I’d like to thank everybody that supported Blog Of The Day. It was an experience that taught me a lot and I aim to apply what I have learned in my blogging in the future. I should also add that there were some great blogs that I couldn’t include in the awards, simply because there were not enough days !

Finally, two things: first, I started out with the intention of making occasional awards for Commendable Comments … but I just didn’t have the time to read all the comments for all of the posts on all of the blogs I looked at. Sorry folks.

Secondly, I will continue The rog-blog.com Blog Awards in some format in the future. I haven’t dcided quite how, but it won’t be daily. More likely weekly or monthly. Watch this space for more news !

So here it is: a review of the winners followed by the revelation of the winner, The Blog Of Blogs. My congratulations to the winner !

The Bad News is that I am still between a rock and a hard place because there are several contenders for that last place ! So, if you didn’t make it, I’m sorry … I had to pick one and just one today. Let me tell you about it, because I think that it has an important message for us all.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have tried to look at as many blogs as I can, as often as I could manage. Today’s winner followed the same path as quite a few others: an initial struggle to overcome technical problems followed by a change in look and feel, then steady improvement.

But looking at it today, I found a post which touched and inspired me. I won’t say more because you will have your own reaction to it when you read it.

I should also say that after starting to write this post, I wondered if some people might consider my drawing attention to it like this to be “bad form”, that what it describes is too personal to be trivialised by associating it with my little contest.

If you feel like that, I’m sorry, I don’t. I assume that the story was posted so that readers can learn from it. If that’s so, then I want to draw even more people’s attention to it. Please read it. I’d ask you to consider how it affects you and (more importantly perhaps), what you will do differently because of that … not just in terms of our coaching and your business, but also in terms of your life.

So the final Blog Of The Day Award goes to Huddson Lee for www.EnjoyMarketingOnline.com. (An appropriate domain name too.)

Congratulations Huddson – your Blog Of The Day badge may be little consolation in the circumstances, but thanks for sharing your story with us.

PS: As promised, I will announce the overall winner of the title Blog Of Blogs after Alex’s traffic competition ends. But I have a busy day tomorrow, so it will probably be Sunday. Watch this space.

It seems to me that a lot of thought has gone in to this site. I like its theme and when you read it, it’s evident that the author has previous internet marketing experience. Each post is clearly thought out – in fact, the author talks about how and why she does this in her latest post.

Other recent posts alert us to the difficulties that she and others had with one programme (and why we should avoid it !), and how one of her other blogs got on to page 1 of Google.  (Very nice going !). “Public Service Announcements” like this and Conspicuous Achievement in an Ultra-Competitive Niche both score highly on my Blog Of The Day criteria.

Delving further back we find an article about AdSense that made me realise that this blog is actually a bit different to most of the others that have won in this contest. Not only does it have AdSense, it also has some banner-style ads at the end of each post and a peel-away ad.

My reflex reaction to these is negative because I see them as possible exit points for visitors. But if you read the AdSense article, you will realise that the blog is actually using the tactics described in it. So it must be working ! And if it makes you cash, then you really can’t argue with that

I suggest that you take a peek at the blog I referred to earlier, the Page 1 of Google blog, as I think that we can learn a lot from that too. Finally, buried back in earlier posts, is something which is almost certain to make you laugh out loud. Check it out here.

So for blogging that is scientific and combines discussion of serious issues that deserve our attention with lovely humorous touches, Petra Weiss wins today’s Blog Of The Day for petra-weiss.com

Congratulations, Petra ! Your Blog Of The Day Award badge is on its way !

But today’s winner is somebody that I just can’t leave out. For a long time now, he’s been producing some really good content on his blog, both text and video. He’s been innovative too: for example, he’s run one competition already and has another planned for later this month. Plus, he has just started a beta video marketing site, that that looks like an interesting idea.

This guy would be another in the hypothetical “Where the Heck Does He Find The Time ?” category of my awards.

I say this because he’s doing most of this whilst working away from home. This is something that I used to do and I know that it can take an awful lot out of you. I used to wake up in the mornings and look to see which side of the bed my alarm clock was on – that was what told me where I was ! But our winner today seems to be doing all of this whilst working full time in a foreign country. Quite how he’s doing this amazes me !

Apart from his own videos, he’s also found one or two really cracking videos that really address some of the issues that should be at the forefront of our minds as entrepreneurs and marketers. For example, I particularly like the one about the cab driver

So for sheer all round energy, innovation and versatility, today’s winner has got to be Iain Buchanan for www.iainbuchanan.me.

Congratulations Iain, your Blog Of The Day badge will be on its way  to you very soon

Update: whoops ! I forgot to update The Roll Of Honour – now corrected !

Although today’s winner is one of the last to pick up his award, the first time I noted him was some time ago, about 10 days before Alex Jeffreys’ traffic competition even started. He posted a video to his blog about social media marketing. I don’t think he’d mind if I call it a rant !

But it was a controlled rant, it brilliantly summarised the way that a lot of us feel about what’s going on at lots of social media sites, particularly twitter. In many ways, I’m still getting to grips with twitter and I’m kind of having a love-hate relationship with it. I can really see the power of how to reach lots of people that you want to build a relationship with. But like today’s winner, I can also see that it has huge scope for ticking people off with floods of tweets about get rich quick “opportunities”.

So even before Alex’s contest started, I knew this was a guy to watch. And since then, I’ve seen more good content going on to his site. A lot of it is on video and there’s a nice mix between “how-to”, motivational and personal posts.

But the thing I get most from this guy, the thing that has clinched the award for him today is that he seems to be having so much fun with this ! He is just loving what he is doing and that enthusiasm really comes through in pretty much everything you find on his blog. And we all know that if you are really enjoying what you do, then your chances of success just sky-rocket.

Finally, I must ask if it’s a coincidence that this guy shares our mentor’s name ? There ! I’ve given it away … because fellow students of Alex Jeffreys will instantly know that today’s Blog Of The Day Award goes to the irrepressible Alex Lim for alexliminc.com.

Congratulations Alex, your award badge is on its way !

Today’s winner is one that has upped his game significantly during the course of Alex Jeffreys’ traffic competition.

A few weeks ago, he felt that his blog wasn’t cutting the mustard, so he made some changes. It looks quite different from Heidi’s (yesterday’s winner) but it works for me … as always, no one answer is “right”.

And he wins today’s award not only because of that, but also because he has recently been finding and focussing on corners of the internet marketing landscape that are potentially extremely useful and/or profitable, and then passing the good word along. His recent video about trendrr.com is a great example of this.

His latest post has a series of “how-to” documentary videos that look over his shoulder during the construction of his first Squidoo “lens”. I have toyed with Squidoo in the past, but it’s something that I’ve neglected a little recently, so it was interesting to watch these and see how things have changed recently. What I like about this is that it’s “warts and all” … in other words, you are genuinely getting the same raw experience that he had, even when things don’t quite seem to go the way he expects !

He’s also got a fascinating product lined up for a launch in October. The Science of the Sale hooks in to his own personal knowledge of the psychology of selling. He’s really moving ahead on several fronts and this makes his blog a site to watch.

So for all-round improvement and for massive future potential, today’s Blog Of The Day Award goes to Alan “The Schwa” Harris for alanharrisonline.com.

Congratulations Alan, your Blog Of The Day badge is on the way !

Today’s award goes to another blogger that has overcome serious technical difficulties to get her blog on the road. I know, because I was one of those that was trying to help her solve them in the private forum for Alex Jeffreys students !

I’m still not quite sure what was going wrong with the malfunctioning theme that was her first choice, but when nobody seemed to be able to sort it out, she chose to look for another. It’s only in the last couple of days that I thought I ought to check back and see what was happening there.

And what a pleasant surprise ! The theme that she’s chosen is a bit different from most of those that I’ve seen during this competition because it extends right across the screen, rather than having a border. But I think it works well because the central part is filled with some good content. I particularly like the use of images throughout each post.

This is another of those little touches which adds something to blog posts that can lift them out of the ordinary. It’s certainly something that I need to pay attention to in my own posts.

What encourages me is the fact that just like previous winner Shirley Cheung before her, today’s winner has just not let go ! And whether it’s a recalcitrant blog like hers or some other difficulty, we should remember the words of Vince Lombardi:

“It’s not whether you get knocked down,
it’s whether you get up.”

So for getting up and (to mix sporting metaphors) hitting the ball out of the park, today’s Blog Of The Day Award goes to Heidi Passey for heidipassey.com.

Congratulations Heidi, your Blog Of The Day Award badge is on its way !

I have to confess that, once again, this is a blog that I have been watching for some time. I have noticed a definite theme developing in terms of the blogs that have won the Blog Of the Day Award. Almost without exception, they share certain characteristics … the best word that I can find to summarise these qualities is that they are all engaging, and that’s very true of today’s winner.

Looking at previous posts on today’s winning blog, we find good use of pictures and graphics. As far as content goes, there’s a nice mixture between internet marketing, associated topics and some personal glimpses. These definitely tell a story and they do it simply and eloquently. The latest blog post details the anxiety of preparing and shooting that important first video.

A link to the video itself would ensure even more viewers, especially because of the freeze-frame image that it would have, though this is a very minor carp on my part ! But do click on the link to see it on YouTube because it’s well worth it ! I think that this is probably the best video that I have seen by any of my fellow students so far.

Not only is it different and novel, but I found it charming and captivating. And there are double digit comments on the post that agree with me.

So, for all of this – but especially for that video – today’s Blog Of The Day Award goes to Melanie Steeden for www.melaniesteeden.com.

Congratulations Melanie, your Blog Of The Day badge is on its way !

Today’s winner was one of the first blogs that I looked at when I started my coaching with Alex Jeffreys. At the time, I remember being mightily impressed and having revisited it several times since then, my initial feelings about it have only been strengthened. This guy is one to watch.

I like the look and feel of his blog, though I know that for some a black background is a bit of a turn-off. Personally, I like it in this context. However, as regular “BOTD” readers all know, whilst good looks are important to me, they are definitely not the only thing that I’m looking for.

One of those other things is great content and this guy gives really high quality information both in text and video form. One of the other things that I like is that it’s primarily a blog about blogging … the longer I study this subject, the more I’m convinced that it is key to successful marketing online.

I know that this is not his first blog and the fact that he’s got tons of experience in this arena comes through in what he does here. However, he’s also used this blog as a platform to launch a great series of videos on how to “do” WordPress blogs. I’ve had a peek at this and I have to tell you that it’s excellent.

I know that he’s already earning good money from his blogs and he’s been very up front about his goals. My guess is that he will exceed them.

Matthew Wolfe is definitely one to watch, and so is his blog, matthewwolfe.com.

Congratulations Matt, your Blog Of The Day Award badge is on its way !

First, I like the look of her blog … but (and I have to be ruthlessly honest here) I’m not quite sure why ! It’s clean and sleek and not too cluttered. Always good things in my humble opinion. But whenever I visit, there’s a logical part to my mind that says, “That header shouldn’t work …”

But it does ! I don’t know why, but I love it !

Second, the content is great. It’s written in a lovely, conversational style that I find very engaging. More importantly, there’s good value there too.

Third, it’s clear from reading her posts that she’s really “getting” what Alex Jeffreys is teaching his students. Not only does she discuss this, but she also describes what she’s learned and how she’s applied it.

Which brings me to the “clincher”.  As a confirmed tech-head, I am a bit loath to even countenance the idea of outsourcing the workings of my blog, my “baby”. But I realise that as my internet business grows, this is something that I will probably have to consider in the longer term.

So when I read today’s winner’s article about outsourcing via eLance, I was naturally intrigued and ultimately reassured. Not only does she explain the why’s and wherefore’s, she also explains how she went about it and the results that she got (which we can now see so clearly). She even gives us a recommendation.

So for all of these reasons, today’s winner is Karen Kalata for her post about outsourcing on karenkalata.com.

Congratulations Karen, your award badge will be with you soon !