June is underway, and I’m excited to announce the first ever comment contest on this blog.

It’s been a long time coming, and I believe it’s time to start rewarding my faithful readers who take the time to comment and leave their feedback on my posts. Of course, I hope to bring in new readers as well and keep them coming back.

Contest Prizes

Prize winnings include (in no particular order):

1. $25 cash prize offered by Dennis Edell.

2. One-month banner ad (125X125) provided by Peter Lee, plus 10 free .edu backlinks package.

3 & 4. One-month free membership to David Hurley’s Internet Marketing Articles PLR site, offered by David Hurley and myself.

2 separate winners will each get one month free membership access. The membership fee will be refunded to you in full through PayPal by myself after your purchase. More details will be provided to the winners.

5. One-month link or banner ad on the home page of ReplaceYourSalary.com. Link will be “do follow.”

Contest Rundown

Winning is very easy and only requires that you comment regularly on this blog to have a chance to win.

Simply put, be on the “Top Readers” list at the end of June, and you’ll win one of the prizes mentioned above. The first-place winner will get to choose his/her prize. The rest of the winners will be awarded the remaining prizes in the order listed, as well as the order in which you won.

To know if you’re on the “Top Readers” list, you can find it on the right side-bar between NetworkedBlogs and Useful Links. It lists the top 5 commentators throughout the entire month, so as long as you’re on the list when I check it on June 30th, you’ll win.

Don’t quite understand how it works? Leave a comment below.

BONUS:

Now, here’s where it gets really fun. Everyone has a chance to win the bonus, so listen up.

Since this is my very first comment contest, I’d really like to get the word out about it, and I need your help.

Anyone that spreads the word about the contest and provides proof of doing so, you will receive a permanent link with your chosen anchor text on the winning results post that will follow the end of the contest.

It doesn’t matter how you go about spreading the word, just make sure that any and all links point back to this post.

Comment Rules

Unfortunately, my blog gets quite a bit of spam and useless comments. Many never see the light of day.

I don’t quite have a comment policy in place yet; although, I’ve been implementing it since the beginning, and I’m going to be cracking down even more now that the contest is underway.

In order for your comments to count, you’ll need to follow these 2 simple rules:

1. Use a REAL name. I have KeywordLuv installed so that you can use your “name @ keywords” in the name field when leaving a comment (first name is fine). I ask that you please respect this.

Or…

You can leave your name at the bottom of your comment. Either way is fine, but you must include your real name. If I don’t see your real name, your comment will be deleted without thinking twice. Sorry, but like I said, I get a lot of comment spam.

2. Provide value. Along the lines of comment spam, if your comment provides absolutely no value whatsoever, then poof, your comment will be deleted without warning. This will be heavily enforced, maybe even more so than rule #1.

I can’t stand stupid little “hey, nice post” type comments. Most of you will know what I mean by this. What I’m looking for are comments that add to the discussion in some way, provide your own thoughts on the issue, etc. Actually taking the time to leave a meaningful comment will go along way and only benefit you.

OK, that’s it! You have the details, now start commenting.

Note: if you want to make sure you never miss an update on my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS Feed. Just sayin’.

Thanks!

The creator of CommentLuv, Andy Bailey, has created another awesome plugin for Wordpress called TwitterLink Comments.

Basically what this plugin does is allow commentators to type in their Twitter user name. Once the comment is left, a “Follow Me” link will appear next to the commentator’s name. This allows readers to be able to follow them on Twitter easily if they find their comment useful.

If you look below the comment box you will notice a blue rectangular box with an input field. You can just enter your Twitter user name here once, and the link will show next to every comment you make from then on. Cool, huh?

To read all about the plugin check out the post: http://wpmu.org/twitterlink-comments-hassle-free-follow-me-links-for-your-commenters/.

I’ve installed this plugin because I know how popular Twitter is and hopefully this will be a way for you, my readers, to get more exposure and more followers.

With in that in mind, this means you need to comment! Yes, another reasoning to my madness is I’m looking for more of my readers to comment on my posts. Sounds crazy, right?

Hey, you help me, and I’ll help you get more followers. Commenting is a win-win situation. I even have Andy’s CommentLuv installed, too, so you can use your keywords as part of your name. If you find my posts useful, or even if you don’t, I’d love to hear about it.

So now there’s absolutely no reason not to comment.

Share your thoughts below!