Who Won $11K? The Grand Prize Winners of the #8JGBC

The biggest guest blogging contest of the year is over!

Time to announce the…

Contest recap

This year's edition of the contest went off with no major hitches, thankfully. There were a few hiccups though – there always are – one contestant had some paid traffic (that's a no-no), another one pulled out in the middle of the contest, and two others didn't fulfill their contest requirements and won't be eligible for prizes as a result (I warned them plenty of times!).

After last year's never-ending event that spanned almost 3 months (I still can't believe I did that!), this was the shortest contest in years, barely spanning 6 weeks.

This year's 23 contestants drove almost 60% more traffic to JobMob than last year's contestants. In fact, this year would have been the first time someone would have won the Traffic Race prize (first person to 2500 unique visitors) but since no one had done it the past few summers, I didn't offer it this time around.

The 23 submitted guest posts have already been shared over 7500 times, a 150% increase from last year.

Almost half the contestants won multiple prizes. How's that for making this a contest worth joining? 😉

A great result and I'm very happy with how it all went.

Thanks to all the contestants for insightful submissions, and thanks to our sponsors for making it all happen.

Thank you to our terrific sponsors

Silver Sponsor: MaxCDN

MaxCDN is one of the fastest CDNs in the world. A CDN makes your website fast by taking a copy of your website and delivering it from the closest servers to your website visitors. For example a user in London loading a US website will be slow, so what they do is allow that user to load the site from London, making it fast for them. Check them out at www.maxcdn.com.

MaxCDN is very easy to recommend, because JobMob has been using their service for almost 4 years, since November 2010.

Silver Sponsor: Moz

Moz provides inbound marketing analytics software. They also foster the web’s most vibrant online marketing community and create free resources for learning inbound marketing.

Silver Sponsor: Neil Patel and Quicksprout Traffic U

Neil Patel's Quicksprout Traffic U is the only online traffic school guaranteed to teach you to attract more visitors who will buy from you. Get the traffic your business needs – even if you’re new to SEO… With unlimited traffic-generation and conversion tutorials from the trusted co-founder of KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg.

Silver Sponsor: Resume to Interviews

Resume to Interviews is a career services company that provides professional LinkedIn services, including company pages for businesses and LinkedIn profiles for individuals. The company of five staff work with you closely to examine your or the company's history, asking hundreds of questions, pushing you for details, and eliminating any ambiguous, clichéd, or unspecific language. The end result is a well-written optimized LinkedIn page or profile that features your history, accomplishments, and selling points in a way that will leave you newly confident and prepared for networking.

Silver Sponsor: WebHostingBuzz

WebHostingBuzz is a reliable web hosting company based in MA, USA.

WebHostingBuzz serves over 30,000 clients from around the world. With a reputation for reliable, fast server technology backed by excellent customer support, WebHostingBuzz is an ideal choice for any internet project regardless of the budget available.

WebHostingBuzz offers a 45-day money back guarantee for its hosting services and also has a generous affiliate program.

Silver Sponsor: Elaine Griffin Designs

Elaine Griffin Designs specializes in WordPress website customizations, logo development, marketing material design, and social media marketing design. Elaine and her clients work hand-in-hand, and all of Elaine Griffin Designs' services are customized to meet individual client needs. In addition to her design services, Elaine offers social media content strategy and consultation services, and customized tutorials and how-to sessions so you can take control of your website and marketing needs.

Chrome Sponsor: H.T. Prof Executive Search

H.T. PROF Executive Search is a U.S. recruiting company that assists companies in hiring ‘KEY’ individuals. For the past 12 years H.T. PROF has worked extensively with over 200 Israeli companies entering the U.S. Market or growing their current presence in the U.S. We recruit on a national basis across all industries with our main focus in traditional Technology, BioTech and CleanTech.

And now…

The moment only a handful of you have been waiting for…

Here…

We…

Go…

The Winners of the 8th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest

First up, every participant who didn't win any of the major prizes has now won:

• 1 year 100 GB CDN account from MaxCDN, a US$90 value

In addition:

• Joey Trebif has won a 1 year Buzz Premier shared hosting account courtesy of WebHostingBuzz, a US$131 value
• Lavie Margolin has won a gift certificate for a professionally-written LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn Company Page from Resume to Interviews, a US$150 value

NEW! Best Referrer prize

The only prize that goes to a non-contestant.

• Wendy Enelow has won 1 year 100 GB CDN account from MaxCDN, a US$90 value

Wendy referred 5 contestants, the most by far. Thanks Wendy!

NEW! Best Sponsor Promoter prize

I had a feeling how this one would turn out. In general, it's not much fun to promote sponsors and I knew that this would likely go to the only contestant who made at least a half-hearted effort to win.

Turns out I was half-right. The winner was the only one to make any extra effort, but it certainly wasn't half-hearted. He really went out and promoted the sponsors on his blog and social media profiles.

Tony Deblauwe has won over $500 in prizes:

• 1 6-month 500 GB CDN account from MaxCDN, a US$234 value
• 1 gift certificate for a professionally-written LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn Company Page from Resume to Interviews, a US$150 value
• 1 year Buzz Premier shared hosting account courtesy of WebHostingBuzz, a US$131 value

Thanks Tony, from myself and the sponsors!

The Judges' Choice prize

The 5 Judges' Choice finalists for best all-around entry were:

1. Ibro Palic
2. Paula R. Stern
3. Stephan Wiedner
4. Tara Goodfellow
5. Dana Manciagli

Each of them has won:

• 1 gift certificate for a professionally-written LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn Company Page from Resume to Interviews, a US$150 value
• 1 year Buzz Premier shared hosting account courtesy of WebHostingBuzz, a US$131 value

The winner was voted on by this panel of esteemed judges:

• Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers, @Keppie_Careers
• Ann Smarty of MyBlogU, @myblogu
• The Recruiting Animal, @animal
• Heather Huhman of ComeRecommended, @heatherhuhman
• Hannah Morgan of CareerSherpa.net, @careersherpa
• Jason Alba of JibberJobber, @jasonalba
• Dan Schawbel of The Personal Branding Blog, @danschawbel

The vote was very close, with the winner winning by one point, 13-12.

Stephan Wiedner has won the Judges' Choice prize with his article Do You Have This Moneymaking Personality Trait?

In addition to the two finalist prizes above, Stephan has also won:

• Lifetime membership to Quicksprout Traffic U, a US$564 value
• 1 6-month 500 GB CDN account from MaxCDN, a US$234 value

And now, onto the grand prizes…

Third Grand Prize

With 1618 points generated with his entry The Secret to Boosting Your Reputation Online, the Third Grand Prize winner is…

Tony Deblauwe

Tony has won almost $1400 in prizes:

• 6 month subscription to Moz Pro, a US$600 value
• 1 6-month 500 GB CDN account from MaxCDN, a US$234 value
• 1 gift certificate for a professionally-written LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn Company Page from Resume to Interviews, a US$150 value
• 1 year Buzz Premier shared hosting account courtesy of WebHostingBuzz, a US$131 value
• 1 hour of blogging/marketing/job search consulting (your choice). Sponsored by Jacob Share and JobMob, a US$250 value

Tony had a great contest, taking home this prize and the Best Sponsor Promoter prize above. Good job, Tony!

Second Grand Prize

With 2417 points accumulated via her post Keyword Research: All Job Seekers Need to Know, the Second Grand Prize winner is…

Fatemah Mirza

Fatemah has won over $2400 in prizes:

• 6 month subscription to Moz Pro, a US$600 value
• Lifetime membership to Quicksprout Traffic U, a US$564 value
• $500 gift certificate for WordPress design services from Elaine Griffin Designs, a US$500 value
• 1 6-month 500 GB CDN account from MaxCDN, a US$234 value
• 1 gift certificate for a professionally-written LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn Company Page from Resume to Interviews, a US$150 value
• 1 year Buzz Premier shared hosting account courtesy of WebHostingBuzz, a US$131 value
• 1 hour of blogging/marketing/job search consulting (your choice). Sponsored by Jacob Share and JobMob, a US$250 value

Well done, Fatemah!

First Grand Prize

This year's big winner had a spectacular run.

Her entry not only won the contest on points, it also set a new contest record for the most traffic by a single entry, more than doubling the old record that was set 2 years ago.

With a total 5059 points accumulated from her article Introverts’ Guide to a Smooth Job Search…

The 8th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest Grand Prize Winner is:

Dorothy Tannahill-Moran

Dorothy has won almost $2800 in prizes:

• US$100 in cash, paid via Paypal. Sponsored by H.T. Prof Executive Search.
• 6-month subscription to Moz Pro, a US$600 value
• Lifetime membership to Quicksprout Traffic U, a US$564 value
• $500 gift certificate for WordPress design services from Elaine Griffin Designs, a US$500 value
• 1 3-month 1 TB CDN account from MaxCDN, a US$237 value
• 1 gift certificate for a professionally-written LinkedIn profile or LinkedIn Company Page from Resume to Interviews, a US$150 value
• 1 year Buzz Premier shared hosting account courtesy of WebHostingBuzz, a US$131 value
• 1 hour of blogging/marketing/job search consulting (your choice). Sponsored by Jacob Share and JobMob, a US$250 value
• 1 month ad exposure at the top of a new JobMob article. Sponsored by Jacob Share and JobMob, a US$250 value

Congratulations, Dorothy!

And another contest is successfully complete!

Here are the final results.

To all the contestants and winners: I will be in touch with you next week with all your prize information.

Thank you Stephan, Ryan, George, Yinka, Karin, Joey, Yolanda, Jamie, Dana, Katherine, Beth, Sharon, Neil, Tara, Tabitha, Steve, Lavie, Paula, Bless, Ibro, Tony, Fatemah and Dorothy.

I'm so grateful to the terrific sponsors. Please visit their sites and use their services if you need them.

And thank you too for following along, enjoying the entries and sharing your favorites for the winners.

Regularly-scheduled blogging returns here on JobMob next week. And another big announcement is coming soon too…

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