Reader Challenge Roundup: Mini-Product Creation and The Next Challenge

Saturday, October 1, 2011

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” – Bernice Johnson Reagon

Every few months, I challenge you, the readers of SPI, to do something specific that will take your blog, business or brand to the next level.

In November of 2010, I asked you to write a Pillar Article, which yielded 51 posts, over 200 hours of writing, tens of thousands of additional visitors to your blogs and one person even landing a book deal.

In January of 2011, I then asked you to write a List Post, which resulted in 1,003 “things” in a total of 63 posts that were shared (and are still being shared) all around the web.

In March of 2011, I then asked you to step out of your comfort zone and publish a YouTube Video. There were 44 participants, most who have never before recorded or published a video in their life. The most viewed video now has over 15,000 views since then and is ranking #1 in YouTube for its particular keyword. I love it!

In May, I asked you to do something a little different that would take a lot more time to produce, which is why I waited so long to publish this roundup post.

I asked you to create a report, document, white paper, manifesto or mini-eBook about anything related to your industry, niche, website or business, and it should be given away for free.

My goal was to get you to do a few things:

Show you that you can (and should) do a lot more than just write blog posts.Help you get into a product creation mindset.Help you gain more authority in the niche you’re in.Help you get more subscribers if you are building a list.Give you the push you need to do it.

To those who participated, I’m very proud of you and your accomplishments.

It takes a lot more than just content to produce something like this. There’s also all of the graphical elements, the delivery mechanisms, and of course, putting it all together.

We had about 20 submissions that I’m happy to feature below:

Healthy Ways for Stronger Days: 5 Quick and Nutritious Recipes by Nathan from Non-Stop Awesomeness

The Affiliate Research Formula by Steve from Noble Affiliate Lifestyle

What’s Stopping You? from Cara of 17,000 Days

The Daily Focus Pad from Ken at Destroy Distraction

Business That Can Change the World – The What and Why of Social Entrepreneurship by Justin from Impact Your Business

How to Be Happy by Mike of How To Be Amazing

Time Blocking 101 by Kevin at You’re Making Me

For Oily Skin by Ramy of For Oily Skin

Website Creation for Absolute Beginners by Robert of Website Tool Tester

Understanding the Risks of Spread Betting UK Shares by David of Trading Simply

Wedding Slideshow Planner by Harlan of Wedding Slideshow Ideas

Niche Sites for Beginners by Mike of Penny On the Floor

5 Easy Money Experiments by Jimmy & Pete of Niche Experiments

The Newlywed’s Guide to Budgeting by Tim of Faith and Finance

Get a Life That Doesn’t Suck by Benny from the Get Busy Living Blog

Don’t Envy the Successful Entrepreneur – Become One! by Sam at Grad Money Matters

101 Tips for Becoming a Productivity Superstar by Timo at Timokiander.com

How to Network and Sell More Effectively by Sandra at Into3d.co.uk

Get Out the Vote to Win by Ben at Get Out the Vote to Win

Earn Your First 1000 Dollars With Affiliate Marketing by Momekh at LifeETC

I didn’t have time to read through all of them – there’s a TON of content here – but I did read the descriptions of each and was very pleased with what I saw. I encourage you to download anything that might be of interest to you.

Investing time to write eBooks the Smart Way has definitely paid off for me, and I know it will do the same for the action-takers and go-getters that were featured here today.

As promised, I’m awarding two prizes to the pool of participants – one $50 Amazon.com gift card to a random entry, and then one $100 Amazon.com gift card to someone that I choose.

Congratulations to Kevin from YoureMakingMe.com who was randomly selected to win the $50 gift card, and congrats to Tim from FaithandFinance.org for being selected to win the $100 gift card.

I want you to write a post that incorporates a story – any type of true story that teaches something to your audience.

Stories are one of the most powerful marketing tools because when we read or listen to one we can actually relate to the situation and feel exactly what the storyteller is feeling. Even my favorite teachers were the ones who told the most stories.

Stories are powerful, engaging and memorable, and when combined with online business the results can be out of this world.

Check out the story I share on How to REALLY Profit From Your Blog and you’ll see exactly how a story can enhance the information you want to share with your audience.

So that’s it – write a new blog post (on or after September 16th) that incorporates a true story that teaches something valuable to your readers. Send me an email through my Contact Page and make sure you write READER CHALLENGE at the top so I can catch it.

You have until the end of October to send me a link to your published post, and since I expect a lot more entries this time around I’ll be giving away three (3) $50 Amazon.com gift cards to 3 random participants.

Write a story, write an even better headline, teach a lesson to your audience and send me the link by the end of October. I’ll feature it here on SPI in the next reader challenge roundup post.

Cheers, and have a great weekend!

Tagged as: mini-product, reader challenge, stories

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