Contest sponsoring is something that every blogger should needs to do, especially in their early days. The benefits are seemingly endless and great in proportions. The really great part is that you don’t need to give a car to the contest, most of the time a simple banner on your blog will do just fine.
So what are these great benefits?
Here’s a few of em:
1. Links galore
Sure the person holding the contest is gonna get more links than you but if the contest is large enough you can rake in huge amounts of links. Take a look at the recent contest over at Thou Shall Blog, all you have to do is Google the list of sponsors and you’ll notice that theirs quiet a few a few people sending some link love their way. Now if your looking for a Page Rank jump the next update I really suggest you give sponsoring a shot.
2. Traffic BOOST
When I say “traffic boost” it’s not always a huge boost. The spike in traffic can range from a good 50 visits if you sponsor a smaller contest, all the way up to 2000 if you sponsor something like ProBloggers Birthday Bash. But no matter how much or how little traffic you get you could always turn it into loyal readers, commentators and even some subscribers. But just remember you only have 10 seconds.
3. Get recognized
Well it should be pretty obvious that with all those links your gonna get sponsoring contests, your gonna build “brand awareness,” as most like to call it. People are gonna see your name and blog all over the place. It’s great if you want to build a name for you and your blog.
4. It’s FREE
Yeah this is probably the best part about the whole thing. All you have to do is give something that you already have. Such as a copy of your ebook, one of your premium themes or maybe a simple ad spot. So for $0.00 you can get the kind of perks that cost hundreds.
Is their a down side?
Of course there is, I’ll tell you all about it.
1. Got to be careful
Yeah, that’s right. If your gonna sponsor a cash prize or something along those lines you need to be careful, cause the world is filled with scum bags ready to take what every you have to sponsor and keep it for them selves.
2. An EPIC FAIL
Every once in a while you’ll run into the contest that’s nothing but an epic fail. So you have to really look at the contest and see if it has a chance at getting you what you want, then and only then you can jump into it confidently. Epic fails are a waste of time!!!
What do you think about contests? Are they good or bad? DO they hurt more than they help? Do you have any experience with sponsoring contests?
A little itsy bitsy p.s. I’m working on a contest as I write this soooo keep them eyes peeled!!!
Image by rothwerx
Good post bud!
I’ve sponsored MANY contests in the past, and I know how cool they can be. In fact Rajaie’s contest, I sponsored $75, and my profit was around $1500! Passive promotion = sponsor other’s contests.
Way to go.
Swastik | Splitstack.com’s last blog post..Article Marketing 101
Thanks swas, glad you liked it.
i’ve seen the magic of sponsoring contests at your blog and at some of your product sites. it’s truly an easy way to get traffic now and later
Funny, I was just getting ready to publish a post on the subject. (Different angle, but similar… guess I’ll wait until next week.
)
Contests are a great idea. I haven’t done any with the Velvet Blues website, but I have with other sites and have had great increases in traffic. For example, during the initial iPod craze, I gave away an iPod and other related prizes and experienced a huge traffic surge.
The only bad thing that I can see is if the prize isn’t related to your website. Then you’d get visitors that you don’t want, visitors who won’t come back after the contest.
Shirley’s last blog post..Are You Really Getting 99% Uptime From Your Host?
This is new territory for me and I want to thank you for giving me a little more thought into it. Maybe next time I won’t shy away from a contest.
Rowell Dionicio’s last blog post..Customize The Tweet This Plugin to Your Taste
@ Shirly: lol, I beat a lot of people to post topics
For me the last (small) contest I sponsored I saw a couple of links come my way, plus a little bit of traffic from em so like you I had a good past experience with it.
And yeah when you hold the contest there are some rules you need to follow and that’s one of em: Give prizes that relate to your niche.
@ Rowell: No problem, I would get into em if I were you
Could I safely assume this post as a prelude to a contest on Blogict? :p
Yes, blog contests do work, even if the gain is negligible. You get to spread your name around the blogosphere, and people would be able to recognize you as the “guy who gave out the awesome prices”.
It has become a norm for bloggers to hold a contest at some point in their blogging life to meet a certain objective, ranging from increasing comment average to increasing feed subscribers.
I have yet to fall in the contest bandwagon and waiting for my blog to get a bit more exposure. It will only be fair to the sponsors if my blog has a decent follower base.
Forsaken’s last blog post..Linking to Your Twitter Profile While Commenting
Yes,I’m one of the sponsor at SEO challenge contest at dollarshower.com.
Sponsoring contests will defly boost your brand and traffic.
TechZoomIn’s last blog post..5 Simple “Read More/Continue Reading” Tag Design Styles
Well, I did decide to go ahead with my post.
@Forsaken, yes it is definitely important to have enough traffic to take advantage of the contest. Every now and then, I come across a contest that has absolutely no exposure and it’s kind of sad, especially when the prize and sponsors are great.
Shirley’s last blog post..Boost Traffic With A Website Contest
I have always been interested in sponsoring a contest. Like, I wanted to provide a free blog design. But I never really found anywhere to sponsor. =/
Alex | Blogussion.com’s last blog post..WordPress just got more friendly: Hello WordPress.tv!
Thanks for the double links, buddy. To be honest, I prefer to be one of the contestants than a contest organizer. It’s more fun if you ask me….
Yan
Blogging Tips’s last blog post..You’ve Only Got 10 Seconds
@ Alex:
maybe ill contact you when the details of my upcoming contest are set and ready.
@ Yan: No problem, it was an awesome contest and that 10 seconds post was awesome. Lol yeah but sponsoring isn’t bad either
I agree but you see some contest ends up with the owner winning them all up and that sucks…
Melvin’s last blog post..Free Shirt Monday – PepperJamNetwork
Yeah, lol some people are scum bags but their are ways around it.
I think organizing a contest is a hassle. We have to promote, look for sponsors and then handle the participants entry. But the result is great if you manage the contest well.
Sponsoring a contest has slowly die down in terms of links and traffic. People are now looking for simple contest like subscribing to RSS or newsletter as a means to enter the contest. Thus, most of the time, sponsors are much neglected. Unless you are holding a large scale competition like blogging idol, then it would be a totally different story.
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | Earn Money Online’s last blog post..Lesson 25: Affiliate Marketing (Part 2)
Yeah holding contests is a huge pain but sponsoring them is easy. Although you may not get as much as you would have before if the contest is good theirs a ton of potential.
Great post ! I have sponsored many contest and I got great results out of it. But there is no use of sponsoring a contest which is no worth
Harish’s last blog post..16 Most Essential WordPress Plug-ins
Well you make a point but how can you tell off the bat that a contest isn’t worth it?
Hi, I agree with all the points you say, It does create a lot of buzz, it does Increase Traffic impressively.
Nicholas | Pixobyte.com’s last blog post..Pixobyte Valentines day Giveaway , Win prizes worth more than 200$
Sponsoring contests helps new blogger to get good exposure and exposure to our site or product too …
like if sponsoring ebook or theme would expose to others
If you could do the first contest EVER, what would you do? What would you give away? How many subscribers do you think you could get? I’m trying to figure out where to invest my time and money.
Thanks,
TAM
@ The Almost Millionare: Nice question, I think that if I was to run the first ever contest (at this time and age) it would be a points contest. Something intricate where people can earn points for various tasks and doing stuff for the benefit of sponsors. The one with the most points wins.
As for prizes it varies from blog to blog but here at Blogict I would give away everything needed for a great blog. A custom theme, set of domains (all tld’s) a custom logo, and ebooks/guides to help them with things like promotion and link building.
Hope that helps you a little
@Ardit,
Interesting…I would have thought you would have suggested I give away boats loads of cash! Great tips, thanks again.
The Almost Millionaire’s last blog post..Tips for surviving a depression!