What is a Blog Contest?
A blog contest is simply a contest hosted on your blog.
Why to run a Blog Contest?
Simply because a Blog Contest is a great way to create buzz and bring traffic to your blog. You can immediately appreciate how this can get you more visitors and build loyalty among your existing visitors… Why? Because it is interactive, it is competitive, and, best of all, there’s prizes!
Now, how to run a Blog Contest and what are the essential things needed to start a contest?
Keep in mind not to make your blog contests complex and confusing. End points and exit points of the contests should be clearly defined to avoid any hassles…
> To ensure that people can not only find you easily but also to get tons of keyword-rich backlinks, create a contest that’s related to your keywords.
> Like I said, set down clear instructions and rules. Blog contests can backfire when the instructions are unclear or people don’t understand the contest’s entire rules.
> Don’t cheat… simply don’t mar it and threaten your credibility by manipulating (in selecting winners) or ignoring the rules you’ve clearly stated to your readers. The whole point of starting a contest is to have more visitors and create a fun blog for them.
> People always demand more from contest and hence, you should set the prize of the contest in compliance to your business limits. Don’t ever commit more or fake prizes that you couldn’t deliver later on. Choose prizes that fit into your budget easily. Choose prizes that would be interesting to your readers and are related to your blog’s subject and keywords.
> Keep in mind that people all over the world can access your blog, so specify clearly the restrictions on participating. You are free to make your contest as local as you like though.
> Make sure that people who don’t win will still have fun in participating, and make sure to thank them for their participation, in short, don’t ignore the losers! You can also use that opportunity to point them to other interesting areas or information on your blog, and invite them to communicate with you about their experience of the contest.
There you have it, some important things to keep in mind before you start your blog contest. Goodluck! 