Monthly Blog Theme Contest, New User Ranks, MozPoint Madness and Upcoming YOUmoz Features

No, I did not undergo extensive plastic surgery to look like Ciaran, nor did Rand shave his beard only to reveal that a clean-shaven Fishkin looks astonishingly similar to Sean Maguire. Rather, we’ve removed SEOmoz staff and associates from the Top Members page, leaving you all to compete with each other for rankings. Dr. Pete, you can now rejoice that you no longer have those pesky Critchlows to battle alongside.



Keep in mind that the stats on the Top Members page (such as mozpoints and rankings) are calculated every hour, so if you check your ranking twice in 30 minutes and are like, “No way, I just left a comment that got me 4 thumbs, so this count is inaccurate!”, keep in mind that we don’t update in real time.



Speaking of mozpoints…



Extra MozPoints for YOUmoz Authors and Blog Promotions



From here on out, if you submit a YOUmoz entry and we publish it, you’ll get 10 mozpoints added to your total count. If your post gets promoted to the main blog, you’ll receive an additional 15 mozpoints, resulting in a total gain of 25 mozpoints (plus however many more thumbs up your post gets). Check out our MozPoints page if you’re unfamiliar with how they work and their benefit. For now, more mozpoints means you’ll get the nofollow lifted off your profile page links and that you can win a free month’s access of SEOmoz PRO. We’re also exploring other awesome mozpoint incentives for the future, so we’ll keep you updated!



Monthly YOUmoz Blog Theme Contest



Another new feature we’re announcing is our monthly YOUmoz blog theme contest. Each month we’ll announce a new blog theme for YOUmoz. Contributers don’t have to write a post centered on the theme--it’s not mandatory. However, if you do decide to participate in the contest and write a post tied to the theme and your post wins, you’ll receive a $50 Amazon.com gift card from us. Hooray for prizes! Posts will be judged by a variety of factors, so don’t think that spam thumbing will get you to win. We’ll likely factor in thumbs, community response and comments, and staff input to award a winner.



I encourage you all to brainstorm possible themes in the comments (or email me at rebecca -at- seomoz.org with suggestions), but in the meantime I’ve pulled April’s theme out of my arse: it’s reputation monitoring and management. If you’d like to participate, submit your theme-centric blog post to YOUmoz between April 1st and the 30th nd I’ll review/publish it (if appropriate--remember that we only accept original blog posts for publication--no dupe posts!). In the beginning of May I’ll announce the winner as well as the new theme for the month, and we’ll lather, rinse, repeat!



And finally, speaking of YOUmoz…



Upcoming YOUmoz Upgrades



Here is a list of some upgrades to YOUmoz we’re working on rolling out soon:

• Author bio sections. Fill out an author bio blurb and we’ll automatically generate it in the posts you submit.
• A “preview this post” function. Check your  handiwork before submitting it for review!
• Automated messaging. I’m currently pinging authors when their posts have been published or rejected, but soon this notification process will be automated.

If you have any other YOUmoz feature requests, shoot them over to me or to sitesupport -at- seomoz.org and we’ll see about adding them!



So there you have it--some cool new features and updates for all of you to drool over. As always, share your comments and feedback below, including future YOUmoz blog contest theme ideas. I’m looking forward to seeing how our first monthly contest goes--good luck, everyone!