• Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs #2 - It's Starting!!

    UPDATE:
    I just added the tour participants page today!

    canadian tour of personal finance blogs

    Canadian Capitalists' Comments regarding the Canadian Tour of Personal Finance Blogs - April 12, 2007.

    Canadian Capitalist Said:
    Hi Monty:

    As I've participated and hosted many carnivals before, please consider (or debate) the following rules:

    1. Only one entry to the tour.
    2. Every entry should be in the following format: title, URL of post, 2-3 line synopsis.
    3. Consider limiting the number of entries. I'll bet you anything that in a year or two, you'll have 75 entries and not many hosts would want to read that many entries and create a post that is 5 pages long.
    4. Sign up should be very easy. Why should I get a username and password to submit an entry? (I hate having to register everywhere).
    5. Please add me as a host to the next available slot on the tour.
    6. How about getting a free email (say ctopfb@gmail.com)? Bloggers can send an email to participate and every week, you can change the password and notify the host. We'll also have an archive of all submissions.

    Canadian Capitalist is bringing up some interesting questions and has suggested that we debate these questions.

    Being that Canadian Capitalist has done many more Tours / Carnivals than I have, I am going to consider these questions.

    Point #1:
    Only one entry to the tour.
    Only one entry to the tour? I'm not sure what that means.
    I thought that 10 entries per tour would be fair.
    I"d be interested to get some feed back on how many participants there should be per tour.

    Point #2:
    Every entry should be in the following format: title, URL of post, 2-3 line synopsis.
    This would make it alot more convenient for the host if this information was provided.
    The host could then add his review to this information.

    Point #3:
    Consider limiting the number of entries. I'll bet you anything that in a year or two, you'll have 75 entries and not many hosts would want to read that many entries and create a post that is 5 pages long.
    As with Point #1 I thought that 10 entries should be the maximum amount per tour. It took me the better part of 2 hours to skim 10 blogs, and write a short review on each. Any longer and it would have felt like work!

    Point #4:
    Sign up should be very easy. Why should I get a username and password to submit an entry? (I hate having to register everywhere).
    My reply to this is that I've been working on the internet since 1999. I have received a huge amount of spam over the years and only like to deal with "real" people.

    The sign up form is for the following reasons:
    1) Allows me to organize the participants information when it comes to scheduling participants and hosts.
    2) Tells me that people are "real" and interested in participating.

    Point #5:
    Please add me as a host to the next available slot on the tour.
    OK... I'll add CanadianCapitalist as a host...
    Anybody else who wants to host a tour is invited to do so.

    Point #6:
    How about getting a free email (say ctopfb@gmail.com)? Bloggers can send an email to participate and every week, you can change the password and notify the host. We'll also have an archive of all submissions.
    Sounds good.

    I'm excited to have more discussion on these questions or any others that people have.




 
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10 Comments
On Apr 22, 2007, The Money Diva Said:
Hi Monty,
Here is an example of what I was talking about:
http://carnivalofpersonalfinance.com/

I would be happy to host the May 7th tour.
Thanks!
MD
On Apr 22, 2007, The Money Diva Said:
Hi Monty,
I think that these are good suggestions. Another idea is that I think some tours have their own permanent site that links to wherever the tour is hosted each time. Maybe something to think about for the future....

I would be willing to host a future tour too.

Thanks!
MD
On Apr 21, 2007, Monty Loree Said:
Hey Melanie,
As the group grows, I can install email capabilities.
On Apr 21, 2007, Melanie Said:
Here's 2 extra cents...

Point #1) Maybe Canadian Capitalist means one entry per blog? You're right Monty. It's nice to have multiple blogs per tour to give readers some variety.

Point #2) Agreed.

Point #3) Alternatively, you could feature 5-6 blogs but really focus on high quality, unique, and frequently updated blogs--like www.CanadianCapitalist.com.

Point #4) A very simple registration process may appease everyone--with just name and email (requiring confirmation). All other info could be optional. Many members would gladly fill in the optional info anyway.

Point #6) Wasn't sure what this entails.

P.S. Monty, is there a way to get an email when someone replies to a post we're "subscribed" to (i.e. one we've posted comments to)?
On Apr 21, 2007, Monty Loree Said:
Hey Investoid,
I believe that I signed some of the participants up myself.

IMO it's best to have people signed up.
This makes it easier for admin, reporting, and contacting.

Thanks,
On Apr 21, 2007, Investoid Said:
Everything sounds fine in his suggestions, although I don't really care one way or the other about a signup since I don't even remember doing it last time (so it must have been easy). I think 10 entries max sounds good, I'd even think it could be a bit lower since this is a bi-weekly event.
On Apr 20, 2007, Monty Loree Said:
Hey MillionDollarJourney,

This site was built in house. So.. no, not word press.

I can build what ever is required though.
On Apr 20, 2007, MillionDollarJourney.com Said:
Everything sounds good to me. Perhaps instead setting up an email, we could use a wordpress "contact" plugin for submissions. Is this site based wordpress?

Put me on your list of hosting blogs.
On Apr 20, 2007, Canadian Dream Said:
All very good ideas on how to handle this. I agree with all of them. Perhaps we should have Monty's registration page also send an email to the common host email address.

Add me to the list to host.

When is the next tour? Should we setup a every two week rotation now?

CD
On Apr 20, 2007, Canadian Capitalist Said:
Hi Monty:

#1 should read 1 entry per blog per tour.
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