Promoting With Contests
By D. Turner
Contests are a great way to bring traffic to your website ! Not only can you generate traffic by holding your own website contest, but you can also sponsor contests on other websites. Composing a weekly list of other peoples contests on your website or in your newsletter or ezine can also be can a real traffic booster ! Let us explore the concept of contests and how they can bring traffic to your website and help boost your business.
Holding a Contest On Your Own Website
Holding a contest on your website can be a great way to draw visitors. Everyone loves something for free and many will stop by just to enter for a chance to win a prize !
When holding a contest on your own website, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Instead of offering 1 main larger prize, consider offering several smaller prizes. (Or 1 main prize and several runner-up smaller prizes). People love free stuff and are more excited about winning regardless of the prize value. They also feel they have better odds of winning if there are several prizes awarded.
Many visitors come only for a chance to win something free. They have no intention of even looking around your website or learning more about the products or services that you offer.
How can one remedy the situation and make the most out of these visitors ? It is important that you clearly state what it is that you sell right on the contest entry page. This way visitors notice right away what you sell. In the event they are in the market now or in the future for your type of product or service, they will remember your site and hopefully come back to shop with you.
It is also a great idea to hold a contest that requires people to subscribe to your newsletter to enter. (Sign up for our newsletter for a chance to win !) It is true that if the entrants only motivation was to enter for a chance to win something free, they may opt out of your newsletter shortly after the contest ends. In the meantime, they have given you permission to send them e-mail and a chance to put the name of your company in front of them once or twice before they opt out.
Sponsoring Contests On Other Websites
Another way to generate traffic to your website is to sponsor contests on other peoples websites. In general, your website link will be listed next to the prize that you are offering for their contest. Some webmasters also give you other advertising on their websites for donating a prize. (Your banner on their front page for example). Here are a few tips and pointers for sponsoring contests on others websites:
Research the website. Check their Alexa.com rankings. Be sure that their website is already being seen. It is not beneficial for you to sponsor a contest on a website that is not being marketed effectively or that does not already have a decent traffic flow. The whole idea of sponsoring their contest is so that you can get a nice link on their website that already has an audience to present your website to. If they simply aren't getting traffic, they are not going to send you enough traffic to make it worth the value of the prize you have donated.
Choose websites that serve the same market as you do. This way you are ensuring that the traffic that is visiting their site is the same type of audience you are trying to serve. (Example: If your target audience is women, sponsor contests on other sites that cater to women.)
When approaching a webmaster offering a prize or prizes for their next contest, tell them the reasons it would benefit them ! The more benefit they see for themselves, the more likely they are to accept your offer. Let them know that the product you are offering as a prize is something their visitors can use or will enjoy. Help them promote the contest. If you are helping to promote their site and their contest you are not only drawing visitors to their website (that features a prize from you and a link to your website) but you are also building a good relationship with the webmaster. These networking relationships are very important and can come in handy in the future.
Listing Others Contests On Your Website
Another great traffic idea ! Make a list of contests that other websites are holding. Make sure the contests are for prizes that are appealing to the same audience that your website serves. Change the list weekly so that customers know they can return to your site again and again to find new contest listings. Remind your visitors to bookmark your site so that they can return later for fresh contest listings. This in turn, creates repeat traffic to your website and implants the name of your website into your customers mind. (This is called TOMA...or top of mind awareness). If the visitor is not ready to make a purchase now, they will remember your website when they are ready to make a purchase of a product or service that your website sells. In essence you are promoting your brand and "planting the seed" in visitors minds.
Listings Contests In Your Newsletter or Ezine
Make contest listings a part of your ezine or newsletter features. If contests or listing contests is a big part of your website traffic, make a separate ezine or newsletter just for these types of visitors. This will allow you to repeatedly mail customers with new contest listings as they always want to hear about contests first- and will allow you to "plant the seed" again in your customers mind. You can also sell advertising space in your newsletter or ezine to other webmasters and use the cash to buy other forms of advertising for your website.
Make The Contest Beneficial To You !
Important things to remember:
Make customers perform an activity or contribute in some way to your website. Have them answer a question, put a link to your site on theirs, submit an article, or sign up for your newsletter. This way (even if they don't win) you have somehow benefitted from their contest entry or have a way to contact them long after the contest is over.
Give entrants an extra incentive ! l Give visitors extra entries for referring a friend to your website.
Other Contest Tips
Include a business card or a thank you note (handwritten for a great personal touch !) with your URL with the prize. Make sure customers know how to contact you if they enjoyed their prize and would like to reorder.
Ensure that it is legal to run a contest in your state and/or community.
Other Places To Advertise Your Contest
Contest
Alley
SweepsTalk.com
ContestHound.com
ContestListings.com
Contest
Girl
Online-Sweepstakes.com
Sandy's Realm
FamilySweeps.net
ContestGuide.com
Cyber-Sweeps.com
GrandmaJam.com
D. Turner, a work at home mom (WAHM) from Dalton, Wisconsin is a professional web marketer with over 10 years of web marketing and promotional experience. You can visit her website at: http://www.wildvoltage.com
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