How’s it Hangin’? I Missed You.

What’s up “Small Amount of People Who Still Visit This Vlog??” Nice to see you again Yeah, I am back for good. You thought you lost me there, but no worries – I won’t ever leave you again. Unless of course I finally become a ninja *crosses fingers* Am I even talking to anyone?

Anyways.

I interviewed Thomas Frank a while back on Start It Up TV because “Frankly” he is a super interesting guy. I stumbled on his blog, College Info Geek, when I was just starting out with my vlog and it seemed he was only a few months into the launch of his site.

I was inspired. Here was a college student writing articles about stuff he loved and found interesting; he learned how to do his own graphic design work, which is pretty awesome stuff; But most importantly it seemed he was having a blast running his experiment and was building traction.

Fast forward half a year and he has now inspired me again to get back on Start It Up TV to continue my own experiment. Thanks Thomas!

Contests…a Game Dynamic That Engages

So why am I getting back into writing articles and doing interviews for SIU TV? I’ve been pining to do some more interviews with college entrepreneurs as well as write about my experiences being a co-founder of a startup. I’ve been sitting on it…not really knowing how or when to get back into it.

Then WHAMMY! Stumbled on Thomas’s blog post about a contest he is hosting where the winner gets a 2012 16GB iPad. Pshh count me in! So how does one wishful dreamer win this iPad?? Here is how he explained it:

You have to build your own personal website.

Yes. I know, take it all in. What a brilliant idea for a contest. How does building a personal website enter you to win the iPad? Well, again, here is how he explained it:

1. Create your personal website, using my guide or any other method.
2. Create a blog post or page that links to this post, in order to prove that the website is yours.
3. Use the Rafflecopter widget above to enter your site’s URL. You must use the URL of the page that links back to here.

Let’s talk about why this is a genius idea. One of the most important elements to SEO is getting backlinks to your site. The more backlinks you get to your site, the better Google and other search engines rank you (those bastards, the nerve!). What better way to get people to talk about your blog, share your content, and win new fans than to have that be the contest itself?! Touche!

Thomas ultimately wants to help his fans out. He wants them to have fun with the Internet, start their own experiment, and have success. Here are the two main benefits (other than possibly winning an iPad) Thomas gives for entering the contest:

1. Build your personal brand
2. Enhance your online presence

If you don’t think either of those are a big deal and you’d rather shoot pigeons, chug Tabasco Sauce, or whatever it is you do in your spare time, check out this article he wrote: Read more about why you need to build a personal brand.

Having the iPad as a prize is just icing on the cake. Sweet, sweet icing that lets you play Draw Something and touch the web.

I’ll be honest, those two reasons were enough inspiration for me to sack up, put time aside for SIU TV, and get back into the groove of things. Good stuff. Good vibes. Good shit.

Is it cliche to say “I feel like I already won?”

….yes. yes it is. On that note…This isn’t “goodbye,” it’s “I’ll see you later.”