Who doesn’t like contests? I just read about a contest where you can win a free domain name and hosting package for a full year. To enter you need to have blogged for at least 3 months, you can’t own your own domain name or hosting and you have to write a review of What I Say, the blog that launched this terrific contest. Make sure to read more about this at Free Domain Name & Blog Hosting. And hurry up if you want to participate because I think it ends today.

What I Say is run by Andreana, known as Dré, a Multimedia Arts student in her 20s who just like me loves the smell of rain, afternoon movie marathons and going to the beach. The blog has a nice design with interesting, personal and up to date content. Recent blog posts include a video of her sweet dog Booboos, a Technorati Love campaign, and the sad news of Heath Ledger’s death (I actually started crying when I read about it on the net, I will miss him). Apart from this, you can check out Andreana’s biography, favorites, wish list, photsnaps, and goodies such as articles and fictional stories.   

So, why do I deserve to win?

I love blogging and have been updating Blissful Travel since April 2007. While writing for print and online magazines requires a specific tone, blogging allows me to write freer and I can share more personal things as well. I plan to keep Blissful Travel for a long long time (probably my whole life) and will do my best to share good travel tips, travel news and personal travel experiences with readers. So, it’s far from a temporary project.

Having another web host would give me more freedom and opportunities in terms of blog design and paid advertising. The last couple of months I’ve been contacted by different companies that were interested in banners, ads or paid links. But since I have a Wordpress.com blog that doesn’t allow paid advertising, I had to turn them down. I wish I had my own domain, so I could work with sponsors, help them reach out to more consumers, and perhaps also join sites as Pay Per Post and ReviewMe. After all, I think most bloggers wish they could earn money on their blogging.  

I do get by and freelance writing is definitely one of my dream jobs; I wouldn’t want to work with anything else right now. But I don’t get a regular monthly pay check and freelancing can be an unstable occupation sometimes. Some months I earn more, sometimes less. Having a free domain name / blog hosting would really be helpful to me.  

Also, I recently started learning more HTML and would love to practice my skills somewhere. And what would be a better place than on my own permanent home online?   

I got a bit carried away, so I’ll stop here.

Anyway, I wish all participating bloggers good luck and thank Andreana for a great, fun contest!