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Top 5 – Group Writing Project

Posted By Darren Rowse 7th of May 2007 ProBlogger Site News 0 Comments

Top-5It’s time for another ProBlogger Group Writing Project – and this time we’ve got $1001 Cash (USD) up for grabs thanks to our generous sponsors Chitika!

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE SUBMITTING – the process has changed. Particularly pay attention to the instruction to submit NEW posts not previously written ones. Old posts (written before today) won’t be accepted and will not be eligible for a gift. Thanks for your understanding. Also please note that there is ONE entry per participant.

update: This project is now finished. See the full list of submissions of top 5 posts submitted here.

The Topic

This project’s topic is:

‘Top 5’

Your task with this project is to take the theme of ‘Top 5’ in any direction that you’d like to. I’ve chosen this theme because it should be adaptable to most types of blogs. For example a personal blogger could write about their top 5 favorite foods, a celebrity blogger could write about the top 5 things Paris will do when she gets to jail, a tech blogger could rate their top five gadgets of the year, a productivity blogger could write their top 5 ways to save 20 minutes a day etc.

Write it in any style you like, a rant, list, poem, essay, video, pictorial, haiku, podcast….. anything.

Be as creative as you can and take this in any direction you like. You’ll have a much better chance of getting your post noticed if it’s useful and/or interesting to readers and write something relevant to the topic of your blog.

Once you’ve written your post simply follow the process for participating that I’ve outlined below (please note – to be eligible for the gifts from our sponsors you need to follow the guidelines below).

The Prize

For this project I decided to experiment with having just the one larger prize instead of lots of smaller ones.

As a result at the end of the week I’ll be randomly choosing one lucky participant to win $1001 USD in Cash which has been kindly donated by Chitika. Over the week in each of the daily summary posts I’ll be sharing a reason that I think Chitika is great (and in doing so will come up with my own ‘Top 5’.

Thanks also to those others who offered to sponsor this week. As I mentioned – there were many offers and I really grappled with which one to choose.

The Other (Real) Reason to Participate

Prizes are great – but the real reason to get involved in this type of project is that it has the potential to find you some new readers, make some new blogging friends and put your blog out there.

Every time I run these projects I get emails from bloggers telling me that they:

  • had big traffic days
  • found new blogs that they just love
  • had their posts get to the top of digg and other bookmarking sites

Of course not every entry goes viral as a result of participating – but it’s been a beneficial experience for many previous participants as hundreds of bloggers take part.

The Key to Participating

One last thing before I tell you HOW to participate.

These projects work best when those participating don’t only submit posts of their own but when they read and interact with others who submit posts. Here’s how you can do this:

  • Read the submissions of others
  • Make friends with those you like the submissions of (comment, email – get to know them)
  • Link up to those who you resonate with (some bloggers write a top 5 or 10 list each day of the submissions that they like the best)
  • Bookmark, Stumble and Vote for those you resonate with

The people who get the most out of these projects are those who throw themselves deeply into them.

How To Participate

Here’s how to participate and put yourself in the running for the prize (and to get a little exposure for your blog along the way). Please read this as it has changed slightly since last time (this time submissions are not to be sent via my contact form but via another form – please read on):

Please note – one entry per person – and not per blog. Please only submit NEW posts.

1. Write a ‘top 5’ post

  • Be as creative as you’d like – take it in any direction you want as long as it relates to the topic.
  • Give your post a good title. Once all the posts are listed it’ll only be your title that sets it apart from others. It doesn’t have to have the words ‘review’ and or ‘preview’ in the title.
  • Feel free to write your post in your own first language.
  • Please consider putting a link back to this post on your post so that your readers know you’re participating. You don’t have to do this – but it’d be appreaciated to help grow the project.

2. Let us Know about your post

  • Once you’ve posted your post let me know about it by filling in ‘this form’ (now removed as the project is closed).
  • Please fill the form in accurately as the way you enter it is the way it’ll appear and due to the numbers participating I can’t edit it for everyone! The detail that you add will appear in the post (although I’ll be moderating out spam/offensive stuff).
  • Include your post title as you wish it to appear, the post’s URL (not your blog’s front page) and your name (or alias). All of this will be published.
  • To be eligable for the prize I need a valid email address – this will be kept secure and private ad will not be published.
  • Submissions must be received by me the the end of Thursday 10 May (as long as it’s still Thursday where you send it from I’ll accept it). If they come in after Thursday they won’t be included in the list and will not be in the running for the prize.

3. I will post 2 links to your post

  • In the day or two after you let me know about your post I’ll post a link to it in two places. Firstly there will be a daily list of the submissions from the last 24 hours. Secondly there will be a central list of all submissions for the project so we can see everything on one page.
  • I’ll post my final list of submissions on Friday and will announce those who receive the prize.

4. Surf Surf Surf

  • This is where you take over. Surf the submissions received. Leave comments, make connections with other ProBlogger readers, bookmark them and enjoy reading what others have to say.

5. Link Link Link

  • There is no formal ‘judging’ as this is not a competition. Instead – I encourage you to surf through the submissions at the end of the week and announce your own winners on your own blog. Name a top 5 or so and share the link love.
  • Probably the best part of the last group project was the amount of inter-linking I see happening between participating bloggers as a result of their posts. It’s obvious that people found new blogs through it and that the benefits of participating was way beyond getting a link from me but flowed on to a lot of new connections and links between other bloggers.

6. Prize

  • On Friday I’ll randomly select the participant to win the $1001 from Chitika and will post the winner at this point. The rest of us can muse over what could have been and then we’ll get ourselves ready for next months project.

I can’t wait to read everyone’s top 5 list – don’t forget to submit it here.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Great idea! I used one of my other blogs for the entry, Daily Chronicles of the American Civil War. It provided me good opportunity to reflect over the last two years of posting over 9,000 articles and diary entries from 1861, 1862, and 1863 (through May 7th, 1863). It’s a substantially different post than the rest of those in the blog, but that’s ok!

    Thanks for all that you do here.

  2. […] at Problogger is having another Group Writing Project, this time on Top 5 posts.  There’s a cool grand up for grabs, so hopefully I can get […]

  3. […] anytime soon) I’m going to help enable those other fellow addicts and start a top 5 (thanks problogger for the idea!!) Once a week (yes only once a week, we all have budgets so I won’t totally […]

  4. […] will be entering this post in a group writing project that Darren Rouse at Problogger.net is sponsoring on his blog. His theme, “The Top 5″, […]

  5. […] PS – ProBlogger.net just announced his latest group writing project: “Top 5.” I included this post as part of the project. If you want to write your own go […]

  6. […] Darren Rowse of ProBlogger launched his latest Group Writing Project, and this time the topic is “Top […]

  7. OOh Ive got an awesome idea for this one. The title is good just need to get the content ;)

  8. […] time for another Problogger Group Writing Project, this one asking you to post a Top 5 list on anything that you want.  Kicked around a few […]

  9. […] me to Darren Rowse’s new initiative – the Top 5 Group Writing Project. The gist of it to have bloggers from all kind of disciplines writing a post on their top 5 […]

  10. You know, I really wish these contests of yours would have better/more interesting themes. Now all I’m seeing in my feed reader are really boring or stupid Top Five posts obviously thrown together just to enter this contest. Or maybe you could actually judge them on content rather than random selection so that people would have to think for more than three seconds before spitting out some piece of crap list.

  11. […] out the full rules and details on Problogger, and good luck to all those that […]

  12. […] is part of a writing project for problogger.net Bookmark […]

  13. […] you are interested in a ton of ‘Top 5’ articles, (or if you’d like to write one…) be sure to check out the participants in the […]

  14. […] it; hope you find these five blogs useful and fun to read.  This post is part of the ProBlogger Top 5 Group Writing Project – many thanks to Darren Rowse for hosting this fun blogging […]

  15. […] post is my entry in Darren Rowse’s Top 5 Group Writing Project. Check it out, it is a nice way to discover new, interesting blogs. Plus, if I get picked in the […]

  16. Thank you Darren for this awesome topic. I have already started writing my article. I think, this project will be really big.

    Cheers
    Marco

  17. […] He’s definitely become one of my Five Travel Blogs You Gotta Read, which is the post I did for the Perceptive Travel blog as a part of Aussie Darren Rowse’s latest ProBlogger Group Writing Project.  […]

  18. […] He’s definitely become one of my Five Travel Blogs You Gotta Read, which is the post I did for the Perceptive Travel blog as a part of Aussie Darren Rowse’s latest ProBlogger Group Writing Project.  […]

  19. count me in! yipee, more money!!!!!!!!

  20. […] New Here? You may want to Subscribe to my RSS feed for daily updates. Or if you prefer, Subscribe by Email Thanks for visiting! (part of the ProBlogger Top 5 Group Writing Project) […]

  21. […] make anyway, for a group writing project.  You can read more about this group writing project here. […]

  22. […] ProBlogger.Net is having a Group Writing Project contest in which bloggers post the top 5 reasons of their choice pertaining to their domain and blog topic. Seeing as how I am so very talented, I decided to give it a whirl: […]

  23. […] article is written as part of Problogger.net’s Group Writing Project – Top 5. Check it out, maybe you can help make this project a grander success. Share this: Previous […]

  24. […] actually limited this to the Top 5 in order to meet the requirements of Problogger’s Top 5 – Group Writing Project. If you haven’t heard about Problogger.Net then you are missing out on a great source of helpful […]

  25. I’m from Argentina, should I really publish it in Spanish?

  26. Hey Darren – one of my guest posts I wrote while you were here in the states gave some reader tips for making the most out of one of your group writing projects. Hopefully everyone can get even more great exposure from your project! :D

  27. Excellent topic for a group writing project. I just finished mine Top 5 Sins. I can’t wait to read the other submissions.

    Question, all prizes won by my blog / me are recycled as prizes for contests on my blog. Just another way of rewarding the readers. Do you keep your prizes or use them to increase your readership?

  28. […] This post is Part of Pro Blogger’s Top 5 Group Writing Project […]

  29. […] This post was written to take part in Darren’s latest Group Writing Project- Top 5. […]

  30. Superb idea Darren Thanks. Top 5 hmm…..let me think, what about the Top 5 Top 5’s. Oh I really need to read your creativity article again.

    Cheers I’m looking forward to this one.

    Ian

  31. I’m on it! Thanks for the opportunity!

  32. […] Winning probloggers cash prize would be a good start though! – I have entered this post into the Top 5 group writing project. […]

  33. […] Rowse at ProBlogger is hosting a ‘Top 5′ group writing project. I’m hoppin on the bandwagon. This is a list of awesome uncommon guitars used by popular […]

  34. Yikes– For some reason I’m getting nervous about this!

    Chronic performance anxiety I guess :), but I love this project idea, will write up my top 5 post and will help spread the word!

  35. […] Written for the ProBlogger Top 5 Group Writing Project […]

  36. Great contest idea! I think I will enter. :)

  37. Although I feel a bit reluctant to join in on this project, I do feel I could contribute in a positive way. I’ve been thinking about writing a certain post for quite some time now. My estimate is not many of your readers will understand Dutch, so I’ll challenge myself to writing in English as well. I don’t see myself winning any money here, the recent top fives I’ve read are more then enough to keep me happy.

    (Let’s just hope nothing comes up so I can finish before Thursday.)

  38. […] to visit your blog, submitting a post to a Group Writing Project is a great idea. So, check out the details about the current Project–The Top 5–sidle on over to ProBlogger. Then get busy blogging (deadline is Thursday, May 10)! If you […]

  39. […] on the internet. It’s also endorsed by Seth Godin, The Wharton School of Business, and Darren Rowse himself (and […]

  40. Oops, I apologize, I just noticed I spelled your last name wrong in my post Darren, I caught it in my trackback above….very sorry, I’ve corrected it in my post…(I leave now, highly embarassed…)

  41. Top 5 Reasons Boys are Better Than Girls…

  42. I have been meaning to write a top list entry . This is a great excuse for starting it now.

  43. […] I am participating of the contest TOP5 Group Writing Project of the Problogger.net that is giving U$1001 free.Compare Preços de: Baba Eletrônica, […]

  44. […] has challenged his readers to participate in his latest writing project, which involves a “Top Five.” Since I’m running short on brilliant ideas these days, I figured I’d join in. […]

  45. […] Blogando por Dinheiro, e não pude deixar de participar. A idéia é simples, escrever um top 5, e anunciar para o mundo. Além de ganhar um absurdo de visitas (pelo amor de Deus, cliquem nos anúncios do Jacotei!), […]

  46. […] Thank you for reading my post on the five political issues that must be solved now. This post was an entry into a group project at ProBlogger. The topic was to write a “top 5″ post. […]

  47. […] * This post has been submitted to the Problogger Top 5 Group Writing Project. […]

  48. […] this post was a part of Darren Rowse’s “Top 5″ writing project, so be sure to pay a visit and check out all the action on […]

  49. […] Rowse is back at it again with yet another Group Writing Project. This time the theme is “Top 5…” posts. Write a post, get some free links, and […]

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