TATA ZICA; Win two TATA Zica Cars, #TATA Zica Marathon

Pardon a technically challenged question: when you say all entries must include the HTML snippet, does it mean that I can hyperlink the key words (peppy, music, etc) with the link? I tried opening the link otherwise but it doesn't go anywhere. 

In the HTML composition of blog, copy and paste the snippet.

in normal composition of blog . Just Copy paste the snippet after you complete the blog 

I automatically creates link 

damn.. this looks quite sophisticated, as judges will have to assess multiple posts of every blogger to assess the quality consistency of the post, not to mention to individually rate the originality, relevancy and creativity of each post to give an overall rating and finally pitch that rating with every other blogger's overall rating to come to decide who the winner for the Zica is !! ... damn! .... guess prizes are big, so they're reeeeally gonna make u work for this one !! .. :)

Keep the feedback coming in folks, this will definitely help with future marathons!

If I may throw in my 2 cents - one of the positive outcomes we're hoping to see with this new format is that everyone can stay true to their audience. If you have a blog on fashion for instance, it doesn't make sense to your readers to have automobile or real estate posts in the middle. This way, you can blog for your loyal readers, and still participate in a campaign or two.

By the way, we haven't started moderation on this as yet - but we do intend to be fairly strict on the quality aspects, including relevance (to your readers, not just the brand) and even formatting.

That's heartening Renie. Thanks.

Thank you Renie! This has sorted a lot of doubts in my mind.

I run a blog about buses, it doesn't really help me much to blog about a car, this Marathon is indded a very motivating concept.

Renie But my blog is a multi-niche blog and I cover everything on it. I am confused about the relevance thing...I have 2 others blogs out of which one is on blogging and one is on technology. 

Same thing with me. I write almost everything in my blog, reviews, articles, food recipes, personal stuff. How will that be assessed? And i dont completely understand's Renie's point. Like if i have a fashion blog, does that mean i dont particpate because the campaighn is about automobiles? Or i participate in such a way that i write for the campaighn but around what my blog is about? 

I think the point Renie is driving at is to write for your audience. The words given fantastico,peppy, impact, music can be adapted to your blog content and written for your audience instead of straying away from your topic and writing on automobiles or real estate.

@Mohit, @Thousif Raza, I think you guys took him in the wrong way. Having a multi-niche blog is sometimes a blessing in disguise, though not always. I do not think that he intended to say that if your blogpost is on a general kind-of blog, it might get chopped. As far as I can understand him, me writing a random skin-care blogpost, out of nowhere, on my gardening blog in an attempt to win a contest is something they will probably penalize. Anyways, I too have made a multi-niche/no-niche blog specifically for these contests and happy hours, and everything I intend to try my luck with, in contests/sponsored posts and everything that do not fit in my other two/three niche(d) blogs, which stay away from contests and everything else I do not want the target audience to take a look at and then think why the hell is this s**t here?

Renie has thrown interesting twist .

Being Loyal to your readers. it will be  taking quality argument  a top notch higher.

But i guess then number board does not make sense. Both are contradictory.Its really difficult to write  15  blogs a day and remain loyal to readers.

Even if one writes to genre one speacialises in   but Reader may not  want to read 15 blogs in one day of same genre.

Just quick check How many blog you wrote in last 3 months versus blogs for contest. Will Justify the trends .

It will create negative buzz about the brand  among online readers  which is not good sign .

You were not asked to write 15 blog posts a day. It is the race we created that has made these numbers.  So Renie's quality aspect should bring about a change in writing for the blog audience and not to rise up the number on the leaderboard.

What is Sony Max BTW?

Is this a random keyword thrown in to make us understand the irrelevance of doing the same in our blogposts?

I write about everything in the world. Maybe a recent trip or my favourite phone or even some interesting event that happened

So i guess that will broaden my scope to write about all sectors. Not specific to one segment like fashion/travel/technology

Don't Worry..I think Renie will allow us to write on anything and everything. We are the modern era bloggers..

@katie by 15 posts a day I  meant the trend we saw on  Board, to 30-40 post in the matter of a couple of days  First 10 was understandable for Early bird assured price.anything more was mad rush.

@cyberkid I like your Interpretation. BIG CHEERS FOR YOU .Actually, I wanted giving an example of  SOORYAVANSHAM on sony Max.Sheer number of time it is shown  won't make me like anything .we will tend to hate it 

Moderation has not yet started that means individuals who has posted their post after first 1000 are also very much in the game.

Regarding the quality aspect, will have to see how the posts are rejected for the submission and rejection trend would tell how the posts were judged.

Till then keep calm and enjoy blogathon.

Quality is sheer subjective. If grammar is right, 450 words are present , topic ,keyword and content of the post matches , thats' a valid post right?

I read a very interesting post under Tata zica marathon. The article was good no doubt but it had no keywords mentioned in the article at all...neither impact nor peppy, navigation and fantastico. I wonder whether the article will be eligible or not. Can anyone frOm IB team clear this...

I'm shifting from Blogger to my own domain in Feb (1 year bloggiversary )

Will that be a problem?

Hey Jade, that shouldn't be a problem - are you redirecting your posts from blogspot to your own domain?

Congratulations on your blog's 1st anniversary!

Thanks Renie. Yes I'll be redirecting all the posts to the new domain. 

Just wondering if I have to resubmit the posts again as they will begin with a new domain name now.

How can I know whether 1000 valid enteries have been posted or not?

it has crossed 1500+ boss :)

Thank you thank you :)

welcome welcome

How do you people write so many posts in a day?

I had the same question? how can one write so many posts .. I am stuck at 5 and still scratching my head..

I think my end of this mad race,top 10 may write around 125 posts or so and which would come out to be around 200 rs per post or even less.All thanks to techchumz who had wild run of 10 posts in a single day when the competition started.Good luck

!I wish I had so much time to compete

But why have they named a car after a virus? Who is going to buy something named after harmful germs?

Well, they did want this campaign to go viral.

:D

For people who may be worried they may not be in the top 1200-1300, not to worry. I read atleast 20 posts today which had nothing related to any of the keywords

in fact the post didnt even have the keyword much less the relevance. So once its moderated out ,a lot of ppl have a fair chance of getting some vouchers :)

hopefully ppl aiming for the 10, had written atleast 12-13 cos a chance of rejection during moderation will still ensure u get 3500

Although I am not able to compete even for 10th position. I will not call it "rat race". If some blogger are able to write more, I admire them. when we are calculating prize for per post for top bloggers, we must consider how often they get opportunity to get 20K. let’s just accept this contest is also has prize for people who can produce more. Quality is not ignored as big prizes are reserved for them.

Is it not a good formula where quality is given biggest prize, quantity is given bigger prize and just submitting valid post is given sure prize?

I think top 20-30 people will create so many posts that this will eventually help marathon and whole blogger community for new contest. 

PS:

One more suggestion as this contest is going to run for 30days, moderation after each week/10days will help bloggers to get actual count.

Perfectly agree with you, Omi. While we have general contests to appreciate writing skills and creativity, I like the idea of marathon to make bloggers write more. And it's a test to bloggers how well they can match their writing standards to their post counts. But I see only a handful of bloggers aiming for the 20k. Most people, like me, seem to be content with the assured vouchers. Leave the cars aside, its like picking needles from haystack. I've read several brilliant posts and no matter how strict IB can get with the quality check, they are going to run mad in choosing the car owners  And for once let's blog for the drive to blog instead of involving too much of mathematics, so many posts divided by so much money :P Even if it comes down to Rs.100 per post, it will be a new kind of achievement in their blogging experience. Techchumz, I admire your doubt about the hoarders :D

//I am getting this feeling that you will be that hoarder//

@Shubham I had a good laugh with your comment