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Using Contests To Promote Your
Website
It's always a race to win
visitors. Marketing strategies are being employed left and right in a constant
effort to garner the attention of web users and drive them to our websites.
There are some tried and tested strategies that Internet marketers use, but
perhaps, because of the need to innovate, a lot of unconventional ones are also
making the rounds.
It is not uncommon to find a novel tactic being
employed. But sometimes, the technique so used is so unorthodox that it may
even come off as weird to most people. Though you can't blame online
businessmen for trying, since, as we've said, it's a race to win visitors.
Take this for example. I once chanced upon a website that offered $5
just for signing up. However, to encash the said credits, you would have to
become an affiliate and increase your funds to $500. A cursory look at the
products and the jaded Internet marketer would immediately see that it would
take at least a year and a half to earn that much under the program that was
presented.
Though the aforementioned tactic may seem to be a little
contrived and can even be viewed as a miss, there are definitely hits in some
Internet marketer's bag of tricks. One of them is the use of contests to win
the traffic their websites need.
Contests can come in many forms, and
the possible mechanics, really, are only limited by your imagination. The fact
is, there is so much you could do with contests to arouse the interests of
prospective visitors and eventually win their attention.
Before we
discuss some contest suggestions, let us first take a look at the many uses of
contests for your promotional needs:
>> Contests can help build
your mailing list. If you're running a raffle, or a sweepstakes, for example,
you could make their subscription their entry form. They would have to
regularly check the emails you will send so that they may be informed if they
have won or not, and this would likewise ensure that your business messages
would be read.
>> Contests can also attract some visitors without
having them subscribe. You could use the built-in counter to determine who
would eventually win. For example, prizes can be awarded to the 6,000th
visitors of your website.
>> Contests are also excellent ways to
make your visitors write content for you. Content is king in the World Wide
Web, as we all know, and you could sponsor a contest for the best-written
article on a certain topic, with the condition that you would be allowed to
publish the same in your website. You won't have to write your own content or
hire an expensive freelancer then. Your visitors would do the work for you,
though not all of them are promised to win!
>> If you're trying
to build up your forum, there's no better way to compel your members to make
quality posts than by enticing them with the promise of rewards. Run a contest
for the best post in every category and chances are, you will have for your
business a forum bustling with activity!
Contests can most definitely
spark up a level of activity on your website just like that. There is nothing
wrong with the concept, but understandably, since you would have to deal with
people from all around the world, execution can be problematic. Please consider
the following guidelines in employing any contests you have in mind:
>> Provide gifts that can be downloadable. These should be
digital products of good value, so that you won't have to spend for expensive
shipping charges.
>> If you're planning to run a raffle or a
sweepstakes, you could make their subscription or their counter number as the
basis for their selection as winners.
>> If you're running a
contest that needs judging, try to get the help of established people in the
industry to help you come up with a winner to avoid any partiality issues that
might be brought up.
>> Come up with a clear set of rules that
would be available for your would-be participants to assure them that
everything would be fair and equitable.
>> Disqualify the people
who are close to you, either by consanguinity or affinity, to also avoid any
issues of partiality that might be brought up.
Contests are excellent
ways to promote your website. But you would also have to be concerned about how
to sustain their interests once the same is over. A good quality website
offering premium and unique information would be able to do the trick. Just
treat contests as advertising vehicles, and allow the strength of your website
to do the rest.
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This
article is written to provide accurate and authoritative information with
regard to the subject matter covered in it. It is provided with the
understanding that the author and publisher is not engaged in rendering legal,
or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is
required, the services of a competent professional person should be
sought.
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