It's been quite a while since I logged on to this site. I read posts regularly through my RSS feed on topics of interest, but I've been busy putting the knowledge and information to work on my own sites. Recently a friend asked if I could do the same for his website. I have a proven formula, but I lack the manpower to do it for his site as well, so I thought it might be best to get some help from people on this site. I've been mulling this over for the past few days trying to decide which is the best way to do this. Last night I came up with the rules of engagement for this contest OBJECTIVE: To get the site listed in as many of the top 100 SERPs as possible for ten specific keywords/key phrases provided by me. HOW TO WIN: Obtain the highest score by getting the most links in the SERPS that are site specific or closely linked to the site as defined in the rules (See Rules Below) CONTEST RULES: Duration: The duration of the contest is divided into three parts: Part I ends 2 weeks from today, Part II ends 4 weeks from today, and part III ends in 60 days from today. Consequently, there are three separate prizes for each Part of the contest. Participation: Anyone can participate, but to be eligible, they must contact me and provide me an email address to inform me they intend to participate. All information necessary for them to participate (domain, keywords, etc.) will be provided to participants via email. Scoring: A search on each contest keyword or key phrase must point to the designated website in the top 100 SERPs in order to score points. A number 1 listing for a keyword in the SERPs for that website equals 100 points, a number 2 listing equals 99 points, a number 3 listing equals 98 points and so on. Let's say a contest participant gets the following listings--number 3, 11, and 17 for one keyword, number 1, 2, and 32 for another key phrase, and numbers 18, 22, and 65 for another key phrase. The scoring for that contestant would be as follows: 3 = 98 11 = 90 17 = 84 1 = 100 2 = 99 32 = 69 18 = 83 22 = 77 65 = 34 TOTAL = 734 The person with the highest score at the end of 14 days wins the prize for that part, the person with the highest score at the end of 30 days wins that part, and the person with the highest score at the end of 60 days wins the big prize. Prize Amounts: The prize for being ahead at the 14 day mark is $250, the prize for being ahead at the 30 day mark is $250, and the prize for being ahead at the end of the 60 day mark is $750. Payment To Prize Winners: All payments will be through PayPal. In the event a winning contestant is not able to receive their prize through PayPal, Prize money will be sent via Western Union. The fees to send via WU will be deducted from the prize amount. Rules of Engagement: 1. No techniques may be used which could jeopardize the site's listing, relevance ranking, or ranking in the SERPs at some future date (this is not referring to the natural fluctuations which occur over time as sites vie for SERP rankings, but rather black hat and questionable techniques which cause Google and other search engines to restrict, deny, or otherwise impede my friend's site from getting a higher listing) 2. All activities that you do toward the site must be emailed to me in order for you to receive credit for your links status in the SERPS. 3. Ideas and content may be submitted to me for accounts I hold password info for (YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) that will enhance the chance that content will be listed in the SERPs and you will get credit (points) for the status of that link in the SERPs. 4. All links owned (or used) by the participants which tie in to the designated site must not shed a bad light on the designated site (ie, porn, questionable dating sites, scraper sites and index sites with a poor appearance) or they will be disqualified by an independent panel selected from this board's members who are not participating in the contest. 5. Disqualification: There's really only one way you can get disqualified, and that's by making my friend look bad through your actions. The panel may disqualify a link, and if the offense is egregious enough, they can disqualify the participant from the contest completely. I will lobby on behalf of my friends honor, but I recuse myself from making the actual final decision. 6. I will personally monitor all activity for all ten keywords on a daily basis and will report the daily results through this thread. 7. If anyone can think of a rule that I may have left out which may make this contest run smoother, please don't hesitate to suggest. I reserve the right to add any rules deemed necessary for the success of this contest. Those changes however will never impact the legitimate SERP rankings, keywords and key phrases, contest duration, or contest prize amounts. Any changes generally will be implemented to clear up confusion and make the contest as fair as possible to all participants as well as preserving the integrity of my friend and his website. Caveat: If this works out well, I will probably be holding similar contests on a fairly regular basis. If you choose to participate, please do your part to make this as successful as possible.
Okay, it's been a couple of days now and not a single taker for my contest, so it's time to ask for your ideas and feedback. What did you like about this, what did you not like about it. What would you want changed in order to make it something you'd want to participate in? I'm pretty thick skinned so be honest (just don't violate the Digital Point TOS in the process. ;-)