Hi Minti Folks

Recently there have been a number of new articles appearing with some highly relevant and well written parenting advice which also have links back to the originating author's website/business.

We have a very strict policy about "purely" promotional use of the article area of the website and if someone ONLY wants to sell something we ask that they post it into their blog,  HOWEVER...

...we are very welcoming to authors whose primary focus is on "parenting advice" and who also wish to make some complementary promotional comments at the end of their article. 

In fact we actively SEEK OUT professional writers or organisations who would like to add their well thought out content to Minti and only wish to have a paragraph at the end linking back to their own website.  The reason for this is that most members are looking for good advice, if the final paragraph (generally less than 10-15% of the advice page) happens to link to the author's site then the parenting reader is still happy to have read the good advice.

So I would ask that people please refrain from reporting authors who add a small paragraph/promotional link back to their own site at the end of a good article...  if the majority of an article is promotional then go ahead and report it !

thanks for this opportunity for clarification

Matt

 

New competition to help promote World Vision Child Sponsorship!

Hi everyone!

A few weeks ago we were approached by World Vision Australia with a great idea to help promote their Child Sponsorship program. They're in the middle of a big promotional campaign at the moment and you may have heard something about that on radio, seen a poster at a bus shelter, or something on TV.

Anyway, World Vision have suggested that our blogs and articles would be a great place to run a competition, as a way to help promote this really worthy cause, and everyone stands a chance to win some cool stuff (more on that in a moment!).

About World Vision Child Sponsorship

In light of the tough economic conditions that all Australians are facing right now, World Vision staff explained that it is becoming more challenging than ever for them to find sponsors for children in desperate need.

Children whose families are struggling to survive chronic food shortages and skyrocketing global food prices.

Basically, Child Sponsorship is about transforming the life of a child in desperate poverty. Sponsoring a child allows World Vision to work with the child's community on long-term community development projects. The sponsor helps change the future of the child by changing the world they will grow up in, to create an environment where there's enough food, clean water, healthcare and the chance for an education.

Some of the reasons why these kids need sponsors are startling:

• 30,000 children worldwide die every day from preventable diseases
• More than 300 million children go to bed hungry each day
• Over 1 billion children and adults have no clean drinking water

World Vision's founder Bob Pierce said, “I can't do everything for everybody, but I can do something for somebody.”

For less than the cost of your daily café latte, you can not only change the life of a child, but of their entire community.

How our competition is helping the cause

Our competition is going to run over the next four weeks, with a random prize draw at the end of the period where three winners are chosen. In that time, we're hoping as many of our members as possible will choose to take part, so we can get maximum impact for World Vision. At the end of the four weeks, everything will return to normal(!). The more of us taking part, the more exposure for Child Sponsorship, and the more people that are likely to go over and visit World Vision's webpage to enquire about sponsoring a child. Simple!

(Of course, this competition is entirely optional, and you are more than welcome not to participate.)

How the competition works

Every member on Minti has a Personal Member Blog and every member can also write articles.

To enter this competition, all you need to do is write a short blog post or a parenting advice article about your experience or interest in the World Vision Sponsor a Child program.

If your experience with sponsoring a child (or a friend sponsoring a child) helped you be a better parent then tell us about it and write a Minti advice article (it is about parenting)...  If your experience is personal and not necessarily something you would consider parenting "advice" oriented then just post to your member Blog.

There are three requirements to be a part of the competition:

1.  Write about Child Sponsorship

2.  Post a link within the article to the following address: 

http://www.worldvision.com.au/childsponsorship/sponsorachild.aspx?souce=1168

(so more people can learn about sponsoring a child)

3.  Post a reply to this blog post so I know you have entered !

At the end of the competition, we will select one random and two merit based winning entries to receive a prize pack!

Every reasonable entry will also receive a 500 moolah bonus from the team here at Minti for supporting this good cause !

Winners will be required to provide a mailing address for their prize, if that information is not currently available to us.

What's the prize?

The promotional team over at World Vision have put together a bundle of goodies for each of our three winners, including generous quantities of Fair Trade coffee and premium chocolate, a World Vision t-shirt, and some other stuff they raided out of Tim Costello's office (*joking*)! They're still finding more goodies to add, apparently, so it will be a great surprise for each of our winners.

How to enter

To enter this competition, take the three steps above and let me know you are in it to win by replying to thie blog !  Please also keep this competition information alive in the "Latest Activity" list if you can !