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How to Use Contests to Build Traffic and Relationships

Filed Under: Build Traffic 37 Comments

This is a guest post by Carletta Sanders of Successful-Homeschooling.com.

RibbonDon’t overlook contests as a fun and effective way to generate ideas, build content and promote your site.

For the past 2 years, I’ve run an annual contest on my website that has resulted in over 1,000 product reviews, increased traffic and higher ranking in Google for specific keywords.

My contests have also helped me develop relationships with potential advertisers and gain notoriety within my niche.

Here are 5 tips for running successful contests:

1.   Decide what you want to accomplish.

Design your contest with a clear goal in mind.  For example, you could have your visitors provide you with ideas, complete a survey, design a logo, follow you on Twitter or Facebook, subscribe to your newsletter, tell others about your site or create content (stories, reviews, tips, etc.) for your site.

Choose one or two objectives so you don’t overwhelm your readers with too many options.  During my contest, I focus on content and promotion.

I ask my visitors to write detailed reviews of specific products.  If they help me promote the contest by linking to my website, they receive an additional contest entry.

2.  Know your audience. What interests your visitors?

What will motivate them to participate in your contest? Are they excited by the prospect of sharing their opinions and expertise, displaying a particular skill, sharing stories and photos, or helping others?

What will encourage them to return to your site again and again?  Design your contest with your niche in mind.

If you have a website about cooking, you will probably get more participation if you have your readers submit recipes or review cooking utensils instead of asking them to design a header for your site.

3.  Make participation worthwhile.

Choose a high-quality contest prize that visitors can’t resist.  Remember, your reputation is on the line, so don’t be afraid to spend a little money in this area.  If all else fails, gift certificates are always a hit!

In addition to making your prize enticing, consider awarding more than one prize.  Multiple prizes make people feel they have more of an opportunity to win and they also make your contest look bigger, thus generating more excitement. During my last contest I gave away 20 prizes ranging in value from $15.95 to $150.

Drawing on the previous year’s success, I e-mailed companies that sell products in my niche to provide details about my last contest, my traffic level, and my rank in Google for profitable keywords.

I offered 2 levels of sponsorship (total prize value of either $50 or $100) in exchange for featuring the companies on my contest page and newsletter.  I also mentioned my sponsors in announcements on Facebook and Twitter, and in relevant forums and yahoo groups.

Here’s a screenshot of my contest page that lists prizes and sponsors:

Contest Sponsors

4.  Promote, Promote, Promote!

One of the most common complaints about contests is lack of participation.  Only a small percentage of those who know about your contest will take the time to participate.  So unless you have a significant number of very loyal followers, you must promote your contest aggressively.

I generally promote my contest by placing a banner on my blog and homepage, sending a special announcement to my newsletter subscribers, posting on forums in which I am an active and valued participant, and posting on contest blogs.

I also spend hours e-mailing the owners of relevant Yahoo groups to see if they will pass the information along to those on their lists.  You can promote your contest anywhere you find members of your niche.

However, remember to promote your contest with integrity.  Don’t spam!

5.  Be professional.

Write guidelines for your contest that include a beginning/ending date, an explanation for how the prize(s) will be awarded and details about what constitutes a valid entry.

Don’t be afraid to reject an entry that does not meet your criteria.  My contest guidelines state that all reviews must contain at least 3 likes and 1 dislike.  If I receive an entry that does not fit these criteria, I either delete it or I ask the participant to edit his or her entry.

I use an Excel spreadsheet similar to the one pictured below to keep track of contest participants, their entries and their contact information.  Each entry is assigned a number and prizes are drawn using random.org.

Excel Doc

Once the contest deadline has passed, select and contact your winner(s) and make arrangements to send the prize(s).   If your prizes were donated, send the sponsors an e-mail thanking them for participating and telling them about your amazing results.

Be as professional as possible so they will want to participate in your next contest and eventually buy ad space on your website!

Carletta Sanders is a stay-at-home mom of four and editor of the website, Successful Homeschooling.  Visit today to find information, ideas and information for your homeschool journey!

Comments

  1. Tyson F. Gautreaux says

    June 8, 2013 at 7:50 am

    Lisa, thank you for this tips. I like the part where you write about promoting. It is indeed important!

    Reply
  2. Rich Dunton says

    May 3, 2012 at 7:39 am

    Building traffic is really a great matter of fact always and you shared an interesting guideline on contests to follow. I think it’ll help me a lot to increase traffic for my site.

    Reply
  3. Rancho Cucamonga homes says

    November 10, 2011 at 10:12 am

    Contests are fun. Honestly, I feel drawn to contests its really challenging to be competing with so many other contestants. I think contests are a great way to keep readers coming back for more.

    Reply
  4. One Piece says

    October 18, 2011 at 10:44 am

    Contests are good I have experienced. Once I got one of my sites reach #1 in Google only because of the contest. I had no links created for it, maybe a few but not money at all.

    Reply
  5. sudha says

    October 14, 2011 at 8:18 am

    Sounds like a pretty cool contest, but as you probably know I’m not one to compete in these sort of things. That’s not to say I won’t be monitoring the efforts of others though, who knows what I may learn.

    Reply
  6. fakta says

    August 19, 2011 at 10:47 am

    Thanks so very much for you efforts, you are a true inspiration to me – you make this whole thing look easy! Personally I having a hard time promoting my sites so thanks for your tips will try to make the work for me.

    Reply
  7. Firmafest says

    July 1, 2011 at 9:57 am

    Great that you’re suggesting Random.org for choosing a winner. I started a sweepstakes on my site and I was thinking of the best way was for choosing a winner randomly.

    Reply
  8. VHS till DVD says

    June 1, 2011 at 7:47 am

    I will definitely try some of your tips in the very next future, thank u so much for those! Super 8 till DVD

    Reply
  9. videoigr net says

    January 28, 2011 at 8:20 pm

    I especially like your tip of awarding multiple winners.. I will also make sure next time to require that entries “opt-in” to my site, since I failed to do that last time, and that IS the most important thing.It was really fun reading the entries. I look forward to implementing some of your tips for my next contest, and as I grow my list?

    Reply
  10. Nab@billiga converse skor says

    January 23, 2011 at 7:57 am

    My best tip to anyone interested in starting a contest on their blog is to not force people to link back to you in order to participate in the contest.

    I hate when people do that.

    /Nab.

    Reply
    • Amy T. with Best Baby Strollers says

      January 23, 2011 at 2:24 pm

      Hmm… for me that would be the entire point of the contest – that’s going to be my purpose for the next contest I hold. One link = one entry.

      But then my audience is usually the type of people who don’t mind.

      Reply
  11. Thea says

    January 18, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    Great article Carletta!

    I just ran my first contest giving a winner with a free graphic design for their website. It was really fun reading the entries. I look forward to implementing some of your tips for my next contest, and as I grow my list. I especially like your tip of awarding multiple winners. I will also make sure next time to require that entries “opt-in” to my site, since I failed to do that last time, and that IS the most important thing. Oops! LOL

    But again, great article 🙂

    ~Thea

    Reply
  12. TARIQ BIN HASAN says

    November 6, 2010 at 3:32 pm

    I would like to make my own website

    Reply
  13. Stephen says

    November 3, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    Good stuff, Carletta! I’ve tried to promote my site with incentives, but with very limited success so I will certainly have to try these tips out. Thanks!

    Reply
  14. Sunil from The Extra Money Blog says

    November 3, 2010 at 12:39 am

    contests are a great way to boost recurring traffic, increase rank in the short term, engage and encourage participation from readers and build a sense of community. we have ran several promos and contests across several of our websites, each time resulting in a tremendous traffic boost, which helps organic ranking as well and brings in more readership

    Reply
  15. Ryan Woodard says

    November 2, 2010 at 8:45 am

    I’m now on my 3rd attempt to make money with google adsense.. This time I have paid much more attention to you lisa and have gone for a one topic subject.. I’m now running all my promotions which I never much bothered with before. Thanks alot!

    Reply
  16. MCTS EXAM says

    October 30, 2010 at 4:33 am

    Nice post, I agree with it. The headings describe itself what are the major factors to consider.

    Reply
  17. Monica Beltran says

    October 28, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Contests are a great strategy that I have not used at all. I actually don’t see many great contest worth while by Ileane got one by FamosusBloggers. I think defining worthwhile to begin with will be important. If it is something you are willing to participate on then your followers will too.

    Reply
  18. Ileane says

    October 28, 2010 at 5:14 am

    Hi Carletta, I held a CommentLuv contest recently and I thought it would run for one week. To my surprise by the end of the day all of the CommentLuv prize credits were awarded, but the post continues to bring traffic from people that are sorry they missed out.

    I got the idea from the huge contest offered by FamousBloggers and CommentLuv earlier this year. Kristie walked away with $750 and it total over $3,500 in cash was awarded. Now that’s what I call a contest!

    Reply
  19. Amy P. says

    October 27, 2010 at 11:58 am

    Very timely post! I just started my very first contest on Monday the 25th. It’s lasting just over a week and I’ve got 15 entries. 14 of them are from one person only!

    The problem I’m having is with entries that do not match criteria. Either they don’t give me their contact info so they can be notified if they are a winner or they are not a resident of the particular region I’m requiring (US and Canada).

    So when I have only 2 participants and they both don’t qualify, (although one has written enough content to qualify for 30 paid articles) it can be a little frustrating.

    Relying on a guest judge has its perks and its drawbacks. You’re relying on another person other than yourself to make things go smoothly, so when there are glitches or unexpected obstacles, it can be frustrating when a solution is not immediately at hand.

    Reply
  20. harvestwages.com says

    October 27, 2010 at 7:10 am

    Great articles
    i’ve always wanted to provide my site visitors with a contest. With this post, i see a contest on my blog

    Reply
  21. imran says

    October 27, 2010 at 1:25 am

    it is really nice posts 4 increasing traffic on my web or blog… Thank u v much i will try this …….

    Reply
  22. Connie Myres says

    October 26, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    Thanks for suggesting Random.org for choosing a winner. I started a sweepstakes on my site and I was wondering what the best way was for choosing a winner at random. Thanks for the post!

    Reply
  23. Erika says

    October 26, 2010 at 10:41 am

    Great article, Carletta! Can’t wait to hear how your next contest goes.

    Reply
  24. Mrinmay Bhattacharjee says

    October 26, 2010 at 8:50 am

    I always want to hold contests/giveaways in my blog, but my budget doesn’t allow this 🙁

    Reply
  25. Carolee says

    October 26, 2010 at 5:49 am

    In fact, it’s been like a year since I’ve done that! With Christmas coming, I may have to do that again!

    Thanks for the reminder.

    Reply
  26. Carolee says

    October 26, 2010 at 5:48 am

    I usually have a good response when I give away books. They are something people like, and I can usually just order it online and have it shipped directly to the winner.

    Reply
  27. Dawn Le says

    October 26, 2010 at 12:02 am

    I also consider holding a contest when my blog get bigger. Nice post!

    Reply
  28. Sotk says

    October 25, 2010 at 5:26 pm

    Amazing tips. Will surely try it sometime in the near future.

    Reply
  29. Alex says

    October 25, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    Thanks for this post. A contest is definitely something I want to do (at least once), once my project is online and gets some traffic.

    One question…when you contact potential sponsors about donating prizes…do you ask for a specific donation or just for what ever they are willing to give? And do they also want to see some proof of how much traffic your website gets? I thought that might be interesting for them since they might only give donations/prizes to websites that get a lot of visitors which will be good advertising for them.

    🙂

    Reply
    • Carletta says

      October 26, 2010 at 8:05 am

      I did not ask for a specific donation, but I did ask for prizes (or a group of prizes) that amount to either $50 or $100 in value. The companies did not ask to see proof of my web traffic. However, I did share my traffic numbers with them, and I do feel it is important to be honest when sharing website stats.

      Reply
  30. TrafficColeman says

    October 25, 2010 at 8:50 am

    When I do run an contest I do pretty much of the same things you do, but I haven’t decided to contact people to sponsor a product..I will usually just go buy something.

    “TrafficColeman “Signing Off”

    Reply
  31. Fred Miller says

    October 25, 2010 at 8:20 am

    Last week, I held a sort of contest in which people shared new filthy and inappropriate words with each other. It was sort of impromptu, but I heard from readers who don’t usually comment. It was lots of fun.

    If I had offered prizes, I could have gone all the way through nominations and an election for the best filthy word. That would have tied in thematically with the mid-term elections next month.

    It was a fun experiment. I’d suggest to Paul to just play around with a small contest before trying a big one. You learn from it.

    Reply
    • Paul says

      October 25, 2010 at 8:17 pm

      Thanks Fred. I’ll have to see what I can come up with for a small contents.

      Reply
  32. Paul says

    October 25, 2010 at 7:38 am

    A contest is something that I have been thinking about for some time, but just can’t find the time to implement one. While it does appear to be a lot of work, then results you can achieve with hold a successful contest can be tremendous.
    If I do decide to hold a contest, I’ll have to refer back to these tips.

    Reply
  33. Sam Mangum says

    October 25, 2010 at 7:24 am

    This is a great way to keep your audience active! Not only will the person who is offering the contest receive exposure, but the person who WINS will also (considering they have a site, etc.)
    I have not utilized this strategy yet, but I can see myself offering contests such as these to hopefully increase my visitor count, but most importantly, my credibility!

    Reply
  34. raymund says

    October 25, 2010 at 7:09 am

    Thank you for this post. I will try this strategy to drive traffic to my site.

    Reply

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