Ok, so I’ve procrastinated on this long enough. Dennis Edell at Direct Sales Web Marketing has been a loyal reader and active participant of romandock dot com for a few months now and I am going to help him out by entering his $100 review contest and trying to follow all the rules it includes!

The Personal Site

First of all, I am going to talk a little bit about his personal site at DennisEdell.com and what I think of that. The site itself is laid out fairly well, and the design seems to work, although it seems a bit cold for a personal site. I would suggest perhaps using “warmer” colors as well as some random fun stuff throughout (perhaps random fun images between posts and in the sidebar) to make it a bit less professional.

The current look seems a bit too professional for a site where the about page reads like a personal ad. Although, maybe he is going for a more professional image on that site in which case the about page should be changed.

I also have a couple suggestions in regards to saving space. Starting at the top, the navigation menu seems to have more than enough space both above and below the text (Home, About, Archives, Contact) and that extra padding above and below could probably be cut in about half without having an adverse effect on the look of the site.

My next space-saving suggestion would be to list fewer “Popular Articles” and not show the number of comments with each in that top block. This would allow that block to be made shorter and all three columns to end at approximately the same level. As an added bonus, these changes would make of the text in the post visible above the fold.

I also am not a huge fan of the sidebar layout as there is a large gap between the content and right-sidebar below the end of the left-sidebar and the right one is significantly longer. I think they should be a bit more balanced.

You may notice that all of the things I have mentioned above are purely cosmetic issues. There is nothing wrong with the content of Dennis’s personal site, the conversation (in the comments) is good, and I see no reason not to subscribe.

Easy Cash Contests

Moving on, I’m going to talk a little bit about his contest site at Easy Cash Contests where you can Win Cash Online and my opinion of it. I’ve subscribed and it’s a nice way to get a “heads up” anytime he comes across a contest with a cash prize, and hey, who doesn’t like cash? However, there are usually contests posted only every couple days or so which means you’re not going to get overloaded with contests that you think you should enter.

Due to the nature of the site, there’s not a whole lot of discussion on it so don’t expect to see a lot of comments (at least not yet) and I can see this being a niche that would be hard to generate discussion in. However, I certainly see it being of enough value to deserve more than 36 subscribers even if the number of comments does not increase.

As with the other one, I do have a few criticisms with the design of this site. Here, the color scheme actually works quite well for the purpose/content of the site, but again it feels quite top-heavy. My first suggestion would be to shrink the header image (the contents are small enough that some extra padding could easily be shaved off) and also the navigation menu (the same way as the other site) to move the content up.

The next big block takes up way too much space for the amount of information it contains. The subscription stuff is nice to have there, but could be condensed down and made shorter without losing much (if any) effect. Oh, and, Dennis, put something cool in the left one already (I have a suggestion if you care to ask).

Again, the sidebars are a bit unbalanced, but they are not too terrible so they could probably stay that way at least for the time being. Finally, the bottom of the page is again far too tall for the amount of “stuff” it actually contains (the three admin links). There is no reason for that box to be as tall as it is, especially with two “Soon To Be Displayed” sections.

Ok, so I’ve pretty much only talked about the design of the site, but if you want to know more before subscribing, you can check out the about page or browse the archives for yourself.

The Contest

I mentioned at the beginning of the post that this was going to be as a part of a contest. Well, I think it is probably one of the more involved contests that I’ve ever participated in and there are so many rules (7 to be exact) that I need to be sure to follow. However, I guess that since he’s kind of a friend and I could certainly use the money so I’ll do my best to follow them.

Rule #1:

You must blog this contest including all sponsor links with a link back to this page for comments. If you’re as lazy as I am, you can even copy/paste this entire post…..just be sure ALL links are clickable.

For the sponsor links, see below. The link to that page was at the beginning and is also in the quote above. For the rest of the rules (the “blog this contest” part), just keep reading.

Rule #2:

Write the review(s). You may do both 1 & 2 in the same post or two different posts, it’s up to you. If you do it all in one, the review must be first…..be sure think up a catchy title so they know it’s both a review and contest.

Well, I’ve written the reviews and it is the same post. The review portion was first (see above) and I’m not much for catchy titles so “Reviews For Dennis - A Contest Entry” will have to suffice.

Rule #3:

The review must include a least 2 links for each blog - Home page & About page. Home page keywords for EasyCashContests is Win Cash Online. No keywords for DennisEdell.com unless you can think of something nifty :) .

I’m pretty sure I’ve got the required links in the reviews above and I even made sure to work in the keywords. I didn’t think of anything nifty for the personal site, but luckily, that wasn’t one of the requirements!

Rule #4:

Share on at least two social sites of your choice (buttons below). Please take care to get the right category.

Ok, I shared it on Technorati and Google Bookmarks. I chose these two because I already had accounts at those places that I could use. I hope I have them categorized properly or that if I don’t it’s not going to void my entry.

Rule #5:

Subscribe to all 3 blogs via email using the same email address for all. You can do that here, here, & here.

I’m not sure why I would want to do that when I’m already subscribed to all three of them in my RSS reader, but I guess I’ll play the game and do it. I can always undo it later and just read through my reader, right?

Rule #6:

Comment below with: Link to your post(s) (if you separated them, leave both links). Links to social sites you shared on. Email address used to subscribe.

Ok, this one is pretty standard and I have no problem with that. I just have to remember to include both the post link AND the Technorati link. I’m not sure how to put a link to my Google Bookmarks though so I guess I’ll just export it and email the resulting .html file to Dennis, I hope that’s sufficient proof…that along with a screenshot ought to suffice :)

Rule #7:

After commenting check the “subscribe to comments” box…..I may leave updates there, and you don’t want to miss them.

Well, I always subscribe to comments anyway, so I have nothing to worry about there.

Sponsors & Prizes

CASH VIA PAYPAL:

Dennis Edell @ Beginner Marketing Tips - $25

Dennis Edell @ Win Cash Online - $25

Dennis Edell @ DennisEdell.com - $25

Yep, I’m personally putting up $75 ;) .

Mirjam @ MeMyselfAndIBlog - $10

Wei Liang @ ABloggerBlog - $10

Rodel @ Lagahit.com - $25

Suzanne Franco @ SuzanneFranco.com - $30

BANNER ADS (1 month ea. w/value if available):

Sherry @ SherrysShopping - 125×125

Sherry @ PinkyPosh - 125×125

Sherry @ AnotherContest - 125×125

Wei Liang @ ABloggerBlog - 125 x 125 ($10)

Superman Joe @ PostBlogger - 300 x 250

Sharmin @ ContestSpot - 125×125

Erwin Tan @ ErwinTan.com - 125×125 ($20)

Jonathan @ How To Blog - 125×125 ($15)

Garry Conn @ GarryConn.com - 468×60 ($70)

ZK @ WebTrafficROI - 125×125 ($20)

Yan @ Blog Setup - 125×125 ($20)

Archie Pennies @ SomeExtraPennies - 125 x 125 for 4 months

TEXT LINKS:

Collin @ FeedFlare - life time blog roll link

Harish @ BloggingKid - 1 month text link ad

Archie Pennies @ SomeExtraPennies - site wide blog roll link for 4 months

EBOOKS:

Peter Lee @ Make Money Blogging - New Home Study Course,”Quit Being a Wage Slave in 10 Easy Steps” ($47)

Ben Pei - @ Make Money Online - Instant Blog Traffic ($47)

Kathy Hendershot-Hurd @ VirtualImpax - 8 Week Power Blog Launch product ($77)

BLOG REVIEWS:

Mirjam @ MeMyselfAndIBlog - Blog Review ($25)

Superman Joe @ PostBlogger - Blog Review

Nishadha @ rumblinglankan - Blog Review ($20)

ENTRECARD CREDITS:

Sherry @ Heart Random - 500 EC
Sherry @ Name Sherry - 500 EC
Sherry @ SherryGo - 500 EC

Rodel @ Cebupacificairphilippines - 1000 EC

Nishadha @ rumblinglankan - 1000 EC
Nishadha @ YeastInfectionInDogs - 1000 EC

Wiehanne @ Wiehanne Lounge - 500 EC

Wiehanne @ Medan Daily - 500 EC
Wiehanne @ SimplyWP - 500 EC

OTHER:

David R Young Jr @ Niche-It - custom squeeze page template package ($7)

Brian D. Hawkins @ ExtremeEzine - one year Pro membership to YourAdTracker ($39.95)

Well, there ya go, I hope this fulfills all the requirements of entering Dennis’s little contest. What do you guys think, was this a bit much to go through for a contest entry? What would you have done differently if it was your contest?