Reader of the Month – Time to Give Back
Dear folks, I’ve been thinking of a way to give back some of the appreciation you’ve shown me since day one, a way to compensate for the time you spend reading these blog posts and commenting upon them.
Initially, the famous “Top Commentators” plugin crossed my mind, but since it will be hard to keep out those who (unfortunately) try to “beat the system”, I’ve decided to choose another method.
Since I already go through every comment I receive and appreciate those comments that contribute to the amount of quality information of this blog, every month, I will pick one of my commentators to be awarded as “Reader of the Month”.
I will not base my decision on the number of comments you leave, but rather on how useful and on-topic they are. There will also be other factors that will affect my decision, but since I’m not trying to guide you on how you should react on and toward Blogsessive, I will not disclose them.
So, what does the “Reader of the Month” get, besides the title? Public recognition manifested in listing his/her name along with a do-follow link to their blog/website on the homepage of Blogsessive, between the promo boxes and the content.
Please note that reader blogs and websites used as pure product promotion tools or containing adult/illegal materials will never get nominated.
So, starting with February 1st, I’ll be watching the activity here a bit closer and on March we’ll have our first “Reader of the Month” nominee.
-
- Spread the love!
- Digg
- StumbleUpon
- Delicious
- Free, fast RSS updates?
- Join the 2,084 subscribers NOW!
Loading ...
Nice way of thanking your readers and increasing your comment average
But you are only thanking one person. There may be others too who comment well. I think Top Commentator is needed.
Farrhad, although increasing the comment count is a good thing for every blog, as stated above, I’m really not looking for quantity, and unfortunately that’s what Top Commentator awards.
At the same time, I don’t want to go around deleting comments only because people founds a simple “Thank you” to be enough as a comment.
I know there are more than one people leaving good, meaningful comments, and it will be a hard task choosing, but I’m sure that in time, everyone who deserves it, will get in the spotlight, alone, proud.
Life is a competition, with yourself, with others, with many things, and a bit of fair competition never hurt anyone. Again… FAIR being the keyword here.
Your idea is good, but I see one first issue: what about the people who regularly commented on your blog so far (not me
)?
Regarding your offer, I have an extra suggestion. I think something like this would be extremely useful for your nominee, your readers and why not, also for you.
Dedicate some posts for case studies, asking your readers how the website/product of a fellow commenter you appreciate might be improved and offer some sort of prize, maybe even the Reader of the month one.
Paul, those who previously commented, will have the chance to do so, time and time again. More than that, I believe that until now I’ve done my best to reward their activity (take Simple Balance for example, and not only). I will continue to reward them, whenever possible.
While your suggestion is cool, it has been done and over done. By Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, by Kevin Muldoon of BloggingTips.com and many others. This is their show, and I’m not going to step into it.
Anyway, time will also bring other methods to reward you folks. Be sure of that.
Thanks for the comment!
This is really a cool way to reward the readers. Having a link back to the blog is just one part of the package. But, the most important part will be increase in readers interaction. It is not only advantageous to the blogger and the blog, but for the commentators as well as most of the things we learn are when we are interacting!
This is why I was think a blog search should include the comment section as well and not just the title and the body.
Can I bitch? Thank you.
I know people like giving feedback, but since it’s your contest on your blog, why try to change the way it works?!
It’s your choice and everyone is welcome to participate or not participate, but the idea seems pretty wel thought-out to me so I don’t see the point of further discussion.
P.S. I so hope people who comment with “best gadget website” as their name are also disqualified. It’s not a suggestion, it’s just a pet peeve of mine, although I see most big websites don’t mind it.
Raju, thanks for the input!
Jen, you are 95% right. Why 95%? Because I encourage people to express their opinions. Sure, not every idea we have every day gets to become a success story, but some do, and in the past, I’ve seen a lot of diamonds in the rough through Blogsessive’s comments.
Regarding the PS, if you look just below the comment form, I’ve laid a couple of “commenting rules”. This rules will definitely contribute to the results.
Thanks for the input Jen, much appreciated!
Hi Alex. It was great seeing you over on my blog today and Thank You for the RT on twitter.
Since I am choosing to cut down on the number of blogs I comment on (to honor my practice of life balance) I can appreciate rewarding people for quality over quantity.