = 148
(8 From 9) #24 umarsiddiqi – 69 => 210 = 141
(9 OLD) #91 mommymeryl – 17 => 142 = 125
(10 New) #67 thenetfool – 333 => 453 = 120
Exciting contest is coming to an end. Congrats to organisers and competitors. Bye.
Just keeping the fingers crossed that feedburner should now show any sneeze on last day!
– Just kidding!
By the way, this contest really helped me to focus on RSS subscribers aspect of the blog. I never bothered before much for this side of the promotion. This contest was fruitful to everyone rather – we are seeing many blogs gaining double the subscribers this month, thanks to Daniel!
My plan is continue with this motivation and increase the RSS subscribers to 4000 by year end. Difficult but possible!
One important information I don’t have – how to monetize the RSS feeds! Any online guide available?
Adsense for RSS is slowly being released. Other than that, the best bet is to put affiliate ads in your feed.
The last day of this contest has started and soon we will see a detailed post from Daniel on how the contest went over the period of the month. I would like to contribute a little again to the continued live coverage of this contest.
Here is the latest list of Top 10 today
(Past rank->Current rank) Blog | Increase
(1 From 1) #2 http://www.stockmarketindia.net – 953 => 1538 = 585
Steady growth as usual, seems to be a winner of this contest with his consistent growth of 10-30 subscribers everyday. Good job in promoting the RSS subscription option to users.
(2 OLD) #33 http://inspiredology.com/ – 829 => 1076 = 247
I think I have missed this blog in last update, that’s why it’s appearing as OLD, but anyways – it has gained his 2nd position back again.
(3 From 2) #105 http://www.stockmarketguide.in/ – 559 => 802 = 243
Slipped to 3rd position due to entry of 2nd top contestant
(4 From 3) #8 homedesignfind – 89 => 323 = 234
I personally liked this blog, I like someone writing about home design and all. Nice one!
(5 From 5) #23 everything-everywhere – 435 => 649 = 214
Gary, long jumps in last lap of the contest, almost 49 increased in last 2 days – nice job!
(6 NEW) #14 bigmarketingonline – 176 => 359 = 183
This is one of the blogs, that I missed to count in our regular updates, recently I got to know about this blog through some contests and then realized about my mistake. Here you go buddy, you are in!
(7 OLD) #25 dev102 – 394 => 567 = 173
Back again in the list!
(8 From 10) #67 thenetfool – 333 => 497 = 164
Going up in the list in the last lap.
(9 OLD) #77 Solidsmack – 780 => 944 = 164
Back again in the list!
(10 From 4) #3 theuniversitykid – 417 => 573 = 156
Down to 10th position from 4th. It’s a big fall – don’t know why.
Alright guys, so these were the updates for today. Now there are only few hours remaining for this contest to be over. I would give one last update after the feedburner number updates after 3 hrs from now. And that would be my last “live coverage” comment
.
p.s. Please let me know if your blog is missing from the list
@ Gary: I agree, putting affiliate links in your feed is the best way to go about monetizing it. The Adsense thing is kicking off but I have not messed with it yet.
Any chance of having a blogging idol in 2010 ?