BLOG POSTS: SWAGANIGANS

Swagbucks needed to direct more traffic to its blog. So I created a weekly word game called SWAGANIGANS which not only boosted blog traffic/participation by 210%, but also increased traffic to other Swagbucks channels as well as partner sites. As a result, this contest ended up becoming a new source of revenue for the sales team.

I also designed the blog post header.

Hosted by "The Swagadore" (affectionally named by Swagbucks users), the game involved challenges like:

1. Coin a phrase that generates zero results on Swagbucks search engine

2. Take the titles of any two books on BarnesandNoble.com and mash them together into one title. Tell us what that title is about.

etc...

Entries were submitted as blog comments to which The Swaggadore would often respond. 

This satirical series contributed to a 15% increase in overall member retention and revved member blog engagement by 70%. 

Click HERE to view the series.

BLOG POST: 10 Reasons to Keep Your Beard Post-Movember

This blog post was written for Layrite Men's Grooming in conjunction with their Movember Beard Oil promotion. I also took many of the pictures. 

After growing his beard all Movember, the only man in town still with a beard went to his Barber.

The man told his Barber that as far as he was concerned, he was happy to keep his beard. However, since he was under much pressure from family and friends to cut it, he wanted advice on how to respond to them.

His Barber expounded on the health and societal virtues of growing a full beard, and suggested that he explain them to those who questioned him.

“However, there is another reason to grow a beard,” his Barber added. “Plutarch tells of an ancient Laconian whose luxuriant white whiskers compelled everyone's attention.‘Why the long, white whiskers?’ he asked. His reply was: ‘because the continuous sight of my white beard inspires me to do nothing unworthy of it.’ So you see,” the barber explained, “Sometimes a man could be in a store, and pick up something inappropriate. When he remembers his beard, he will feel embarrassed, and immediately put it down.”

The man almost fainted. He later related, “That situation exactly happened to me a few weeks ago...”

In case you need some more reasons, here are 10 reasons to keep your beard.

Click HERE  to read the rest of the article...

BLOG POST: Movember Beardiquette for the Thanksgiving Table

It has always been the case that some bearded brethren could not eat without catching a sort of residue in the whiskers and this was seldom decorative. Only the other day, while at a barber shop, I saw a barber with long, reddish whiskers of a vintage that harked back half a century, carefully picking bits of things out of them after lunch. Some men never like a mustache because it was so difficult to eat soup and feel clean afterward. That is alleged to have been the reason why Abraham Lincoln shaved his upper lip while letting everything else grow. (more on that here).

In reality, however, the custom originated in ecclesiastic circles centuries ago and can be traced back to the 1583 Council of Rouen. It had nothing to do with soup, per se. The council recommended that priest should shave their upper lip to avoid potentially contaminating the communion wine with foreign elements. 

As Thanksgiving approaches, those of you participating in Movember don't have that option. Movember is the month that men put down their razors and grow beards (or moustaches) to raise the awareness of men's health issues like  prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide. It's also the month that America's first bearded (but not mustached) President, Abraham Lincoln, designated for the Holiday of Thanksgiving. Coincidence? We'll let the historians debate that. 

For many of you, your beards and staches have grown pretty extensively by now. And for those of you that usually go beardless, this will be your first time eating in a more formal situation with facial hair. While you may not mind using your beard as a "flavor saver" alone at home, such behavior is inappropriate in front of relatives, friends and loved ones. So, in the spirit of Keeping It Together, we put together a Layrite Thanksgiving Beardiquette Guide to help keep your beard, and yourself, in pristine condition for the holiday.

Beard Thankful.

Click HERE to keep reading

Blog Post: A Short Movember History of Presidential Facial Hair

One of the more popular posts written for Layrite's Movember Beard Oil campaign.

Who was America's first bearded president?

Regardless of how this presidential election turns out, no candidate with facial hair has won the presidency since William Howard Taft (and even he wore only a mustache). 

In honor of the Movember election and our new Layrite Concentrated Beard Oil, we put together a short history of presidential facial hair. 

The first three Presidents, while not technically considered donning facial hair (as far as whiskers, beards and mustaches go), we nevertheless felt inclined to include as those who paved the way for future growth, of facial hair that is.  

Oh, and one more thing. If you guessed Abraham Lincoln, you were wrong. Well, kind of. 

Click HERE to keep reading.