It looks like my first blog contest is proving to be a failure not as successful as I thought it would be. The most likely reason- it was not good enough. But before I offer you some tips on running a better successful contest on your blog, I will tell you what to expect.
- The number of comments will be much higher than on your regular posts. More than half of the comments will be made by people that never commented on your blog before- this is specially true if you never had any kind of contests on your blog in the past. This is to be expected since most likely you will give away the price to one of the commentators. You can always spice things up a little by encouraging linking to your post as a way of entry into your contest. Which brings me to……
- Which it fact could be #1: CONTESTS ARE THE ULTIMATE LINKBAIT technique. I am not sure what effect this may have on your blog’s overall SEO, but you can be surprised where these links may come from. I never knew that there blogs out there dedicate completely to cover blog contests. And of course you can always inspire a birth of a new blog.
- The contests may result in and increased numbers of readership- at least for the duration of the contest.
Now since you know few benefits of holding a contest on your blog, I offer you few tips, which are results of mistakes I’ve made with my contest:
- Implementing a contest think how your present readers/commentators can benefit from it. The easiest way to alienate your current readers from your contest is to say that comment number such and such will receive the price. Instead have some sort of drawing.
- Make your contest more than just opportunity for one lucky person to win money, video game, iPhone or any other prize. Your readers are intelligent human beings capable of real challenge vs just senseless commenting/linking. In this case th winner of the contests can be chosen on merits of his or her work.
- Follow through with the price you promised.
Good luck with your next contests and remember to let me know- I will be happy to participate.
I've been contemplating holding a contest too, but I am not sure of what the parameters should be or if my expectations will be in line. Best wishes with your contest — you have to start somewhere!
I’ve been contemplating holding a contest too, but I am not sure of what the parameters should be or if my expectations will be in line. Best wishes with your contest — you have to start somewhere!