The Ultimate Blog Challenge has been a terrific experience. We have all made new friends and learned a lot from each other. But, I could not help but feel that I had overlooked some challengers. It is impossible to keep up with all the #blogboost hashtag tweets, as there are a number of spammers out there who are taking advantage of our challenge hashtag. As a workaround, I decided to go through all the blogs in the Ultimate Blog Challenge members area. No easy feat.
My Review Criteria
It would have been an impossible exercise to review and write comments for every blog, so I came up with the following review acceptance criteria.
- Must have registered their blog in the Ultimate Blog Challenge members area
- Blog posts more than 200 words in length. The occasional blog post less than 200 words is fine.
- Must have an about us page.
- No popup obscuring the website when you first visit and no opt-in form covering the whole front page of the blog.
- Must have kept up with the challenge for the most part. Interestingly, 90% of the blogs I reviewed stopped blogging after the 7th day of the challenge.
- Must have their own unique domain (no free website hosting)
- Must have re-tweeted someone from Ultimate Blog Challenge at least once
- Content that I like or get something out of reading
- Blog is not a front for some binomial-fractal-multi-layer-business-opportunity. I always wanted to say that.
Based on the above criteria. Here are the blogs I loved. As a way of thanking each one I left a relevant comment on each blog. These are all authentic people who are committed to the Ultimate Blog Challenge and lasted this long.
Freelance Writers
Stephanie is a freelance writer with an interest in vegetable gardening, photography and woodworking. Her blog showcases her writing. Not really in our niche, but I love her passion for gardening.
Fitness and Health
Paula is a no holds barred fitness trainer and is knowledgeable in areas of general fitness, mobility, stress management and various nutrition programs. I am trying out her ‘Gimme 50 Chellenge’ – highly recommended. She responds to all comments on her blog.
Psychic Readers
A great name for a blog and awesome branding with the graphics header on her site. Lisa is a psychic reader with a practical style who has resonated with punk rock ideology all her life. Lisa has kept up with the challenge and is a great commentator.
Expatriate Blogs
John and Sue from “Spain Uncovered”
John and Sue retired in Spain from rain-sodden Britain. They blog about the joys, trials and tribulations of being retiree expats in Spain. The Blog resonates with me as Maggie, our two girls and myself are Australian expats living in Hong Kong.
An expat blog about a “trailing spouse” living in the Netherlands since 2009. Her blog has great tips on dealing with a new culture and country. A good writer, and great networker with other expat travel blogs.
The hilarious antics of two openly gay middle aged expats from London living in a Muslim country. A fun blog to follow with a rapidly growing list of “real world non blogger” commentators.
Life and Business Coaches
Roberta from “Get Out Of Stuck”
Roberta has for the past 30 years helped organizations align individual and group purposes to benefit that of the greater community. Her years of experience and knowledge show in the wisdom of her blog posts.
Cemaaj and Shivie from “The Cook And The Butler”
Cemaaj and Shivie believe everyone is here for a reason and that each of deserves, as our birthright, to live a happy life that is on purpose and with passion. They escaped corporate life to follow their passion and want to help others to find their own individual “why” and “how”. You will need a tumbler blog also to follow and comment about their blog. NOTE: You can follow Excitedbylife on tumbler also.
Jenny believes that work should be fun, enjoyable, purposeful and fulfilling and inspire you to jump out of bed every morning because you can’t wait to get started. She combines coaching and mentoring with the nature and the outdoors. Her years of experience in Marketing, Training & Development and IT shows in the deep thought and insight that goes into every blog post. She also replies to all her blog comments.
Kama from “Creatively awaken your inner magic”
Kama helps people awaken the magic of their creative inner child. At ExcitedByLife we also believe that most adults have lost the excitement for play and adventure we once had as children. Kama gets lots of commentators and responds to all of them.
Martha works online full-time and her goal is to help as many people as possible to take that same plunge. We love Martha as she really looks after new bloggers, and often comments on their blogs.
MaryAnn from “Leap Without Limits”
MaryAnn helps people lead their best life, authentically and without limit to become leaders to change the world. A very inspirational blog.
Mike started Habitual Victory as a source of encouragement and inspiration for others, and quotes Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit”. Mike has a background in sales and marketing for 23 years and helps people tap into their inner resources via simple daily habits. Mike is a great writer, an awesome commentator and re-tweeter.
Jackie is a writer, coach, therapist, counselor and radio show host who helps people in their relationships. Her blog has some interesting posts on dealing with emotions.
The Blog Challenge Hosts
Michele believes that you treat people the way you want to be treated and then some. She believes in going the extra mile in everything in Life. Thanks Michele for the Ultimate Blog Challenge and helping us all go that extra mile.
Michelle is a wordpress and blogging expert. She has been creating websites since she was just 13.
I always return to Michelle’s blog for great information on blogging. Thanks also Michelle for the Ultimate Blog Challenge and helping new people enter the world of blogging for the first time.
There were actually a few other people that have popped up who are not participating in the challenge, but I will mention them in another post.
A Worthwhile Exercise
This exercise, although very time consuming, actually helped me feel part of a community for the first time. I enjoyed commenting on each blog and getting to know each blogger from their about-me pages. My next task will be to setup a feed reader to make sure I don’t miss the chance to comment again on these awesome blogs for the remainder of the challenge.
Regards,
Danny
Your Comments?
How are you finding the whole experience of the Ultimate Blog Challenge? Do you have any favorite challengers? Comment here.
About Danny Sheehan
Danny lives in Australia but lived for 7 years in Hong Kong. He is Married to Maggie and together they have two children with whom they enjoy sharing and enjoying an exciting life with daily. Danny's passions are freedom, adventure and discovery, mainly in nature and science but also spiritually. He is a great believer in living in the NOW.
July 19, 2011
Life Online