9 Essential Things to focus before you run a Blog Contest

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Blog Contest is not a new term for established bloggers or professional bloggers because one time or the other they used this technique to publicize their blog. Before going in to the post I want to reveal about a blog contest run by Kiesha Easley(of course this is not a new name) who blogs for We Blog Better. She once ran a contest called ‘Surviving the blog contest’ a reality blog contest in online world which later ended in a beautiful eBook. She planned a simple blog contest which consists of two teams containing 5 Bloggers each who would be given various blogging tasks for 10 weeks. Each week the losing team has to lose one of the team-mate and by end of 10th week the blogger who survives will be the winner. The contestants have to take an unknown blog and raise its level of popularity by completing few tasks like increasing the traffic and various ranks(Alexa, Page Rank) associated with it. This contest successfully ended with lot of applause in the blogging community. Now for a newbie blogger who likes to run a successful contest need to read the following post.

Plan-a-blog-contest

Why to run a blog Contest?

Why should I run a blog contest and what benefit do I get for my blog? I have answered this question with few simple points below.

  1. To take your blog to the next level.
  2. Get publicity and enough exposure for your blog.
  3. Get more people engaged with your blog(in terms of subscribers) and social network followers(Facebook fans, Google + followers & Twitter followers).
  4. Some times you can also end up in increasing sales of affiliate products.
  5. You can double or triple your blogs traffic.
  6. You can increase your advertising revenue too.
  7. You could also increase your post count in your blog, by updating the contest details now and then. So at least for sometime you can stop brainstorming for new post ideas.
  8. You can get more guest posts if you have a facility in your blog.
  9. You can summarize the game and its result and give it as an eBook too as Kiesha did.

Must to have requirements before you start a Blog Contest:

So after reading the benefits of why to start a blog contest you might be in a hurry to start one, but please hold on there are few things to be focused before you start. I have summarized each and every requirement below with ample explanation.

1. Organic Traffic:

Does your blog get indexed by search engines? Do you get search engine traffic or you solely depend on subscribers, back links of comments or Facebook fans. If you have good traffic from search engine then the number of people who participate in the contest are likely to be more than you actually expected. So don’t run a contest in the very beginning stages of blogging as it takes some time for your blog to be indexed by search engines. You need to focus on content and traffic before you actually end up in creating a contest. Search engines do have a craw rate which depends on the popularity of a website. Crawl rate in simple is the total number of times a search engine visits a blog. It can be from hours to days. Blog’s like Tech crunch gets crawled several times a day, but a new blog might take 2 to 7 days for getting crawled depending on its popularity and activity. So if you don’t have a good crawl rate then your post which tells about contest might be indexed after 2 or 3 days of its posting. It means you are loosing 3 days of organic traffic. Before starting a contest search engine friendly blog or blog which has good crawl rate only has to be used.

2. Loyal Readers:

How many loyal readers does your blog have? People who visit your blog day after day without missing a single post are called as loyal readers. They actually love to read your post from top to bottom and also give genuine comments. So if you have many of such loyal readers then you are sure that they will definitely take advantage of the contest. Sometimes most of the loyal readers won’t subscribe but still keep visiting. You can well know about them depending on the comments you get to your blog.

Having few loyal readers is far better than having hundreds of inactive subscribers or tons of Facebook or twitter followers.

3. Subscribers:

Third thing after you have good organic traffic and loyal readers are subscribers. Though it is not mandatory to have thousands of subscribers because sometimes we do run a contest to convert organic traffic to be our subscribers. But even then we need to have at least hundred subscribers so that we get few constants to be participating in the contest. It can also increase the activity of inactive subscribers who just subscribed but remained dormant due to lack of eye catchy articles. A contest might stir up at least few subscribers to be active.

4. Social Media Followers:

Social networking followers also play a key role in making your blog contest a success. If you have at least 200 Facebook fans and 50 twitter followers then the chances of promoting your contest will be high. These people can share or re-tweet the contest details to their friends which might turn good for you blog.

A person who has more insight into social networking sites or media can easily take his contest to a peak level with less effort.

5. Proper Planing and implementation:

Planning is the major and most important part in all the points mentioned in this post. What do you want your traffic to do? Do you want them to comment or like your Facebook page or get subscribed to your feed. Then you need to mention proper steps in an easy to understand manner. You can convert your Fans to be subscribers or subscribers to be your fans. So before you want to start a contest plan each and every step with a focused vision. Sometimes you need to acquire some big players as sponsors. The best possible way to get a sponsor is to have properly planned contest. When they are convinced about your plan they come forward to sponsor your contest. You need to be ready with terms and conditions, disclaimer and some precautions. The dates on which the contest will start or end or when it’s status will be updated should be clearly mentioned. Entire contest will actually succeed if you plan well. Take double the time to plan than you actually will spend for running the contest. If you can’t plan properly then forget of running a blog contest.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

6. Strategy which actually works:

Do you have a proper plan but have got no strategy then you are contest is lacking the essence. Let your contest not look like same old traditional contests which many blogs host. But try to make your contest more interesting to the contestants, that’s where a strategy comes into play. A successful strategy is something which can make the contestants more benefited rather than the person who is hosting the contest. Even though your main aim is to make your blog more benefited from the contest but it should not look in that way. Blog contest planned by Kiesha has a successful strategy, she planned the contest such that people who are participating are getting more benefits but actually in long run Kiesha was more befitted as she got more people following the contest apart from contestants, and even she converted her blog contest into a beautiful eBook.

A successful strategy for a contest is not about having contestants participating but having more audience than the actual contestants.

Television Shows like American Idol did not gain popularity because of participants but because of large number of audience viewing, that’s how a television channel increases their TRP rating. So apply the same strategy gain more audience rather than participants.

7. How much does your give away worth?

Very important question this is what creates a buzz among the contestants, sponsors and audience. Always plan a better give away it works like a charm. It actually entices more and more people to participate in your contest.

If you want your contest to look big then give big. You need not give away everything in cash but a product which is more worth than cash too sometimes does the trick.

8. Setting your Targets:

Focus your targets well, you have actually created a contest to increase your traffic then set a target. It will decide whether your contest has achieved the required target or not. If it doesn’t then you may well prolong the contest for few more days. Some times you don’t even seem to reach the target which you have set then better you need to amend some of the rules or do a research where your contest failed. Setting a target will determine the status of your contest and helps in determining the success rate. When you plan for next contest, you can predict the success rate depending on the previous contest targets.

9. Publicity and Exposure:

After you design a contest in your blog if you don’t have a proper promotion then it is simply like making a good recipe and keeping it in fridge for several days until it spoils. The final and most powerful step for your contest is promotion. Find all the possible ways to promote your contest like posting in your Facebook, twitter and Google plus pages. Embedding signatures in forums you visit. Motivate the contestants to add a link back to the contest page. Explore as many ways as you can to promote your blog contest.

Conclusion:

Now that you have got enough of knowledge on planning a blog contest I hope you would plan out a successful contest to raise the popularity of your blog. If you still have anything more or need more guidance then just comment and let me know. Special thanks to Kiesha Easley as she is the one who is the main inspiration behind writing this post. You can follow her blog and get her eBooks at We Blog Better.

21 COMMENTS

  1. Nice to be over at your blog Vijesh!

    I liked your tips to run a blog contest, and I remember reading Keisha’s post of the one she held too. She did plan things very well and so was her execution of her plan done commendably.

    Yes, there are only plus point in running such a contest. I guess it gets you more traffic and the ranking, though the most important I feel is the relationships you build with fellow bloggers along the way.

    It’s nice to know that according to all the requirements you mentioned, my blog qualifies – though I’ve yet to start with blog contests on my blog! But yes, it’s something I’ve been thinking for a long time now – not for traffic, which I’m happy with presently, but mainly for the interaction and new connections we make with one another, which for me is more valuable than anything else.

    Thanks for sharing this with us and for reminding me too. πŸ™‚

  2. This is an awesome breakdown of blogging contests Vijesh. As you might have already guessed it, this is my first visit here and I found you via the comment you left on my blog. Considering that I am a first time visitor (and will return again) l hope i have permission to state 3 facts about your blog:

    1) Very nice domain name
    2) Neat design
    3) Awesome content

    Wish you the very best!

  3. Such long and a very useful post, Vijesh! It kept me focused for 15 long minutes. It’s always confusing. A newly set up blog with a few posts, tries to get subscribers by holding a contest now and then. On the other hand, one has to consider all the factors you mentioned here in the post.

    What do you suggest, Vijesh?

    1. Do you think a new blog should not hold a contest until it gets enough exposure?
    2. If so, what is the purpose of holding a contest after getting a lot of exposure? (I know
    readers are important) But when is the right time, exacltly?

  4. Thanks for dropping by Achari, as I have mentioned in the post a blog with more exposure is likely to taste more sucess.

    A new blog with few posts can host a contest but the results won’t be so high as expected. Now for example your blog and my blog are in its formation stages we have not more than 10 posts, suppose we kept a contest and gained 100 subscribers but there are chances that they actually did this just for contest but not to be a loyal follower. We may gain 10 genuine followers among them which you could get by simply commenting. So the purpose of a contest should have high goals and it should create some waves in the blogosphere, even pro bloggers should be in a state to sponsor. And when does a pro blogger come down to that stage certainly not when there are 10 contestants. Many contests are there but only few with strategy will gain loyal readership as in the case of Kiesha.

    Now I ask will there be any difference if Darren Rowse hosts a contest and I host a contest? Which will have more exposure. I think you got your answers, if I was not able to clear them then there is no harm in experimenting.

    I liked your questions hope to hear more. I like the style you write for mynewblogbook and the HQ images you choose I should learn them from you.

  5. Hi Vijesh,

    This is a great blog…have I decide to do a contest later, I can always come back here and read again. But, I’m not really big on contest. However, I am planning on creating a “tutorial video” in the future. That’s where my FOCUS is going to be in the future. And of course, keep writing “quality content” on my blog. Anyhoo, I just subscribe to your Newsletter. Looking forward to your posts.

    You have TONS of great stuff here.

    Regards,
    Angela

    • Hi Angela,

      Thanks a lot for referring my blog as great with just few articles around. If you are planning for a tutorial videos that would be great and it need some basic skills like windows movie maker and you need Camtasia software which can record your screen a very handy tool for creating screen casts.

      If you want to go other than Camtasia then Microsoft Expression Encoder will do the job for you recording the screen. I used Camtasia but it did not support my sound card and all the videos I created were having no sound so i never used it again.

      Thanks for your comment Angela…

  6. You only took four days to write this article !!!..Thats reallyGreat Vijesh… at last it paid off,i enjoyed every word of your article.Especially the introduction part where you described the reality blogging contest,I never knew that before.You are a veteran blogger.

    I am not going to host any Giveaway or contest any soon,Lets take some time to build loyal audience.

    Thanks for this amazing article.

    • Hi Vivek,

      Thanks for your encouraging comment. May be I think you can try for giveaways at WPStuffs as it is now well established and congrats for introducing genesis child themes at your blog.

      – Vijesh

  7. Good post Vijesh, very interesting article.

    I sometimes blog contest, and did not pay attention to what you write nine points.

    Now I understand, thank you for sharing brother.

  8. Hi Vijesh. I landed here straight through your guest post at SML. By the way, I currently host a giveaway and I really wish I could have been read this article before running the giveaway. However, great blog design as well as contents do keep the same. All the best mate.

    • Hi Siddarth,

      I was just visiting my old posts and surprisingly found your comment, sorry as I have missed to reply because I was busy with my job during the days I wrote this article. Thanks a lot for the visit and I hope I will talk to you soon as I am going to share something about you in my future articles. I like your blogging story especially on how you blog from your phone.

      Thanks for your comment Sid…

  9. HI Vijesh,

    Great information shared!

    You have placed a great thought process behind this post, kudos for the same.

    Contests will surely bring in lot of traffic but really couldn’t predict the number of loyal readers. I feel it is the best way to gain the quick visibility as well but again doubt whether it can give the authority to our blog.

    I was thinking of doing the same on my blog but aforesaid mentioned reasons prevented me to strategise and I just postponed it indefinitely.

    Thanks for sharing this.and have a great week ahead.

    Sapna

    • Hi Sapna,

      I was just visiting my old posts to reply to my comments as I couldn’t do it earlier as I was busy with a tight schedule.

      Thanks for sharing your opinion here and I visited your blog few times but it is not updated. Your posts are really funny and are you busy now, I find you active in some blogs commenting so when can we expect your next post???

  10. Having a blog contest is really an excellent way of attracting viral traffic. But your blog must be popular to some extent i.e as you said it must have some loyal readers, subscribers and etc in order to get the most out of it. BTW you have a unique style of writing Vijesh πŸ™‚ Keep it up!

    • Hi Karthik,
      Thanks for your comment, having a contest is a really way to boost our blogs popularity provided we have at least some people visiting regularly.

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