~~ A Contest! --- For What Though???

[frustratedcomputeruser]

I read a post a couple of days ago suggesting to run a contest to gain traffic / readers ---

I like the idea, BUT:.....

What could I run a contest about? Ideally I could give away a computer as that is what my site is about But thats a little excessive for now anyway --- I'm drawing a blank!

Any suggestions / examples about what I could have a contest about or how to set up a successful contest would be greatly appreciated.

(link to site is in my sig)

Thanks

FD

[J2icharcI]

Well I`m currently preparing a contest myself at Hedge Against Speculation

I`m trying to get as many sponsors as I can to help me out on this one and just doing lots of promotion. Take a look, and message me if you have any questions.

[sukosaki]

give away a review, blogroll links, entrecard points, electronics, money, gift cards to amazon.com......

[Bloggeries]

Personally I've only ever really lost $ on contests but I've never truly promoted them hard either; not really my thing.

I look at it like this. All you get is people signing up who a) will remove once it's done b) maybe never read it if they do subscribe to that and every other contest or c) have it going to a mail that they never check.

Like building your RSS with people who aren't reading your blog doesn't really make sense. Sure you may get some backlinks but unless your contests is massive with killer prizes chances are those entering aren't on blogs that get tones of traffic or authority for the most part. Obviously some exceptions to the rule but those are my thoughts.

[sukosaki]

I agree with Rob. The value is small in any contest. All the big blogs that run them have said the same thing.

Just concentrate on content. Readers will come. If you have a bunch of loyal readers that comment, give feedback, etc, then hold a small contest to reward them, but dont do it to "gain" readers.

[frustratedcomputeruser]

Thanks all for the great info about contests --- I think I'll put that on hold for now and concentrate on other aspects of marketing ---

FD

[rjleaman]

I do run contests from time to time at DomestikGoddess.com and probably will continue to do so.

But it's not primarily a marketing thing, although I do encourage subscription as a way to enter. (Even if 60% of new subscribers do unsub when the contest ends, that's still 40% who stay - and it's up to me to give the other 60% of them some good reasons to stick around!)

The way I see it, if a sponsor wants to offer a decent prize, what does it hurt to help them give it away to my readers? Win-win. But I doubt that I'd invest any real money in setting up a contest without a donated prize - there are so many give-aways out there at any given time, I think that blog readers in general are starting to get 'contest fatigue' and lose interest.

In short, I believe you're very wise to concentrate on other strategies for marketing purposes.