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By Amanda Formaro
The Family Corner.com
Do you host contests on your website? If not, you are losing an opportunity to attract new visitors, gain subscribers and increase your exposure on the web. Each and every day, thousands of people log on to the Internet searching for contests to enter. Here's how you can begin to draw those people to your site.
Why a Contest?
Some may argue that the people who enter contests are visiting your site for just that purpose. They come in, they enter and they leave. While this may be the case with some of the entrants, others will have discovered your site and added it to their bookmarks. Some of the visitors may not find your site interesting, but maybe their Aunt Marge would, or even cousin Frank. A perfect example was a comment left in an entry form from my contest. It said "I must admit, at first I came here just to enter the contest. But I have been back again and again and now have it bookmarked and have subscribed to your newsletter. Thanks so much for your great site!" So, don't dismiss all contest entrants as "cheap pageviews".
Types of Contests
Now that you see the benefits of hosting a contest, how do you decide which type to run? There are several different types to choose from, from the simple entry drawing to the more challenging trivia contest. The simple drawing is probably the most popular because it requires the least amount ofwork on the contest entrant's part. The only thing required is their name and email address. Among the other types of contests you can run are surveys, Q & A, trivia, riddles, games and scavenger hunts. Deciding which type of contest to run will rely on how much time you will have to dedicate to the entries that come in.
Drawings require virtually no effort. All entries can be filed until you are ready to draw a winner. On the other hand, surveys, trivia, hunts, games and Q & A involve checking answers and results, thus taking up quite a bit more time.
Sponsors & Prizes
You've decided that running a contest will be beneficial to you. But where do you get prizes? How much should they be worth? You may have to fund the first two or three contests that you hold on your site yourself. This is economical enough, just purchase an Amazon gift certificate through your Amazon affiliate, buy a toy from Walmart or offer $25 cash. Or if you own a retail site obviously you can offer a gift certificate or specific product from your own shop. It doesn't matter. People like to win things no matter the size. Once you have held a few contests on your site and you have brought some traffic in you can safely ask for sponsors.
Set a minimum value for your contests. This may depend on the contest itself and what type of exposure you have to offer the sponsor. At The Family Corner.com a sponsor receives a front page text link, a link on the contest directory, a link on the contest page, and links in the contest and site newsletter to over 8,400 subscribers. The minimum value for that contest is $30 currently and will be going up to $50 due to the large amount of exposure the sponsor receives. You cannot even buy a low placement ad in the site newsletter for $30 so the value for sponsors more than makes up for the cost of their prize donation.
This type of exposure is quite valuable to a sponsor. Be sure to include a link from your contest page to allow potential sponsors to contact you about donating their products for future contests.
Promoting Your Contest
Once your contest is live, go to the contests sites and submit your contest information. Moms Network has a very handy listing of several contest sites to go to: http://momsnetwork.com/contestlist.shtml As mentioned previously, there are people on the Internet that sign on JUST to enter contests everyday. They will begin to bookmark your contest.
Make mention of the contest in your own newsletter, invite people to enter on discussion lists you are a member of (be sure to adhere to any list rules about postings!) and be sure to give a noticeable link to your contest page from your front page. You can also list your contest url and a short blurb in your sig file for added exposure.
Provide a small ad for your sponsor to run in their newsletter. Ask them to add a link to your contest page the month that they are sponsoring in order to drive their visitors to your contest.
Gaining Subscribers
Contests are a great way to bring new visitors and subscribers into your site. Be sure to include a subscribe option/question in your contest form. Or you can redirect the entrant to your newsletter subscription page after they click "submit".
Start a newsletter just to notify people of new contests on your site. Really! It's another way to contact the folks that didn't sign up for your site newsletter and to bring them back again and again.
Selecting A Winner
Select a winner at random and email them with a congratulations letter. Tell them what they won, from what sponsor and what your site is. I require that they respond to the email with their full name and mailing address where they want the prize shipped within 7 days of my email. If they do not respond I draw an alternate name. Yes, this has happened on more than one occasion.
Don't Take It Personally
With contests come complaints. Don't let them bother you. Simply respond with a "thanks for your feedback, be sure to stop by tomorrow to enter again". Remember, "you can't please all of the people all of the time."
Because there are people that spend all of their Internet time entering contests, they have become accustomed to winning prizes. Sometimes after selecting a winner, even though most winners are very appreciative and polite, you may receive people that do not say thank you and just supply their address. This happens. Brush it off and move on. Don't be offended by a rude winner.
Ongoing vs. Ending
You may choose to end your contest every month and wait for a short period of time afterward before starting your next one. For example, your contests may begin on the 1st of every month and end on the 25th. The time frame in between there are no entries.
I run my contests as ongoing, simply changing the prize and sponsor information at the end of each month. This way there is no interruption and people will continue to visit on a daily basis.
Guidelines
Keep in mind that you will need a set of "official rules", restrictions (age, residency) and beginning and end dates for your contest. Make sure these are clearly stated on your contest entry page.
The Family Corner.com went from 300 newsletter subscribers to over 4,000 in less than 6 months. Visitors and page views have increased by 500% in that same period of time and continue to rise each month. You should now be armed with enough information to begin a simple contest on your site and begin promoting it. Here's to your increased traffic!
Amanda Formaro is the mother of four children. She and her husband live in southeastern Wisconsin. She is the owner/founder of The Family Corner.com
website at http://www.thefamilycorner.com
mailto:WebMom@thefamilycorner.com |
