Amazing Community Features and Giveaway at Aha!NOW

“Giveaway at Aha!NOW? That’s music to my ears. Where did the sun rise from today?” Did you just have such thoughts?

I don’t blame you! In my three and half years of blogging, this is the first time I’m having a giveaway on my blog.

But this post is not only about giveaways, it’s about the readers and blog community on Aha!NOW – it’s ALL about you!

I don’t know how many times I’ve stated this, but I’m going to do it yet another time. This blog would not have been where it is without your love and support, and I’m so grateful for that.

What you’ve given me in all these years, I feel may be I’ve not given back enough. So, this is one of the reasons to hold a giveaway.

I’m giving away something that I get easily without making any efforts. It is something that I’m requested day in and out for, something that many readers of my blog love and vie to get.

Want to know what it is all about? Read a little further… 🙂

Before I get to it, I’d like to tell you the other purpose of this post. But first, know who this post is for:

• All bloggers and site owners who have their own blogs
• All writers who want to create an impressive writing portfolio
• All readers who think they can pen their story and thoughts
• All visitors who want more interactivity or need help
• All advertisers, who are looking for best value for their money
• All loyal and regular fans and followers of Aha!NOW!

Because there is something in this post for each and every one of you. 🙂

Get Started With Community Activities

In my post, after my recent blogging break – more than a month back, I wrote about starting new community features on Aha!NOW.

Some of the community members tried and tested them out. I now find them to be useful and feel like they are an extension of the posts and the comments.

This post comes after a month, as I wanted them to try all the features before officially inviting everybody. Everything seems to be working perfectly, though I know there is always scope for improvement, and we keep working to make it better still.

Therefore, this is the other purpose of this post. It’s time that you step in to start communicating with other members of the community.

Let me add more to it. I want this community to be the first place where you would want to go to discuss or ask anything. If you need help about just anything, this is it – just come and ask!

What Do You Get Out Of Participating In Community Activities

I want to give all the active community members everything that I can think of. I’ve realized that being grateful and giving is the way to live. These are some of the ways to bring happiness in your life.

I’d love to help you in any way I can. In fact, you can also suggest more ways that you can think of.

So, here we go.

Benefits of Being a Community Member and Participating in Activities

First, to be a member of this blog, you need to register yourself. You can do that by accessing either of these two locations:

One at the topmost site links above the menu bar, and the other  under the “Community” option of the menu bar.

Once you click on the “Register” link, you’re taken to this form:

Make sure that you do the following before filling up the form and submitting it.

1)      Read and accept the terms and conditions. These are very simple, and be rest assured that there is no fee going to be charged, as the general membership is absolutely FREE.

2)     Use your Gravatar email to get your profile picture. All profiles that do not have photos of the members will be deleted without warning. I’ve made this a mandatory condition so as to bring more authenticity and avoid spammers.

You can grab your free Gravatar from here.

If you’ve a blog or website, you get a link back if you fill in the URL (root domain only) below the name field. Of course, you should be the legal owner of the site that you mention; else, the link will be removed.

Once you’re registered, you can extend your profile and fill in more details about yourself. You can let other members contact you on social media by filling in your social media links.

You can even choose what you want others to see and edit the profile settings after you are registered.

To know more about the other community features on the blog, please view the community page.

Here are some of the benefits that you get being a member of the Aha!NOW blog community (ABC).

Promote Your Blog

If you’re a blogger, then this is the best opportunity for you to promote your blog post as they are published, to the other community members. Even the non-members can view these posts.

You can click on the “PROMOTE YOUR BLOG” banner in the sidebar or the link on the menu bar under “FORUMS”.

Write a short description about your new post and paste its link or the complete url. That’s it. Your forum topic entry will appear in the sidebar of the blog posts and pages.

 

Share Your Problems

Do you have ANY problems about which you want to seek help from other members of the community?

They could be personal, and if you feel you can ask them publicly – please do so, or professional like something related to your blog or blogging.

There’s no need to go anywhere else. Write you problem on “SHARE YOUR PROBLEMS”, accessible from the sidebar as well as the menu bar.

Other members will see your forum topic on the sidebar and respond to you. Make sure you check the box on “Notify me of follow-up replies via email” to know when somebody responds to your post.

Of course, you can make friends too by introducing yourself in a forum post.

Some other members might find your introduction interesting and would want to carry on the conversation. Remember, conversations lead to building relationships and you can make good friends like this!

As responsible members of the community, you’re required to put up decent posts, reasonable questions, and nothing that can upset any other member. If your post is reported as spam or seen as offensive, Aha!NOW has the right to remove or edit it as per the decision of the admins and moderators.

 

Opportunity to Guest Post

The most active members of the community get the chance to publish their guest posts on Aha!NOW.

You can see the list of active community members on the “Leaderboard” on the sidebar. You will get points for various community activities like commenting, forum posting, interacting with other members, and so on.

The complete list of the community activities that will be rewarded is available on the community page.

Recently, I had Maxwell Ivey’s guest post in the month of July with his inspirational “Life Lessons From a Blind Blogger” post. This was a blockbuster – Max did a great job and you can ask him how he feels about the opportunity.

Max was one of the early members of the community and a highly active one too. In the month of August, we had Yvonne I. Wilson contribute a very important post – “How to Cope With Teenage Pregnancy As A Parent”.

She received the opportunity because she was the most active community member of the month, and I’m thankful to her for dealing so well with such a sensitive issue for any society in the world. I know this post is going to help many parents.

The Leaderboard will be reset or set to “ZERO” at the beginning of each month so everybody gets a fair chance to top the list every month.

Discount on Advertisements

As an active community member, you’re also entitled to avail a discount on the cost of advertising on Aha!NOW.

You can view the “Advertise” page and contact the Administrator through the contact form on that page.

Your ad can be displayed on Aha!NOW if there is availability of Ad space and you are eligible as per the terms and conditions of the blog.

Giveaways for the Community Members

Many companies, book publishers, e-commerce websites, and other merchants often approach me to giveaway their products or services.

Depending on the kind of offers, my first preference will be the community members of the Aha!NOW blog. Of course, if the offers can be given out in bulk, I’ll also include my blog email subscribers.

But this is not the giveaway I was talking about at the start of this post.

That special giveaway is for YOU, even if you’re not a member of the Aha!NOW blog community presently.

Guest Post Giveaway

Aha!NOW is offering its first ever giveaway, and that is the opportunity to guest post on Aha!NOW.

How much do you value a guest post on Aha!NOW?

Ask those who have done it. In fact, Enstine wrote a complete post about his experiences with guest blogging at Aha!NOW, which was titled – Guest Posting on Aha-now.com ~ Traffic and Growth Reports.

Now, I don’t guaranty that your guest post on Aha!NOW will do the same wonders as it did for Enstine, but no harm taking a chance. 😉

Moreover, this blog is now visited by people from over 169 countries, so you can imagine it’s wide range and scope or reach.

Do you know that only regular and loyal Aha!NOW blog community members can guest post on Aha!NOW?

However, I’m breaking this rule today! YOU stand a chance to get this opportunity without being a registered member and any wait periods or spending months in the waiting list.

How can you use this guest post opportunity?

• If you are a blogger, you can promote your blog to the Aha!NOW audience and other readers, in a better way by featuring as a guest blogger.
• If you are also a writer, you can include the link to your impressive guest post in the portfolio to show your clients.
• If you are neither of the above, but you’ve great ideas and impressive writing skills, you can still contribute your story on Aha!NOW and feel proud and happy!

Just submit your entry in the below given Rafflecopter giveaway entry form.

Oh yes, before you can actually do that, you will need to do the following THREE simple things–

• Follow Aha!NOW on Twitter
• Send a Tweet
• Like Aha!NOW on Facebook

Now, isn’t that sweet and simple! So, here’s the giveaway.

You need to first read the terms and conditions of the giveaway.

1)      You can fill up any number of entries, but you are eligible for only one guest post. So, even if your name comes up in the draw more than one times, you get to guest post only once.

2)      Two winners will be chosen who will guest post in the months of September and October, at my choice and discretion.

3)      Ineligible entries will not be considered, even if they appear in the draw. In that eventuality, the next eligible entry in the list will be rewarded.

4)      The eligibility criteria for the entry is following Aha!NOW on Twitter, liking it on Facebook, and sending a Tweet.

5)      Even if you win the giveaway, you should be able to deliver an impressive and useful guest post based on the niches of Aha!NOW, or else you will face disqualification.

6)      You need to adhere to the guest post guidelines to the “T” as mentioned in this post, else your guest post will not be accepted.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway draw date ends on September 3, 2014. About one week from the publish date of this post, on my post on Sept 4th, 2014, the winners will be declared.

I’d like to make it clear that I’ve increased the frequency of guest posts on Aha!NOW, on popular demand.

Now on there will be two guest posts on this blog every month, as to the one earlier. For the next two months, one guest blogger will be chosen from this giveaway and one from the Leaderboard toppers for each month.

So, even if you don’t win this giveaway, you still have a chance to guest post by being one of the top active community members.

I wish you all the best and await YOU to be the next guest blogger at Aha!NOW.

A Word For The Advertisers

I want to convey the information to all readers who are either product or service providers that I’m offering advertisement spaces on rent at special and extremely low prices.

The advertising rates will be revised on October 23, 2014. So it’s your opportunity to grab the offer now and seek the best value for your money.

Please visit the “Advertise” page for more information along with the rates of advertisement.

The adspace allotment will be on first-cum-first basis and the prices are fixed – no bargaining. Of course, the Aha!NOW blog community members will get the additional membership discount.

Finally, I want to thank all the visitors who commented on Aha!NOW in the month of August.

Thank You Commentators!

For me, every visitor to Aha!NOW is valuable. There are people who read the posts and give it star ratings if they like them, or promote them on social media, without me asking for any promotion. So, I am really thankful to them.

However, the ones who comment on the posts need a special mention. Even though this is not the end of the month yet, but I’m honoring the commentators anyway.

Here are the Top 10 Commentators on Aha!NOW for August 2014.

Congratulations all the above commentators, and you did deserve the “dofollow” links – you earned them rightfully! I hope you know that this link is more important than a CommentLuv link.

Wasn’t this a sweet way of displaying the top commentators of the blog? Well, you too can do that.

In fact, this was made possible with a Free WordPress plugin by Enstine Muki. And, it’s called “MyCommentAuthors”.

It not only helped me display the top commentator list on my blog but also sent a “thank you” mail to all the wonderful people who commented on Aha!NOW this month!

Go try it yourself and download this plugin NOW! (It’s NOT an affiliate link!)

Lastly, check out this post on Enstine’s blog – Hint: It’s about me. 🙂

That’s all from me today. Thank you for reading, and registering yourself as a blog community member if you already did or are going to do it!

Let’s make Aha!NOW a help and information platform to bring happiness into everyone’s life. 🙂

Share Your Thoughts:

What are your views about the community features of Aha!NOW? Did you fill up your entry for the giveaway? What does guest posting on Aha!NOW mean to you?

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos