The Results of Our ‘Secret Contest’:
5 Winning Blog Posts from Our Certification Community

Did you know that Copyblogger certifies terrific content marketers? Well, we do, and we’ve been thinking about
more ways we can highlight and honor them.

Earlier this month, Copyblogger held a contest for our community of Certified Content Marketers. It was a bit of a secret to the general audience, since it was only open to those selected folks.

We asked them to submit:

• Their blog URL
• The URL of a favorite post
• A description of what they think their blog has to offer Copyblogger readers

The contest was open to writers who hadn’t submitted their applications yet, as well as our currently Certified marketers. We got a nice pile of excellent submissions and managed (with difficulty) to whittle it down to five favorites.

We looked for the same things we look for on Certification applications — first and foremost, a strong writing voice that’s informed by a strong grasp of content marketing strategy.

We also went for posts and blogs that would be most valuable to Copyblogger readers — there were some very strong posts that missed out on this score.

And we highlighted new writers that you haven’t seen on Copyblogger before — although we also have been delighted to feature content from writers in our Certified community like Alaura Weaver, Morgan Dix, and Beth Hayden.

In fact, each of our top three is currently preparing her application in order to be Certified. (We told you it was rigorous.) Keep an eye on all of these writers to do great things in 2019.

And if you’re looking for a solid content professional for your next project, check out our list of Certified content writers, marketers, and strategists. Every one of them has passed an extensive individual assessment (I handle many of them myself) of their writing and strategic skills.

First place winner: Jen Baxter

Jen has a very new blog that’s off to an amazing start.

Here’s how she described her entry:

“My blog is very new and I’m starting to create content for it. It’s going to be focused on creativity: How to help small businesses market their services and products in creative ways, and how to help them open up and feel more creative.”

The site is called Jen Baxter Creative, and her winning blog post is called 3 Things You’ll Gain from Turning Client Questions into Shareable Content.

We loved the way Jen’s crisp writing style worked with fantastic photography (that she shoots herself). Her posts are both meaty and inspiring. Jen has baked solid strategy into her site right from the beginning, with smart calls to action and a free downloadable worksheet on the winning post.

We can’t wait to see what you do with the site in 2019, Jen!

First runner up: Karen Kanakanui

Karen publishes Stories Taste Good, a blog that helps food-and-beverage companies use story-based marketing.

Karen’s winning post is called How to find your best marketing stories — and never run out of ideas!

Here’s Karen’s statement about her entry:

“Although my niche is Food & Beverage, every marketer sometimes struggles with a blank page (or blank screen!). In my blog, I try to show how to find the marketing stories each business has to tell, and remind folks that there is never just one ‘story.’”

We loved the variety of story ideas she was able to tease out of a single (albeit interesting) vegetable. And the post did a great job of showing Karen’s potential clients how she would be able to help them craft fascinating content.

Second runner up: Cindy Dashnaw

Cindy publishes her blog at CindyDashnaw.com, and her winning entry was called 4 Steps to Great Nonprofit Storytelling.

We thought Cindy summed up her strengths really well with her statement:

“I try to give actionable tips for implementing my strategic recommendations. I so often read posts that give vague advice such as, ‘Approach the problem strategically,’ but then leave it to the reader to figure out what they mean. I strive to provide value readers can put to use immediately, with reasons for any recommendations.”

The post was useful and well-written, with detailed advice that her chosen audience can put to use right away.

To benefit even more from her blog, we suggest Cindy use some well-chosen calls to action that would make it easy for clients to take the next steps to work with her.

Honorable mentions

There truly were so many strong posts submitted to the contest, and we couldn’t resist adding two more as honorable mentions.

Cheryl Tan

Cheryl blogs at Cheryl Tan Media. She’s one of our Certified writers, with a background in television news. Cheryl’s site offers a wealth of great advice for working with the media as well as getting started with multimedia content, particularly video.

Cheryl’s post is called The Ultimate DIY Guide to Getting Great Press It’s the first of a three-part series that’s all about how to craft and pitch the kind of story that journalists are hungry to share.

Joe Roberson

Joe writes the Working with Joe blog, which highlights content and funding strategies for nonprofits and “Tech-for-Good” companies.

Joe’s post submission is called What Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Can Teach Us about Building a Tech-for-Good Product.

He hooks the reader with his lively writing style and strong topic. Joe also makes good use of calls to action to deepen the conversation with his selected audience.

See you in 2019!

We’re so grateful to everyone in the community who submitted an entry! You really made it tough for us to choose our top five picks.

We look forward to connecting with many more of you in our Copyblogger education community next year!