Holding a contest on your blog is a good way to interact with your readers and also gain new potential readers. It is one the ways which you can reward your readers and organising a contest is almost like playing a game with them. I have organised my very own contest a few weeks ago and I thought I should write something about blog contests.
What are the advantages of holding a Blog Contest?
1) Gain Traffic and Build Links. This is one of the most common thing about blog contests. Contest organiser would normally require participants (normally bloggers too) to link back to their blog contest post. One of the most viral ways to build links and traffic.
2) Build Up RSS Subscribers/Twitter Followers/Opt-In List. Again, all you have to do to build all these aspects up is to require your participants to subscribe or follow you in one of the steps.
3) Convert More Traffic Into Loyal Readers. When your readers know you have something fun going on, they will probably return and check out your blog more often than before. They want to know if they won, they want to know if you have more prizes to give away and they want to read your stuff!
4) Reward Your Readers For Their Support. This is very essential because everybody needs a reward some day and giving away prizes is definitely enticing for your readers.
4 Tips To Run Your Blog Contest Better
1) Take Time To Search For Sponsors – What makes a contest attractive? The prizes of coz! Take time to search around for prizes and be confident that many will do so because they want some free advertisements and backlinks for themselves as well. Check out the popular stuff out there and know what your readers would be interested in.
2) Convince Your Sponsors – If you go “hey dude, sponsor me some prizes.”, you probably won’t get any reply. Let your sponsors know what they would get in return if they help you. Free backlinks and traffic would be a good incentive for them.
3) Include Cash Prizes If Possible – People love cash! That’s it.
4) Make It Easy To Participate – Don’t ask your readers to do too much, be sure they will get sick of it. Make sure your readers can complete your require tasks in minutes since they are just trying their luck. Like I always like to say, make it a no brainer!
Advertising your blog contest isn’t that difficult. Having your participants link back to you would be an additional promotion for you and their readers would probably pop over for a look as well. You can also post it on forums that you frequent. Remember, try not to spend any cash advertising your blog contest, there is no need to go to that extent. Also, do reply to any questions or comments that your readers left for you in the blog contest post. Lastly, don’t forget your daily marketing schedule and your blog contest should be up and running in no time.
P.S: You guys should also check out my No Brainer Blog Contest that is going to expire in 2 weeks time.
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I totally agree. My partner and I are running a contest on our site right now where we’re giving away a totally pimped out Thesis theme. Links and community interaction are only the beginning.
Writer Dad’s last blog post..How to NEVER run out of ideas
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Oh thesis theme! Thats kinda popular too..
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Really what kind of thesis theme were you giving away because that might be something I would like to give away myself
seo’s last blog post..Review Of “The One And Only” Atomic Blogging 3.0
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The great thing about this is that if you spend enough time you can find some great prizes from a lot of sponsors. There are lots of marketers that will give away one of their info products to get some exposure and the best thing is that it won’t cost you anything and you get a ton of links and readers from it
Mikael @ RetireRichRoadmap’s last blog post..How to Make Money from Adsense
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Yup Mikael exactly what I mean here..
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nice tips their really helpful and well stated reasons but when your deciding to run a contest what do you use or give away as a gift to the winner the contest thats what gets me.
almir’s last blog post..Vital Tips That Can Aid Any Blogger
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Cash! I think thats the most attractive..
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Ben what do you think is the appropriate amount of cash to give away when running a contest
almir’s last blog post..Review Of “The One And Only” Atomic Blogging 3.0
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You explain a blog contest perfect. My next blog contest will be pretty soon. Maybe next month or the month after that. I am not sure yet.
KushMoney’s last blog post..My First Time Building TV Site
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Let me know if you need me to sponsor some stuff =)
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Great tips to work with. I started a contest a short while back and its been a slower participation than I anticipated. Hopefully I will learn from my past mistakes and take these points to work on a better contest next time…I really thought 1 in 10 odds of $100 cash would work…lol.
Aman@BullsBattleBears’s last blog post..Stocks Pull Back Monday
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You’d be surprised how much laziness takes over; even with cash involved.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Scamming Top Commenter Lists With Threaded Comments
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Aww what prizes were you offering?
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$100 cash for signing up to a free lending site. Got 4 people to sign up and then it all fizzled lol…
Aman@BullsBattleBears’s last blog post..How One Remark Changed Everything…
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yeah but you need to have a plan when you decide to run a contest so your able to have a motive
almir@atomic blogging’s last blog post..Review Of “The One And Only” Atomic Blogging 3.0
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Thanks for the advice and I will keep this thread in mind during my next contest.
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your tips were very helpful in my goal of running a decent contest
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Glad you liked them =)
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Good tips! Running contest is the best way to get backlinks and traffic, of course your first time visitor may turn into loyal reader too, that’s the benefit!
Btw, I’ve 6 sponsor prizes in hand right now, hope to get as much sponsor as I can.
Between, Ben I think I’ve sent you an email asking for the sponsor in my coming contest right? How do you think about it?
Regards,
Lee
Make Money Online’s last blog post..7 Reasons Why A Blogger Quit Blogging
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Huh really? I will be glad to be your sponsor too. But I can’t find the mail you sent.
I can throw in a banner design for your readers. Worth $50!
Let me know =)
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Contests are great and can really help your blog grow. I am currently planning one at the moment and I know your tips will come in handy!
Salwa’s last blog post..Traffic Monday: Ways to Increase Traffic
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And remember to make sure your contest has been up long enough and that the deadline isn’t too early..I made this mistake with my first logo design contest–but then again that’s why I’m starting one each month..
Melody’s last blog post..Commenting on 200 blogs
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I just had a contest back in Dec-Jan, its truly a boost to yur blog´s traffic but I made the mistake to ask too much, I learned my lesson, the next one should be easy to enter.
Luis
Marketing Business Review’s last blog post..DoFollow Blogs List of Lists
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Great tips, Ben. Running a blog contest is a great way to increase your blog subscribers and gain exposure. My problem is not having enough readers yet to run a contest. Or maybe I should run a contest to get more readers? LOL.
Do you know of any ways to advertise your contest other than word of mouth?
Work From Home Resources’s last blog post..Blogger Steals My Content UPDATE
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Work From Home Resources If I were Ben and answering this question I would say is to increase your serps such as building more backlinks to your site, submitting your rss feed to rss feed directories
atomic blogging’s last blog post..Review Of “The One And Only” Atomic Blogging 3.0
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Great suggestions. I’ve been doing all of that and continue to build more backlinks every day. My problem was focusing more on my homepage for so long that I’m now just starting to build traffic to my blog. That’s the problem with having a blog as a sub directory, rather than the homepage.
Work From Home Resources’s last blog post..Marketing Your Work From Home Web Site with Proper Use of Forum Signatures
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Great tips! And don’t forget to visit http://aboutblogcontest.blogspot.com/ to promote your blog contest!
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Hey Ben those are really gr8 and helpful tips. I would say no one will disagree with the things you have mentioned. Thanx once again for sharing.
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Wonderful tips! They will be very beneficial as they are indeed great to follow for running blog contest professionally.
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