This week I’m running a ‘Group Writing Project’ here at ProBlogger where you have the chance to win a $2000 identity design (logo) from logo designer David Airey. You can see a portfolio of the graphics and logo design that David has previously done. Thanks to David for this fantastic prize.
Please read the instructions below carefully to enter.
What is a Group Writing Project
In brief (I outline it fully below) – these projects are where I name a theme or topic and where readers all go away and write posts on their blogs that fit with that theme. They then submit their post here at ProBlogger and I post a list of all entries at the end of the week. I then randomly select one entry to win a prize.
The goals of ‘Group Writing Projects’ are to have fun, give you an opportunity to hone your skills as a blogger and to give you an opportunity to highlight your blog. The last few times we’ve done these we’ve had hundreds of participants.
The Topic
Over the last week we’ve been talking about how to craft great blog post titles – so for this project the theme is ‘titles’. Rather than giving you a ‘theme’ to write about I’m inviting you to go away and write a blog post and to really focus upon writing a killer post title. Of course you’ll want to work on the best possible post too – but this project is all about titles so make sure they are spot on.
How to Enter
Please take your time in entering – previously people have not followed the guidelines and have disqualified themselves from the prize. Especially note that there is only one entry per person and posts submitted must be new posts (not your best ones from your archives).
Here’s how to enter:
1. Write a Post with a Killer Title
- Be as creative as you like. Make the post relevant to your blog.
- Feel free to write posts in your own first language (although you might want to give us a translation on the title when you enter)
- 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 (it is not a condition of entry) – 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 (update: this link is now removed as submissions have now 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 eligible 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 28 August (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 a List of all Submissions Create a List of all Submisssions
- I will create a list of all submissions. It will be updated once per day. The final update to the list will be posted on Friday.
- This differs a little from last time where I posted all entries for a day here on the blog each day of the week. This took over the blog a little so it will just be one central list of submissions.
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. This is the real beauty of this project and your opportunity not only to find new readers but to learn from each other’s blogging.
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 $2000 logo design from David Airey and will post the winner at this point.
The 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 this doesn’t happen to everyone – it depends upon your post and title – but it always happens to some.
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.
I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone’s entries.
update – submissions are now closed – you can see all final entries here.
About Darren Rowse
My name is Darren Rowse and I’m a full time Blogger making a living from blogs like 
I am very excited about this and I can’t wait to get started. One confusion though, you said to enter by “end of Thursday 8 August”? Do you mean September?
Sorry, I just figured it out myself. You meant the 28th of August. I should have opened my calendar and looked before I posted. I’ll be entering soon and can’t wait to see what others will be posting.
ooops – will fix that
Hi Darren,
Do the rules of your contest mean that bloggers-to-be are unable to enter i.e. is it only open to those with their own blogs?
can’t wait, will see you soon :)
Darren – I’m so excited about this contest! Way too often I’m writing for fun rather than really trying to please my readers and draw in new ones. Thanks helping us focus and having fun in the process.
Scott – yes unfortunately to enter you need a place to be able to post your post. Good incentive to start a blog! :-)
Great project. Will definitely take part in this
Killer Title…It would be more interesting to see contents of participants. Because the grouping project title look like…
all the best for all
awesome…
This sounds great…can’t wait to write something!
Does it matter if I use my blog which is mainly pics and has very little written content?
thanks
jess
I blog about carbon offsetting, a posting about this topic wouldn’t fit my readers
Matt – why wouldn’t it fit your readers? Great titles are important for all types of blogs.
Jess – no that’d be fine – go for it.
Brown – you can see all the content once you click through on the titles – would be pretty hard to show hundreds of blog posts all on one page – that’d be a mighty long web page :-)
Terrific, I have just the post idea for this!
Great idea for a contest. I like the way you’ve structured it to emphasize surfing the entries. This should be a lot of fun.
@ Matt – As someone with an interest in big picture environmental issues, I’m a likely candidate for clicking on a killer title (and post) about carbon offsetting.
Hey Gary
Sounds like an awesome project,,,,,,,have learned so much since finding ypur blog this month…..
I am always on the lookout for creating profits online ideas
Leo Hanes
I really need something like this to get me motivated toward excellence. I feel like I’ve been pounding them out lately!
This is a really super idea — especially the opportunity to see and “meet” other bloggers doing their best. Kudos for coming up with this!
Thanks Darren, this is a great competition with a great prize! I am putting my thinking cap on as I type. Cheers
This is great, Darren! However, I am planning to enroll my latest post (just post it yesterday on my blog) and I wonder if this is alright?
Or do I really need to make a new one.
I love my latest post and hope that will be accepted.
Thanks!
identity design != logo. :)
always wanted to take part in your group writing projects but always ended up missing them.. now this is my chance :)
Just submitted….would LOVE to win that prize. Can’t wait to see everyones posts.
Will do my best to join this group writing project, it’s been ages since I last joined one.
As always, I’m excited to see all the entries!
This is a great way to get traffic to our blogs. A helping hand from Darren, thanks.
Awesome Darren, I’ll get busy with this, cheers
Davin
I’m working on my post right now. thanks Darren, will submit soon.
FUN!
I like the idea that you have not limited the topics to the techies!
I’m in for the full game!
Darren,
Title, URL, etc., submitted. Count me in!
This sounds like fun and a good challenge. I need help in this area, amoung others.
This sounds like a great incentive and opportunity. Thanks!
I’ve never done one of these group projects before, but it sounds like a great motivator and learning experience.
Wow this is the LOA at work, I have finally decided to niche The Abundance Highway and yesterday said to a friend I need to write a post like http://www.abundancehighway.com/taking-the-abundance-highway-to-new-heights/ to get a mention on Problogger and I open my email today and Darren is running a competition. Now is that synchronicity or what?
Now to craft the article.
Thank you Darren
I’ve done these group writing projects twice now, and one of those two posts also made it to the front page of Digg: How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way. I was flooded with traffic, and met so many new people and bloggers. So, don’t think about doing this group project, do it! You’ll be thrilled.
Darren ~ will you be sending out confirmation emails that you’ve received the article link? I just posted mine but wasn’t sure it went thru.
cheers!
~Kat
Uh oh, I’m not brilliant when it comes to titles. :P I absolutely recognize how important they can be though, and this contest looks like a great challenge for me.
Thanks for the opportunity, and I look forward to entering!
Great Idea. Will submit my post soon.
Thanks Darren
I read this last night and thought I’ll think about that. I thought about it a lot sooner than expected and I’ve submitted my post. Can’t wait to read others.
Guardian Angel – rules are rules, so yes, it needs to be new to be eligible for the prize. The point of this is to give people motivation to go out and write something new that has a killer title, not just to dig through their archives (even recent ones) to find one.
Kat – I won’t be sending confirmation emails but in the next few days you’ll see me post a link to a page with all entries so far – so you’ll be able to see if it went through. If it didn’t you are free to submit it again.
Entered. Love the cool writing project Darren….you rock! Thanks! :)
I usually have boring (and overly long) titles – thanks for the inspiration!
Looking forward to submitting an entry. Not sure yet what I’m going to come up with, but pretty excited about entering my first blog contest.
Cheers,
I entered as well, although I thought of a better title for the post on the drive home. :P
The last time I got linked from Problogger for winning a random prize contest it was the high traffic point for my site that month (easily). Contest entered and I hope that my random luck with Darren’s contests continues!
Darren this is wonderful post.thanks..
No problem, Darren. I will making another post as I clearly understand you good intention.
I am now starting to dig my mind for the entry. Just hope I can make it on time.
Thanks for taking time to answer my inquiry.
Thanks for this opportunity. I’ve submitted my entry but didn’t submit the correct title….doh
What a great idea. And a clean win-win for everyone involved.
It will be interesting seeing all the different writing styles this will bring.
Just submitted my entry. It’s one of the few english entries in my italian foodblog
Submitted my entry few minutes back,
this is my 1st time I have ever enter any blog contest (cant afford to miss the Problogger contest)
http://www.balkhis.com/web-designs-resources/how-to-add-email-subscription-box-in-your-blog/
Here is my entry. Hopefully this will win.