Contests are used by bloggers to get extra exposure. This is proved simply by me making this post:

CarlOCab is running a contest to celebrate his blog turning 1 and to do so he has been very smart. Instead of putting up his own money or prizes, he has contacted lots of people and asked them to submit a gift. I have put up a 1 month 125*125 banner ad spot valued at $50.

He is awarding ‘tickets’ for part taking in actions. I am linking to the post and also chasing package 7 so am linking to Bloginads Website! This is a clever contest as it gets  exposure for the people and blogs that take part as well as huge exposure for Carl’s blog. how much does it cost him? – time… that is all. If you are willing to spend the time to get a contest together, then go for it and start boosting the incoming links and traffic to your blog!

I plan on running a contest in the near future when I am ready for more mass exposure to my new, little blog

Head over to CarlOCab and get your entry in as well

How can you benefit and get the most out of SMM (Social Media Marketing)? You find tips and tricks all over the Internet and I came across a blog, netbusinessblog that covers this topic beautifully. According to this writer, there is a one and only secret to using SMM properly. He first states…

The Problem:

The problem is by the ways SMM is being used. There are a lot of articles voicing the benefits but very little on how to use it properly. There was an analysis done by Gary Ruplinger on the SEO side of PR back-links, getting instant exposure, and the potential for viral marketing success overnight. If you set out playing this game without knowing what you need to do, you may end up hurting your reputation.

The Solution:

The only way to make use of SMM is by really participating in the community. Become a real contributor, using the services offered the way they are meant to be used. This is the key, become a member of the community you want to be known in.

Do you want to make the frontpage of Digg? Then do it buy building your reputation with good stories and content. The same goes for Reddit with your articles, or YouTube with your videos. Submit your best and your name will be known, coming up through the ranks, all built upon your honest and sincere reputation and contributions.

By taking the shortcuts, you won’t make it. You need to be actively engaged in the community, become a genuine user. Don’t try to play games with people, eventually they will see through it. Remember, Social Media is done by using it, becoming a part of it.

How To Do It:

*Do you want to gain a reputation on Digg?

Then submit some great stories, and vote on the stories you like.

*Do you want people to go to your MyBlogLog?

Visit their blogs, if you like what you see, let them know, join their community.

These are simple questions with even simpler answers. You need to dive into these social media site and learn how to use them. You cannot go into the social media with the mindset of what you can gain from it, you need to know how to use it and enjoy it. Then you will naturally build a good reputation, gain some new readers, and be the winner in the end.

The question; is there a market for another PPC network for bloggers?

Simon Emery and I were having a chat on MSN as has recently become the norm, and we were talking about needs in the blogosphere marketplace when it dawned on me… We have PPC text ads for bloggers, but we don’t have a dedicated network of PPC ads for 125*125 banner boxes that has now become popular as well as the other common banner forms by bloggers, for bloggers.

I was looking on my blog, and as it is (at time of writing this) new there is a lot of unsold ad inventory. What if my banners on the side, and my featured banners at the top, could be populated with Default ads that earn me a CPC every time someone clicks it.

Then if someone wants to buy the ad on my site for a month, like is the norm, they can and it will automatically replace one of the CPC spots.

Next, from an advertiser point of view, what if, instead of paying each blog to get my ad shown, I can bid a CPC amount, select geotargetting such as the niche of the blog, country of the visitor and possibly even age demographic and have my banner ads serviced on many blogs that fit my filter! These blogs will be of a high standard due to the fact that we plan to review each blog before accepting it into the network.

I got excited and pitched this idea to Simon. Guess what, turns out he was thinking along the same sort of lines for his OIO plugin that allows you to sell your ad inventory and cut out the ‘middle man’. He wanted to allow users to service default ads with CPC ads until that spot was sold.

Now we were talking, both of us thought it was a great idea and now we are at the stage of finding a viable platform to add-on to. Simon has published some research on the current ad platforms he has found. He has omitted some of the higher range stuff (One platform as high as $30,000 + 5%) which we may need to consider too.

If you think that we should not be publishing our ideas for the world to see at such an early stage, worry not, we have some very unique and clever ideas for the network that will of course not be reveled until we launch in Beta.