Feb 08 2011

Organizing Blog Contests

Contests held on blogs are sure website traffic providers. If properly executed, these can generate an incredible number of hits, depending on the length of the contest proper and the prizes it offers.

Like any other contest, contests on blogs should be well-promoted, too. You don’t just state rules and prizes on a blog post and expect a boost in site traffic overnight. You have to plan and arrange the contest’s mechanics according to your goal and readers’ needs.

Promotion can be done both on and outside your blog. After announcing the contest, you can post subsequent announcements about it. Some blog owners surprise their readers by not posting anything until there is a winner, while others regularly post entries on the contest’s progress. For more effective contest promotion, social media tools like Twitter and Facebook should be used. Your blog followers may be your Facebook and Twitter friends as well, so using these social media sites may be effective.

Elements of a Contest Linkbuilding

The theme

This is the centerpiece of your contest. Always pick a theme that is related to your niche. The theme involves what your contest is about and how the contest can be won. If you’re blogging about blogs, then make sure your contest is about blogs (e.g. a blog post writing contest, the shortest blog post about a certain topic, best blog in foreign language).

The goal

Every contest has a goal. It can be for charity, for personal purposes, or simply just for fun. It’s your responsibility to communicate the goal to your readers. Contestants should know why they are joining the competition, or what the reason behind the contest is.

The rules

Rules should always be accurate and well-written. Rules are made to prevent misunderstandings during the contest proper. Before proceeding with the contest, you should make sure that all readers who want to participate understand the rules.

The prizes

The prizes encourage your readers to join your contest. Although flashy and fancy gadgets like iPads and Wiis are common contest prizes, you have to think of better ways to attract participation in your contest. For example, a friend of mine hosted a contest on his blog, asking people to guess what his favorite book was. The contestant who gets the correct answer wins his book collection. The reason or goal behind the contest was to give out his book collection to someone who can take care of it, since he was planning to migrate out of the country after his wedding. That contest rewarded his blog with as much as 200-400 hits per day.

Organizing a contest in your blog is no easy task. As a blog owner and organizer, it is your responsibility to handle the contest properly. The tasks of blog contest organizer include filing and consolidating the contestant entries, judging these entries fairly, and picking the best out of these entries.

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3 Responses to “Organizing Blog Contests”

  1. Diablo 3 beta keys says:
    February 9, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    Your section of the blog is absolutely the best. It contains the most useful information that I can stick by.

  2. Musthafa says:
    April 8, 2011 at 6:42 am

    nice article, i follow your rules, i announce a contest in my blog

    Win Nokia X3 mobile, just by tweeting and sharing in facebook

    http://teknoise.com/2011/04/08/win-a-nokia-x3-sliding-phone-just-by-tweeting-and-sharing-in-facebook/

  3. Summerlin luxury homes says:
    November 21, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    I think blog contests are a great way to get very many visitors to your blog. It is interesting how people out there are after winning things and that is why organizing such contests can guarantee any website a boom in traffic.