Getting Your Community Talking with Contests
Are you trying to increase the amount of comments your visitors leave on your blog? One of the most frustrating scenarios for a blogger is to know that his or her blog is being visited by many people, but that no one is bothering to leave comments. After all, it is the comment and the community that builds within a blog that truly helps the blog become successful. Therefore, if you have the traffic but you are missing the interaction, you might want to consider hosting a contest on your site.
Of course, if you want to use a contest to help increase the amount of communication taking place on your website, you have to put some careful thought into your contest and how you will implement it.
The first step in hosting a successful contest is to come up with a prize or prizes that would be attractive to your target audience. If your blog is experiencing some success already, you may be able to talk a company into providing you with the prizes for free. If not, it is a worthwhile investment for you to purchase an item that would excite your target audience and make your audience members want to participate in the contest.
Once you have determined the prize, you need to find a creative way for your readers to win the prize. Some ideas include:
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Giving the prize to the person who makes the most relevant comments over a certain number of days
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Giving the prize to the person who posts the most recipes, tips, photos, etc over a certain period of time
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Giving the prize to the person whose recipe, tip, photo, etc is voted number one by your community
When determining how the contest will be won, be certain to keep the content of your blog in mind. If your blog is about being a homeowner, for example, you might ask your readers to post cleaning tips, home improvement tips or even money-saving tips. If your blog is about baking, you might ask readers to post their favorite cake recipes.
By having your community members vote on their favorite entry, you can further get your readers involve in the process. Just keep in mind, however, that voting on things such as which recipe is the best can be difficult because you may get dozens of entrants and your community members won’t have time to try them all before the contest ends.
Hosting a contest on your site is not only a good way to get lurkers to start leaving comments, it is also a great way to boost site traffic. After all, as word spreads about the great contest you are having, more people will decide to visit. If you do a good job of posting interesting and relevant content throughout while the contest is in effect, you just may be able to hook your new visitors into coming back even after the contest is over.
Filed under: Contests | Tagged: blog, blogger, bloggers, Blogging, blogs, Content, contest, Contests, free, home, hosting, investing, investment, tips, Traffic, website, websites
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Great suggestion, Larry as all people love free stuffs, although many of them believed that “there is no free lunch in this world!” lol
wilhb81s last blog post..Glad That You’re Happy, Debbie!
Thanks for the link buddy! How are things?
Dennis Edells last blog post..How Do You Check For Incoming Links?
@wilhb81 True especially if it’s free Money!
@Dennis Thanks and no problem, I am hanging in there, working and spending a lot of time with my Mom is taking a lot of my time, But I am still trying to make this blog work.
Ahh.. finally my comments get approved. Why did they take so long to appear?
Ben Peis last blog post..Announcing New Additions And Upcoming Events
@Ben Your comments was going to my spam queue for some reason
It’s been happening on my blog as well Ben, you may want to look into that.
Dennis Edells last blog post..How To: Evaluating Competition For New Site Niches
Great post Larry. I has just finished up on a post in blog contests as well. It seems that it is a huge christmas giveaway contest in the blogosphere.
Wei Liang
Wei Liang | ABloggerBlogs last blog post..Lesson 21: Blog Carnival
I like that your post gives ideas for the different types of blogs — so the owner stays within the blog’s topic. I recently held a short contest for new subscribers where we gave away a custom ad design and free advertising (we didn’t have time to dig up sponsors with cash!). As a result we got lots of comments as well. Thanks for the tips.
SBAs last blog post..Earning Through Your Blog 101: Niche and Audience
Great idea larry – hope it will give wht you are looking for.
Contests are a great incentive to entice readers to leave comments. They have worked for me just by announcing the contest in the Warrior Forum. Instant comments!
Matt Helphreys last blog post..Develop a Link Building Strategy
Thats sad.. I don’t know whats wrong. Maybe my name is a spam? Askimet said they fixed the problem for me..
Ben Peis last blog post..How To Make Money Blogging With ‘Featured Sites’
I started this type of contest on my blog just this month that targets all the bloggers on Entrecard .. prize is of course Entrecard credits.
Blog Tipss last blog post..Establishing a Universal Message – 3 Guidelines PT.I
Ben – it might be your ISP itself, which wouldn’t be good but you can check it.
If it’s not happening A LOT though, I wouldn’t worry too too much.
Dennis Edells last blog post..$100 First Prize! The *Best Blog Review Contest* Is In Full Effect!
Its irritating because it happens on some of the blogs and askimet keeps saying there’s no problem. Now who knows what problem there is.. I don’t even use keywords as my name.
Ben Peis last blog post..Publish Your Articles At EduBook.com
Contest should be fun and educating
Ari Lestarionos last blog post..New Year’s Resolution: Best Natural Foods for Longevity