If you look around the blogosphere, you’ll realize that many blogs hold contests, mainly to raise publicity for their blogs and to increase the traffic and links to their sites.
However, even though a contest is a good way to boost the popularity of a site, it must be done well to get the desired results. Many contests offer rather unattractive prizes (possibly the most sought-after prize is simply cash) or have complex rules which put people off. Try to make your contest as simple to enter as possible and don’t keep changing the rules, especially not after the contest has already started. If you wish to make changes to the rules due to feedback, try to ensure that those who have already participated are not penalized. Publicize your contest by submitting it to contest blogs such as Contest Whiz (and tell all your friends and relatives). The worst scenario is to hold a contest which no one knows about or bothers to participate.
So if you’re holding a contest, be sure to make it count!
Hey Comment Whiz - thanks for leaving a comment in our $5 comment contest.
That’s not our real contest - we just wanted to test the waters and see what people think. What would you recommend was the best way to raise awareness about a contest? (Because you’re right. What’s the point in giving away a cash prize if you don’t have lots of people participating?)
Hey, just so you know. We’re using internet explore 7.0 and your blog layout is acting wierd. The post content is all shoved to the right of the post title bar. Thought you might want to know. (Our blog template acts funny in certain browsers when the sidebar appears at the bottom of the page. It’s annoying but hard to track down sometimes.)
Hi WebDiggin,
Try to publicize your contest e.g. one way is to submit it to a contest blog like this one (or any one for that matter) where visitors come back to look for contests to take part in.
Thanks for letting me know of the template problem. I’m not sure what is wrong as it seems fine for me but I’ll see if anyone else has the same problem. Thanks.