A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO SUCCESSFULLY RUNNING AN ONLINE CONTEST

There
are several reasons to host an online contest; to generate traffic to your website
or blog, to develop a list of subscribers, to back sell your products, for name
recognition, to get new subscribers for your ezine or online newsletter, to recruit
members for you membership site or forum, etc. These are just a few of the reasons
I am sure that you can think of many others.

BENEFITS OF RUNNING AN
ONLINE CONTEST
The biggest benefit of running an online contest is traffic,
afterall, you are online because you have something to say, something to sell,
or something to give away. Without traffic you product or item will not be exposed.
An online contest, if run correctly for a full month, can net you anywhere from
500 to 5000 or more new unique visitors.

The more visitors you get, the
more people that will be telling their family, friends and/or colleagues about
your site, and the more opportunities you will have for making sales or signing
up new members or subscribers.

SOME REASONS TO RUN AN ONLINE CONTEST

If you are into affiliate marketing many affiliate programs want to know how many
visitors you get each month, and/or how many page views they deliver. One way
to increase these both is by running a contest.

If you plan to sell advertising
space on your site, directly or via a third party like Azoogle,
LinkShare,
or Share
a sale, amoung others, then
you need visitors and page views, running
an online contest is ideal for this.

If you write a monthly, weekly or even
a daily newsletter, running an online contest will net you approximately 1/3 of
those that entered the contest as new subscribers.

If you have a business,
but no website, you too can benefit from running an online contest. The types
and rules are different, but running a contest would get you noticed just the
same, and people will to go to your offline store.

By now you may have realised
that running an online contest could benefit just about anyone that needs to drum
up traffic!

This guide is written as if you want to generate traffic or
build a subscriber list, however the principals can be used for whatever aim you
have in mind.

As stated above, running an online contest to promote your
blog or website is an easy and effective way to drive traffic to your blog/site,
discover new readers, or keep your current readers interested. It could [SHOULD]
be a lot of fun.

PREPARATION
Before you can effectively run
a contest, you have to be clear about what the end result is for you. Remember,
the contest is just a means to your end goal. So spend a little time thinking
about what it is that you want.

Do you have a new website and need to get
traffic to it?
Have you just started a new blog and want people to know
about it?
Do you have a new product for sale that you want to create a buzz
for?

This is a very serious step and should not be ignored or rushed past.
One of the worst feelings you could experience is going throguh this entire process
and then not have met you goal because you were not clear on what it is you needed/wanted.

After
you decide what it is you want to get out of running an online contest, you can
begin thinking about how best to get there.

PICK A THEME
It
is always better to have a theme, no matter what you decide it to be. Is the holiday
season coming soon, what type of business do you have? Are your products kid related,
is it time to go back-to-school? The more creative you are with your contest theme
the more people will be excited to enter.

Remember, that just about all
themes are good, however if you do pick a back-to-school theme, are you excluding
singles or couples that do not have children. Sometimes those without children
may enter the contest anyway because they may have younger sister or brother,
or they have nieces and nephews. But why limit yourself right out the door? Keep
all of this in mind as you think about your theme, also, think about the types
of people you want to attract to your business, blog, ezine or membership site.

SPONSORS

Now that you have established your goal and have selected a theme, you may want
to find sponsors. This can sometimes be the hardest part of starting and running
a contest.

Sometimes if you ask other business owners, they would be happy
to donate something since you are doing all the work and they just donate the
prize.

If you belong to a business group, come right out and ask if they
would be interested in donating a prize to your contest in exchange for exposure.
Many times, if you just ask, so many will say yes, whether online or offline.

You
must give them credit for the donation so they too can benefit from the visitors.
You can also run a contest and just purchase the item yourself to give away, or
your use your own products.

What better way to get your products noticed!
This step is totally optional but you may want to consider it.

WHAT
DO I GIVE AWAY?
The wonderful thing about running an online contest
is that you do not have to go broke in the process. In many instances offering
money in exchange for a service, writing short review, subscribing to your blog
or you ezine, joining your membership site, is one way to get the ball rolling.
Who will turn down a chance to win cash in exchange for a few minutes of their
time? I don’t think I know anyone that would refuse writing a short review in
exchange for $50.

However, the possibilities are limitless. Try to think
outside the box and in terms of your resources and limits. There are bloggers
that offer free Apple iPhone, and other bloggers that offer DVD’s or popular self
help books, some offer blog reviews and page ranked link backs, yet others offer
MP3 players and/or t-shirts. You get to be creative with your prizes, so go for
it, think outside the box, push the envelope to the other limits.

If you
are going to offer some sort of product like a mug, why not have your blog or
websites name and url inscribed on it? This way regardless of where the item ends
up (another person’s contest, ebay, etc.) your domain and/or site will still get
some recognition and a possible subscriber or two.

SET UP THE CONTEST
ON YOUR WEBSITE
Now it’s time to set up the contest on your site. You
or your web designer needs to make a page, design a logo if needed, and set up
the page to suit your needs, tastes and budget.

If you are clueless about
this, just visit a few contest sites to see their layouts. Whatever you decide
for your website, remember that you need to list the prizes and sponsors if any,
the contest rules, and your privacy policy, make sure to include something to
the effect that you will not sell their names to others, etc.

THE CONTEST
ENTRY PROCEDURES
Here is something you may want to consider when setting
up the contest page, do not have contestants simply email you to enter. Think
about it. If all they have to do is email to enter the contest they would have
visited your website ot blog just once. Then any other time, if they are allowed
to enter more than once, they simply will not visit your site since all they’d
have to do is send you email. This would be defeating the purpose of having them
vist your site in the first place; to increasing traffic.

NUMBER OF TIMES
A CONTESTANTS MAY ENTER
Now you must answer, and seriously consider
the above. You need to decide on how many times each contestant can enter. For
good idea is to allow them to enter on a daily basis. You would be surprised how
people actually come out 20 out of the 30 or 31 days. From a purely statistical
point of view, having them return daily to register if they choose to is a win
for you since this will increase your overall monthly/weekly/daily traffic numbers.

CONTEST
RULES
You must establish a set of rules to govern your contest. This
is very important so that you do not get yourself in hot water should your site
be down a day or two, or a sponsor backs out. You need specific rules that will
address all of these unlikely scenarios.

Most of the time people don’t read
them anyway, but it is a good idea to have them just in case. While it is unlikely
that something would go wrong, there may be a time a time that something could
happen and you will need to have something to fall back on that lets them know
that you are not responsible, or what you are responsible for. The internet is
not foolproof, you never know when your site may go down because of a power outage,
an emergancy, an act of god or war. These days nothing should be left to chance,
think 9/11. If your website is down for even for 15 minutes you could have chaos
on your hands.

WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU WANT TO COLLECT?
When
designing your online contest’s entry form, think about that type of information
you want to collect. Think long term and what information would be crucial to
the success of your overall goal. Do you need to know their age? The state or
district they live in? Is it important to know their annual income of how they
found your site?

Please note, you do need to be extremely careful if you
are running a contest where children can enter. This becomes a very sticky subject
frought with lots of legalities. If you do decide to run a contest that involves
children, it would behoove you to consult a professional, like an attorney.

The
entry form should be set up to automatically send you their entry. It would arrive
in your email box. You may want to use an autoresponder for this. A good free
one can br gotten here.

MARKETING
YOUR CONTEST
You are now ready to begin the contest. You have set up
a goal, designed your webpage, found a great sponsor that has put up some wonderful
prizes, and you have written a good, solid set of entry rules. Ok wait, havent
you forgotten something? How are people going to find out about your contest?
Promotions, or marketing your contest is just as crucial as any other step in
setting up your contest.

There are several approaches you can take for the
marketing of your online promotional contest. For the sake of keeping it simple
I’ll just highlight a few of the effective ways to get the word out:

1.
Your own blog posts. On your own and other people’s blogs.

2. PPC (pay per
click) ad campaigns.

3. Online via cheap ezine/newsletter ads.

4.
Online classifieds.

5. Forums.

6. Add a links to your contest as your
email signature.

7. Create a free hosted blog (blogger, wordpress, etc)/
Squidoo lens, Hubpage, etc. promoting your online contest

8. Set up free
websites. Here is one good free
hosting site to begin with.

9. Submit your online contest to ‘Contest’
niche sites: My Blog Contest, Blog Contests, The Prize Blog, (see our resoucre
list)

10. Social networking/ bookmarking sites (Suidoo, del.ixio.us, myspace,
facebook, etc.)

11. Create a video about your online contest and post it
to myspace and other video websites.

Dont forget about marketing
your contest offline

1. Talk about it to everyone and tell them
to spread the word

2. Classified newspaper ads (look for cheap alternative
papers, artsy local papers, free classifieds, etc.)

3. Community forums
or meetings (PTA, Boys/Girls Scouts, Church, Bingo, etc.)

3. Create and
distribute flyers

4. Design, and sell t-shirts on Cafepress

5.
Wear/Advertise the t-shirts you created

Always try to think positively.
I know that this is not always possible since “life happens” but try anyway. You
may have what your readers or website visitors need and while it may take some
effort to get them talking and linking back to your blog or website it will be
well worth it in the long run. Do not feel as though you have to start big, remember
that “Rome wasn’t built in one day.” Start small with something that is manageable
and then gradually move up. As long as you constantly keep promoting your blog
and/or site you will do well. Good luck and let the games begin!

Sample
Promotional Contest

Grand Prize - One Year free web hosting from
Thinkhost: Powered
by Wind & Sun valued at $95.40.

How to Enter:

Contest
will run for entire month.
You may enter one time per day.
The
person will the highest overall score for the month, wins.
Points are awarded
as follows:

1 Point: Comment on this post outlining how you have entered
the contest

3 Points: Subscribe to our RSS feed - at some point in the contest
we will put a secret code in the RSS feed (you won’t miss it, just be sure to
read the posts.) Contact me with the code and you will get 3 points!

5 Points:
Subscribe to our email newsletter. Just click on that link or head over to the
sidebar and fill out your email address. You’ll get an email asking you to verify
your subscription. Make sure to verify and you’ll be automatically entered!

10
Points: Write about this contest in your blog. Be sure to link to our home page
with a related anchor text (example Blog Contests, Contests, Win Prizes, Win Stuff,
etc) and link it to this contest page.

Points are tallied on a daily basis
by the script it self. Post often and win.

Good luck

Rules/Additional
Info:
Each entrant will receive a free link back!

Start sate:

Month XX, 2008

End date:
Month XX, 2008

Example of entry form:

Original Contest URL
http://wordchase.com/

Helpful Links:
http://forums.online-sweepstakes.com/

http://tectonicdesigns.com/contest/

http://dir.yahoo.com/entertainment/contests__surveys__and_polls/web_directories/

http://www.bloggingcontest.com/

Where to list your contest (Some of these sites require a fee)

http://www.contesthound.com/addcontest.php3

http://www.contestguide.com/webmasters.html

http://www.contestblogger.com/blog/

For
additional placs to add your contest, search your favorite search engine for the
term directory of online contest.

Popularity: 100% [?]

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Barack Obama : : Change We Can Believe In | On the Precipice: The Real Truth

 
I received the following message yesterday, with a request to forward it to everyone I know: 

The Real Truth About Barack Obama!

As enthusiastic volunteers in
the Barack Obama campaign for the Presidency,  we have put together a list of
facts about Barack so that you will know the truth about him. Please follow the
links we have included for documentation  of these facts. If you value the truth
as we do, please spread this information via email, blog, or any other means,
to everyone you know.

Did you know that Barack Obama is a Christian? He
has been a member of the same United Church of Christ congregation for 20 years,
and was married there to his wife Michelle in 1992. [1] [2]
[3]

Did you know that Barack Obama often leads the
US Senate in the Pledge of Allegiance? [4]

Did you
know that Barack Obama is a strong friend of Israel and has spoken out strongly
against anti-Semitism? [5] [6]

Did you know his grandparents from Kansas were part of the “Greatest Generation”?
His grandfather served with Patton’s Army during World War II, and his grandmother,
a real “Rosie the Riveter”, worked in a bomber assembly plant back home. [7]
[8] [9]

Did you know that Barack
Obama was opposed to the war in Iraq from day one, before we invaded, even while
he was running for the Senate, and knowing his opposition might be politically
unpopular? [10]

“I know that even a successful war
against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined
cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without
a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames
of the Middle East and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the
Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of al Qaeda. I am not opposed to
all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.” –Barack Obama, 2002

Did you know Obama
favors transparency over secrecy in our government?  Did you know that Obama worked
with Republican Senator Tom Coburn to pass one of the strongest government transparency
bills since the freedom of information act? He’s calling it “Google for Government”,
 and you can see the results at www.usaspending.gov . Sen. Obama has  also released
his own tax returns for public review. [11] [12]
[13] [14]

Did you know that
after graduating with honors from Harvard Law School, Barack practiced civil rights
law and also taught Constitutional Law for 10 years at the University of Chicago,
one of the nation’s best law schools, where he was consistently rated by his students
as one of their best instructors? Did you also know that he was the first African-American
elected president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review? [15]
[16]

Did you know that Barack Obama is an outspoken
advocate for women’s rights and has been a principled defender of the civil rights
of women? [17] [18]
Did you
know that despite the grueling schedule of running for President, Senator Obama
remains a devoted family man, making time to do things like pick out a Christmas
tree with his wife and two young daughters, or hurrying home to spend Valentine’s
Day with them? Did you know he hasn’t missed a single parent-teacher conference
while running for President? [19]

Did you know that
Barack Obama has a stellar environmental record, including having the highest
rating from the League of Conservation Voters (96%) of any Presidential candidate,
Democrat or Republican? [20]

Did you know that Barack
Obama has been an elected legislator longer than Senator Clinton? [21]

Did you know that Barack is a member of all of these Senate Committees: Foreign
Relations; Veteran’s Affairs; Health, Education, Labor & Pensions; Homeland Security
and Government Affairs?

Did you know that Senator Obama has sponsored or
co-sponsored 15 bills that have become law, and has introduced amendments to 50
bills, of which 16 were adopted since he joined the Senate in 2005?

Did
you know that Senator Obama sponsored legislation working together with Indiana
Republican Senator Richard Lugar, to keep Americans safe by keeping dangerous
weapons out of terrorist hands? The two senators also visited the former Soviet
Union to inspect the decommissioning of nuclear weapons. Sen. Lugar said of Sen.
Obama, “He does have a sense of idealism and principled leadership, a vision of
the future.” [22] [23]

Did you
know that Barack Obama is the only candidate running for president who voted against
using cluster bombs in Iraq and the only candidate who supports banning the use
of landmines?

Did you know that, as an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama
succeeded in passing legislation requiring the videotaping of police interrogations,
gaining the respect and support not only of fellow legislators but that of the
police, who had initially opposed the legislation?

Did you know that Theodore
Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton
were all younger when they took office than Barack Obama will be?

During
election season many emails are circulated about the candidates. Some are true,
some aren’t. It’s often difficult to determine the truth. We encourage you to
visit the following non-partisan sites that do a good job of fact checking the
candidates.

http://www.snopes.com/

http://www.factcheck.org/

References:

[1] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/januaryweb-only/104-32.0.html?start=1

[2]
http://www.ucc.org/about-us/

[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Obama

[4]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svo9mutE6TM

[5]
http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/2008/03/12/opinions/edit03.txt

[6]
http://www.observer.com/2008/obama-addresses-homophobia-anti-semitism-and-xenophobia-among-black-am
ericans

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Generation

[8]
http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet.php

[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter

[10]
http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php

[11]
http://obama.senate.gov/press/060908-senate_passes_c/

[12]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070416obama-tax,0,445005.story

[13]

[14] http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2007/04/baracj_obamas_2.html

[15]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/701490,CST-NWS-obamaprof18.article

[16]
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/28/at_harvard_law_a_unifying_voice/

[17]
http://obama.senate.gov/speech/051110-remarks_of_sena_1/

[18]
http://www.womenforbarackobama.com/Obama_s_Record.html

[19]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080301/ap_on_el_pr/obama_daughters_4

[20]
http://presidentialprofiles2008.org/voterguide/obama-page.html

[21]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303303.html

[22]
http://obama.senate.gov/press/061211-lugar-obama_bil_1/

[23]
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_8434360

Popularity: 72% [?]

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Here, Twitter,Twitter,Twitter…

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, my now you’ve heard of Twitter. These days, everyone, young and old alike, is really into Twitter. Don’t believe it? Check, I bet all your friends and maybe even their mom is enjoying Twitter.

There are some really practical uses for Twitter, and even more fun uses. However, there is one thing I’ve noticed and that is that most bloggers simply ask their readers to join Twitter and then follow them.

What if you dared to be different? What if you not only invite your readers to join Twitter and then to “add me as a friend”, but you also show them some of the awesome things about using Twitter, and even better yet, you point them toward some really radical tools that can make thier Twitter experience an even more fun and productive one?

Let’s start out with the basics. What is Twitter?

Twitter is a miniture blogging system that can be used like a portable IM program, but for blogging. The most practical thing about Twitter

These tools will make your Twitter Experience Even Easier - Great Twitter Tools.

If you have not yet joined Twitter, do so now. If you have already joined Twitter, then you probably have already made your first post using the basic Twitter interface.

You will notice, however, that it is quite difficult to keep track of any incoming Twitters while also posting Twitters, while working on your websites, and reading blogs, and posting to the forums, and on, and on. So how is it that one can we make it easier to interact with other Twitter users?

Well, I’m glad you asked, wink-wink. Hhere are several Twitter Clients that make Twitter almost like an IM (instant messaging) program like Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM, amoungst others.

First, is an application called Twhirl. Twhirl works great with both, Windows PCs and Mac OSX, and like Twitter, Twhirl is free. This is the client that many of the blogging guru’s use to post and read Tweets from other Twitter users. Its an excellent program for Windows users.

Second is an application called Twitterrific. This one, unfortunetly is only for Mac OSX users. But if you are using a Mac I recommend this one over Twhirl. While Twitterrific is also free, unlike Twhirl, you will have ads within your program. But for a small fee of about $14.95, a real steal if you ask me, you can have the ads removed. The $14.95 also goes toward supporting further development of the Twitterrific product. I’d say that if you are a Mac user and can afford the $14.95, it is definitely worth getting it!

Post your Recent Blog Articles Directly to Twitter

In this section I cover a few tools that will automatically send a tweet via Twitter whenever you make a new post on your blog. The purpose of this is to gain exposure and additional traffic to your blog. Whenever someone following your Tweets receives a tweet they’d simply be directed to your blog by following the link in your Tweet.

There are several tools for doing this, one is not better than the next, they merely do it in a different way. You will have to decide what you need, and I’m confident that you will be happy with whichever tool you decide to use.

Ok, so the first application is called Twitter Tools written by Alex King. Alex’s application, Twitter Tools, will post a tweet to your Twitter account everytime you make a blog post.

Another tool that does basically the same thing is called WordTwit. Again this application will post a tweet to your Twitter account everytime you make a new post to your blog.

If you are anything like me, and you don’t like to have a ton of plugins on your wordpress blog there is a service called Twitterfeed. With Twitterfeed you simply sign up, give them your Twitter username and password and then set how often they should check your blog for a new post. When they check, if they were to find a new post, they will automatically post it to your Twitter account. What could be easier or better than that?

Come back because as I find new and better ways to use Twitterfeed I will post them here.

Regards,

Popularity: 61% [?]

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Hello world!

Welcome to Wordchase, a WordPress blog about words and money. We are using Wordpress version 2.5 with the Biru theme, based on the famous Kubrick. I started to use a beautiful new theme called WP-Brown but I just could not configure it the way I needed. If you want a gorgeous theme based on shades of brown, you really should check out WP-Brown. Its a brand new theme and not many people are using yet.

Driving Traffic to your Blog
Join us in the next couple of days for a series on tips for increasing traffic to your blog. What will be fun about this is that we will do it together. As I post the lesson for the day, I will actually be doing the lesson for this blog to. If you follow along, we can compare notes. It should be both fun and beneficial to all.

Shortly after that series is over, I will begin a series on running an online contest. Many people have benefited significantly by holding an online contest. Some grew their list, others got more readers for their blog, still others got new customers. Whatever your online presence lacks or needs, holding an online contest can boost your traffic, ergo, your income.

I hope to meet many new friends as we explore words and money together.

Regards,

Popularity: 99% [?]

Posted in Traffic Boosting, Words | 1 Comment »