So far 2012 has been a really hectic year and it has shown in our new entries cue. It has actually gone so far that I’m closing down the LAMB for new entries. This is mainly because I’m not even sure I’ll be able to process all the current entries before next years LAMMYs. As of now I’m getting at least two new applicants per day and already have a long pending cue to begin with.
I’m superhappy that so many want to join but I still feel this is the appropriate thing to do because as of now we (I) don’t really have the time to even welcome the new members properly I feel. Hence why I want to close down for new entries a couple of months and hopefully will be able to at least cut our current pending line in half.
The alternative to this would be to post maybe 4-6 new entries per day but I’m sure neither old or new members would like that option? I sure wouldn’t.
When I also hopefully have a lot of the future new members attention I thought I’d share some tips on how to get your submissions through. Check them after the jump…
- First of all the obvious one, be active and keep posting. When a new LAMB sends an application to become a member they get a message that membership will be processed within 100 days. I stumble upon entries that stopped posting on their site a week after they applied. Those entries of course go in the thrash bin.
- Don’t send repeat entries. If you didn’t get the automated e-mail response then you can send a new entry. If you got it sit back and relax or why not start networking with other LAMB members. The reason why you should not send repeat entries is because my email sort the new LAMB folder by the sender address. So if you sent me repeat entries it will actually sort in a way that the newest entry is the one its sorting from. Basically pushing you down the cue. So please be patient. If something is unclear with your entry and you are still active I’ll get back to you about it.
- Pirating/Torrenting – When I do get entries with sites that are actively supporting torrents or piracy activity I of course don’t process them if you have such a site and have our banners attached to it our legal department will get back to you about removing them. Also make sure to let us know of members who actively advocates piracy/torrenting on their sites.
- Date/timestamp your posts – This is a very important one. When I go over my new entries I always do a quick scan of the site. If I can’t see WHEN a post went up it automatically goes in my pending folder of entries. Believe me you don’t want your entry to get sorted there!!! Because then the time for you to be processed will increase with 1-2 months. At a minimum make sure you have a time stamp saying which date (including year) on every post. Also if you have a calender widget breaking down the amount of posts you have done so far or the last year will also help a lot from getting sorted into the pending folder! I’ll say it again YOU DON’T WANT IT TO GO THERE!
- Be active! This might be controversial but if you have an active blog and you are all over the place commenting on blogs, posting in LAMBforums (all pending members can apply for forum access) tweeting stuff etc. Then the chance of me actually pushing your entry is fairly good but it helps a lot if you have a branded appearance. Because I won’t see a member that has three different aliases on different social media. However, if I have seen someone around and recognizes their entry way back in the cue I have actively pushed these entries so they have gone up earlier. This is mainly because I really appreciate new members coming onboard being active within the community.
- This is not really LAMB-related but I still want to bring it up. Blog branding is becoming more and more important and I hate to admit that I have huge problems keeping a lot of the new blogs that apply for membership apart. A lot of the site names are really similar and some even have the same name as existing or pending members. Check our LAMBtable if you are uncertain if your name is too generic. In the future I’ll actually be asking members that apply for membership with a duplicate name if they want to change it before their site is added. I think a lot can be learned by thinking of issues like this because you don’t want to have a brilliant blog that is drowned in generic google hits just because ten other blogs have a similar name like yours or even the same.
- I demand that the site feature a translation widget if its a non English site and its got to be working because I check them believe me. If I’m in a good mood I’ll get back to you if you have a translation widget that is not working. Get it right from the beginning.
I’ll be updating the automatic response mail to the new entrants with this information when I open up for new entries again. As of now I don’t know when it will be re-opened again so for now I’d just encourage you to keep visiting the site because that info will be posted here first.
Thats all for now! Have a great weekend everyone!