After starting a competition of our own, I thought it would be nice to make a blog post about Blog contests and what they can do for your blog.

Why start a blog contest?

Two words, TRAFFIC, and EXPOSURE. The PS3 contest we started, doubled our number of visitors in under three days, and this number has been growing steadily since.

How to publicize your contest?

The main way of doing this is through the use of blog contest websites, check out my post about Contest Beat. These sites will provide you with decent exposure reaping the benefits of a large number of visitors looking specifically for contests.

I also recommend perhaps buying blog posts, on reputable blogs that are related to your own. A well-written blog post can attract a substantial amount of targeted visitors.

What prizes for your contest?

The prize you choose for your contest should either be something popular, and in high demand or something related to your particular niche. iPods, MP3 players, mobile phones, and even TVs are great examples of popular items generally in demand by the large majority.

A niche-related prizes (such as advertising space on your blog) can be effective at attracting visitors that are targeted and more likely to show interest in your blog, rather than simply visiting your blog for the competition offer only, never to return. However choosing a niche-related prize means that you are likely to attract a smaller number of people to your blog than you would with a widely popular prize such as an iPod.

How much should you spend?

Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t matter as much as you might expect. Although I recommend offering a prize with a price tag of at least $100, it is really down to how much money you can afford to spare. Even though a higher value prize can affect the level of interest in your contest, the monetary value of the prize is one of the least important factors of a blog contest. I will explain what other factors may determine the success of a contest later in this post.

Profiting from a contest efficiently.

Making sure you make the most out of your investment is undoubtedly, very important.
The best example of making use of your contest is for your contest to involve a type of ticket-system.
People who would like to enter your contest have to fulfill certain tasks, such as subscribing to your blog, or making a post about your blog contest and the completion of these tasks rewards them with tickets. The more tasks they complete, the more tickets they will gain which in effect determined the chance of them winning the competition. You can assign different values to each task depending on the importance of it for you.

Factors affecting the success of your contest.

• Initial popularity of your blog (if you already are getting 1k visitors each day then news of your competition will spread very quickly whether or not you actively market your competition.
• Your reputability will also affect the number of people taking interest in your blog, deciding whether or not they should invest their time and trust in your contest.
• Value of your prize can determine the level of interest in your blog.
• How well you market your contest.