Time For A Competition?
I have been reading a lot lately on creating blog competitions and how they can be good for your blog. Most of the major bloggers run competitions, offering prizes and what not. I have been thinking of running a competition on this blog for the past week or so, but it is too early?
The blog is nearly four months old and while it does have regular traffic, I am worried that only a handful of people will sign up for it, making it a complete failure. The last thing I want to do is to run a competition with 3 prizes, and only three people enter. That would be an embarrassing failure.
But on the flip side, it might be a good way for the blog to increase its traffic. New readers may flock to the site to join the competition, and then realise they like what they see and become a loyal member. It also has the potential to appeal to existing readers and help create more of a community around the blog.
Prizes on offer will also have a big impact as to whether the competition will succeed or not. If I am offering LCD screens, iPhones and Digital Cameras then it will definitely take off. Word would spread and I think it will bring a lot of people to the site making it a success
I don’t have the budget to support such a competition. I am not sure what I would be able to offer my audience without spending ridiculous amounts of money. At the moment the blog is not sponsored by anyone so I cannot even approach them to provide prizes. Whatever the prizes may be it would have to come out of my own pocket.
I could offer some web design services such as a custom WordPress theme. I could buy either Domaining Manifesto or The Blog Adrenaline ebook and offer them as a prize. Maybe even add domain names to the NameSeek showcase.
There are a few things I could do, but I want to make sure it is properly planned and thought out before I jump into it. I will have to sit down and work out the pros and cons, and make sure it isn’t going to be a complete failure.
As well as the prizes, I also have to decide what the competition will be. I have seen a few lately that just require the users to comment on a post and that will enter them into a random draw. Others require users to blog about the competition on their own blog and then provide a link to the competition. Along with the prizes, the method of the competition would also have a big influence as to whether it becomes a success. Users don’t want to have to work too hard to enter, especially if the prizes aren’t too spectacular.
What do you think? Is it time to run a competition? Or do you think it is too early? At this point in time, I am thinking that it is too early. But let me know what you think!
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I feel that anytime is good. Even if the competition is tiny in dollar amount, it does draw extra traffic to your site. You do not have to be offering super expensive flashy high tech prizes.
Good luck with your blog.
Thanks!
Good luck with your blog also!
Its always a good thing to reward your current audience…Word of mouth is still the biggest marketing tool.
Even better if you are running regular draws and competitions.
Thanks!
It may be something I have to look into then.
Excuse the long post…
Depends on your reasons, I assume it’s a way of building your audience? In which case you need to get the word out about your contest, which in turn will make people aware of your blog.
I’m not too sure that the prizes you mention would get people to spread the word?
I’ve seen bloggers require a blog post on the contest in order to enter – how many of your readers have a blog?
One type of contest which I’ve thought works well is a competition amongst bloggers – ie. 2 or more bloggers challenge each other to see who can increase their RSS subscribers the most over a 1 month period.
It has a couple of benefits in that you at least get each other’s readers more aware of the other people’s blogs, and your combined promotional efforts benefit all blogs in the competition. I guess you could also pool prizes.
I like the idea pitching two blogs against one another. Might have someone in mind too…
Thanks!
Dan