Zune Winner Announced…And Other Stuff
Jul 9th, 2007 by msdanielle
And the Winner Is…
It’s the moment that many of you have been waiting for. The winner of the Microsoft Zune giveaway has been pulled from the hat, and the winner is Enkay of Enkay Blog. Woohoo! Congratulations, Enkay! Feel free to go give him a virtual pat on the back!
RESULTS:
“What Were The Chances I’d Win?”
In one month, this contest was able to receive a total of 74 official entries. What do I mean by official? Well, there were a couple entries that I didn’t allow because they were 
newly-created Blogger blogs (created the day of or the day before the entry). It’s not fair to all of you bloggers who work consistently on your blogs to lose a contest to someone who’s spent 10 minutes and zero dollars on their blog entering this contest. Therefore, a few entries were denied, and the true odds of winning was 1 in 74. In all, that’s very good odds of winning the Zune — not even 100 people entered!
How This Contest Affected MsDanielle.com
You can read my blog standings as of one month ago here. As you can see, my Technorati rank at the time I posted the contest announcement was 8,797, with an authority of 395. Today my ranking stands at 5,282, with an authority of 573.
I think a good portion of the increase was an effect of the contest, either directly or indirectly. Some people linked to me to enter into the drawing, some wrote about the contest to let others know (but didn’t enter — thanks David!), and some found my site through the grapevine and wrote about something they enjoyed here. The contest began a wonderful ripple effect for my blog that I couldn’t predict or control.
THOUGHTS:
What Should the Winner Do Now?
There are three options for bloggers who win tangible prizes from promotional contests.
- Keep it. This is obvious. If you really need an MP3 player, keep it, or give it to someone you love.
- Sell it. eBay, Craigslist, or your own blog are viable ways to sell whatever you won for cash.
- Give it away. Prizes won can be recycled into future contest prizes.
If I had kept the Zune, that would have been end of story. John Chow, Jane May, Michael Kwan, and other popular bloggers wouldn’t have written about my blog. I wouldn’t have been linked by BlueFur or Andrea Micheloni, ever. MsDanielle.com wouldn’t have received as much publicity as it had, and I wouldn’t have come across so many great blogs and people along the way. Some of the entries had me almost falling off my chair, they were so entertaining!
The point is, there really is no dollar amount that I can assign to how this particular contest affected my blog. It does help that the Zune (originally purchased by Millnic Media, given away by the Affiliate Marketing Alliance, and won by John Chow) has a slight history. 
If I were Enkay, I’d really think about what my next move would be, and try to ride the wave that has been lovingly referred to as “The Great Zune Monomyth.” Of course, it’s difficult to predict how contesting it off again would result, but if it continues to make its way through these contests, and around the world, it could quite possibly become the most popular prize in the blogosphere. And the most famous White Elephant ever on earth.
The Next Great Promotion
Now, you didn’t think that the contests were going to end just yet, did you? Of course not! For those 73 of you who didn’t win the Zune, you have another chance to win an even better prize. You might not think that’s saying much, but my good buddy Mr. Gary Lee is giving away a free iPhone! Yes, you read that correctly. A free iPhone! Apparently they’re sold out for now in stores. So, head over to his blog and check out the details on how you can enter. Maybe you’ll get this one for free!
Thanks again to everyone who participated. If you enter to win the iPhone, I wish you the best of luck! Oh and my blog turned four months old yesterday. Woohoo!
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Congrats, Enkay! Let us know if you’re keeping the Zune or following MsDanielle’s advice and having another giveaway yourself.
Thanks, Danielle for this Zune contest. It was amazing seeing how many people were blogging about it the last few weeks. I’m new to this blogging thing (I hope I wasn’t one of the ones who was disqualified b/c I am so new at this), but I’m learning something every day and I’ll definitely use what I learned from this giveaway on my blog. Thanks!
Hi Jack
No you weren’t disqualified for entry. I emailed those who were disqualified explaining why they were not allowed entry. Needless to say, I didn’t hear back from them 
It was only like 2 or 3 (at most) I think. I hope you stick around here!
Great contest MsDanielle!!! Congratulations Enkay!!
Okay, so someone needs to get me water because I feel like im blanking out due to excitement! WOW.. I cant even believe it.. Thank you so much Danielle! Reading what the contest has done for your site makes it tempting to have a Zune contest but then again I have a CD player from 5 years ago that I use so the Zune will be a fantastic upgrade. Maybe if not the Zune, I will plan a contest for my blog since my 2 month blogging birthday is coming up! Thanks again Ms. Danielle! =)
P/s – the link you have for Enkay Blog is missing http:// so it ends up having a 404.
congrats.
happy almost birthday!
and congrats! i updated the link to ur site. i’d definitely recommend milking this wave if you can. if you don’t giveaway the zune, make your name known and capture as many visitors you can to convert them to regular readers. i think your blog is definitely strong enough to make its own waves. best of luck!
@roberta – thanks girly!
Congrats Enkay . . . . . .*Sigh…takes a deeep breath.*
Congrats, Enkay. Your best bet would be to buy an inexpensive MP3 player and contest off the Zune again.
Waahaaaa…. i never win those contests…
Congrats, Enkay.
congrats enkay . . . are you gonna try your luck at the iphone now?
Hi Gary!
Well, my luck has been running well so I will definitely enter your contest. I mean, who wouldn’t want an iPhone!
Okay.. congrats
Bummer. I wanted to win.
:: efrain
Congrats and great contest! Making noise in the blogging world
thanks Jane May! yes this has been such a great experience. even when i started the contest, i knew it was going to motivate me even more to step it up and i think i’ve produced some pretty good content in the last month. i’m really proud to be a part of this community, and i want to see others grow and support those around them. like we always say, it’s all about having a great network when it comes to blogging
Why I didn’t win the Zune…
I didn’t win because Enkay did…..but my name wasn’t even in the hat.
……
you were in the hat, i emailed you a confirmation for your entry at http://www.romandock.com/win-johns-zune-from-danielle/
My apologies Danielle, I did find that email and have also edited the post I wrote. I did not change any of the content, but did put a note at the end.
no problem! i think it was a great post you wrote. well thought out indeed
sorry for the confusion, i sent the email confirmation from my gmail account. you were most definitely in the 74 my friend!
Congrats, Enkay!
Congrats to you too Danielle… I’m glad to see that the contest had a very positive effect on your blog. Keep up the great work!
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too bad i wasnt able to join this contest… Ill visit your site constantly to check for any upcoming promo / contest
All that hard work for nothing…omg…i didn’t win…omg…
well congrats to the winner….i don’t know what I am missing since we don’t have those here in canada anyways…
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