Reader Challenge Round Up: Case Studies and the Next Challenge

Part of my responsibility here on SPI is to not only give you the best information possible, but to nudge you to take action as well.

One of the ways I love to do that is through my reader challenges, where I challenge you to do something specific that I know will help you and your online business.

Here’s a list of all of the previous reader challenge results posts:

• The Pillar Article Reader Challenge
• The List Post Reader Challenge
• The YouTube Video Reader Challenge
• The Mini-Product Reader Challenge
• The Tell-a-Story Reader Challenge

In the last challenge, I asked you to conduct a case study, which involved two major tasks:

1. Try something new.
2. Report your findings.

Case studies have been the backbone of content here on the Smart Passive Income Blog (and are typically the most traffic-heavy and sharable posts), and each time I try something new, whether the outcome is a win or a loss – the findings are always helpful to the readers.

The most popular case study I’ve published was the Niche Site Duel series, an experiment that included publicly building a website from scratch, climbing it to #1 in Google for my target keyword and earning a couple thousand dollars per month. This case study was made up of about 20 posts, each one comprising of its own little case study (one little part in the overall process), and has driven a ton of traffic to blog.

Of course, it helped that the site did really well, but the series has become so popular that the [exact match] term “niche site duel” is searched for globally hundreds of times per month.

I knew this reader challenge would be a little more difficult for people since it takes a little more work than just simply crafting a blog post, so I’m not surprised that there are less submissions than usual. That said, I’m a little disappointed there weren’t more submissions.

During the next challenge (which is mentioned at the bottom of this post) I’ll do a better job of highlighting the challenge and reminding you before the deadline.

For those that did take the challenge and opportunity, I’m really excited to share their results below.

Please feel free to click through to the ones that interest you!

Google Penalized my Site Rank and How I Got it Back by Robert from My Multiple Income Streams

Facebook vs StumbleUpon – Paid Traffic by Ramy from Experiment Income

Niche Rivalry Case Study by Wesley from Chasing Pace

How to Get 1 Million Website Visitors in 2012 by Steve from SteveScottSite.com

The Grace Project – A Case Study in Life Changes by Hailey from Pursuit of Focus

The Rapid Disappearance of the Filter Between Your Brain and Mouth by Joel from Enlightened Resource Management

A Knitting Case Study: How to Get Noticed Without Drawing Attention by Stephanie from Yarn Project

*Best Email Marketing Newsletter Design to Optimize Click Through Rate* by Chris from Profitworks

A Case Study: Save Money, Invest in Software Development by Peter from Streamhead

Proof, Learn How Anonymous Blogging Can Given Value and Persona by Sunil from The Extra Money Blog

Case Study: Researching a Top Blog in the Lifestyle Design Niche by Dakota from Project Lifestyle Design

How I Was Able to Recover from an Illness by Following a Strict Diet by Sandra from Candida Diet Plan

*The Etsy Experiment: Month One* by Jackie from MoneyCrush

How $500 Builds $100 Adsense Monthly Income Case Study by Kent Chow of In Marketing Tips

How to Manage Stress to Gain Success: 10 Benefits from a Case Study and a Formula on Laughs Heal

Scanning Your Film Negatives vs Prints: An Interesting Comparison by Curtis from Scan Your Entire Life

*Why My First Kickstarter Campaign Failed, 5 Mistakes I Made and What You Can Learn From It* by Brian from Kickstarter Rockstars

Creating WordPress Headers with Photoshop vs Gimp on Ebook Cover Actions

Why Switching to Thesis Gives Me 3 Surprises by Stephanie from Party Invitations HQ

As promised, I’ve randomly selected 3 participants to receive a $50.00 Amazon.com Gift Card. Congratulations to Jackie, Dakota and Curtis!

All of the submissions were great, but the three that I *starred* in the list I found to be very informative.

The Next Reader Challenge: An Interview

Interviews are an extremely powerful form of content – not only for you as the interviewer, but for those who will be watching, listening or reading the interview as well.

As I mentioned in a post last week, Top 10 Tips for Conducting an Exceptional Interview:

1. You can generate unique and refreshing content for your audience. You don’t need to be the expert to deliver expert advice.
2. It can raise your level of authority simply because of the public association that you have with the interviewee.
3. You build a relationship with the person you are interviewing which could possibly lead to other growth opportunities for you and your brand down the road.

Your next challenge (and I really hope you take it) is to conduct an interview with someone related to your niche or industry. Someone whose knowledge would benefit you and your audience.

The interview can be conducted in any medium you choose – audio, video or text – but I encourage you to expand beyond text and try an audio or video interview, if possible.

And make sure to read Top 10 Tips for Conducting an Exceptional Interview for some quick tips.

If you’re scared about asking someone for an interview – don’t be! What’s the worse that can happen?

They say no.

No biggie – not everyone will say yes, but don’t worry about it. Plus, you’ll never know until you ask.

So that’s it! All you have to do is conduct an interview and share it with your audience.

I’m giving you until the end of May 2012 to complete this challenge.

Bookmark this post, and send me an email with a link to your case study through my Contact Page and make sure you write READER CHALLENGE in the SUBJECT so that I can catch it and include it in the next roundup post.

As always, I’ll randomly select 3 participants who will each receive a $50.00 Amazon.com gift card.

Thanks again to all of the participants in all of the reader challenges so far, and I hope there will be even more this next time around.

So who is in? Let me know below and hold yourself accountable for it.

Cheers, and please feel free to share this post and help out all of the participants!

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Tagged as: reader challenge roundup