Tips for Running a Blog Contest

Running a contest is good for many reasons on your blog site. It will bring you new subscribers, links back to your site and ultimately reward one lucky winner with a prize. As the "Hit 777 EC's With the Monetizer" is the first contest I've ever run on any blog, it's definitely been a learning experience in the early stages. It's had over 10 entries so far, so it takes some work to keep track of the various entry types.

Here's some things to consider when you set up a contest on your own blog:

1) Keep the rules clear and simple. Last thing you want to do is confuse people. I think following form of most other blog contests you've seen helps here. Take a look at the blog Contestblogger.com. They announce every contest around and you can see how sites set their rules. With this I also decided to make a minimum number of entrants. Entrecard is popular but you never know what you're gonna get based on current traffic, etc.

2) Promote the contest elsewhere - Not just on your blog itself. I'd suggest you make a clear link somewhere noticeable on your blog. Look to other blogs and forums to announce your contests as well. Especially if you're a newbie blogger and may not have traffic to get enough entries. With this contest I posted on the Entrecard forum and informed a Contest Blog. The word of "mouth" from other blog entries helps too.

3) Keep a spreadsheet - That's the best way I could come up with to keep track of who has entered and how they've entered. Have columns for each of the ways to enter, RSS, Email, and Blog Post. List out each entrant. Then put the appropriate "entry amount" in that column for each person. I've also used it to keep track of people's emails, blog post URL's and screenshot URL's. So it's a smart idea to set up an Excel Spreadsheet or even download the free OpenOffice.org.

4) Determine a Good Deadline - I set the contest to end February 1, which seems far away right now. I'm thinking 2-3 weeks is good for most contests, because the longer it runs the more potential entries you will get.

5) Make Sure You Have the Prize - I've read on another blog that someone won a Playstation 3 and never received it. In this case I'm good for the 777 EC's sitting within my Entrecard account, so have no fear ;)

Again I wish good luck to any and all who've entered so far. I've also decided I will provide link love on the post announcing the winner. That means every entrant will be listed in the post as well, with a link back to their blog site or entry. It's rather simple to enter and you can check it out here:

Hit 777 EC's With the Monetizer!