Saturday, 18 June 2005

Blogher bloggers' conference and contest: enter now!






Do you want to enter a Technorati contest announced by their CEO Dave Sifry (that was the original announcement where a link didn't work, this is the corrected announcement) for a free place for one Continental US female blogger to attend the Blogher conference at the end of July?

What's this conference?

This conference, it says, is "specifically cultivating the female blogging community", but open to all bloggers including men and beginners (hmmm, I can see hordes of male bloggers eager for the chance to meet lots of women rushing to register - good unintentional promotional ploy there to get as many people of both genders there as possible…!).

When's the closing date?

The closing date is tomorrow, Sunday 19 June. So, not much time to get writing. (I'd have posted this earlier but I've been frantic these last few days).

How do you enter?

To enter you have to (1) claim your blog on Technorati and (2) tag with a special tag the post which constitutes your entry. (I'd recommend doing it in that order). If you want to enter but don't know how to use Technorati tags or to claim your blog yet, you may wish to see generally this introduction to tagging, and this post on how to claim your blog on Technorati.

Actually you don't need to read the intro to tagging in order to enter (though you might want to read the one on claiming your blog). In a nutshell, for the tag just include this code somewhere in the main body (NOT head) of your competition entry post:
<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/TechnoratiBlogHer" rel="tag">TechnoratiBlogHer</a>
The text around which you put the "a href" tags doesn't have to be "TechnoratiBlogHer", but may as well be.

What a neat way for Technorati to induce bloggers (or competition-inclined female ones anyway) to start using Technorati tags and claiming their blogs on Technorati! Though it would have been good if they'd announced it earlier, the deadline I suspect is a little tight for many people who might otherwise have wanted to enter.

Where can I read the entries?

For anyone interested in seeing the competition entries (not many so far, sadly - I wonder why?), they should be visible on Technorati's "TechnoratiBlogHer" tag page. Note I said "should" - let's just hope that the problems with Technorati tag pages won't scupper your entry by preventing your post from displaying on that page. That would be a real blow for anyone it happens to.

I can't enter (they're not paying for flights from London, boohooo) but I'm using that tag in case my post helps anyone who's viewing entries and is trying to figure out how to make their blog and their post eligible for consideration.

Good luck everyone! I would love to go to that conference and might even fork out my own dosh to attend, but I'm not sure yet if I can at such short notice. Maybe another year. Here's hoping they'll hold the next one closer to me, like New York - or even luvverly London?


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