Contests have been used time and again to generate publicity and gain immense exposure in a short amount of time. They are like stunts which have the ability to attract eye balls and get people curious about the outcome. Let’s face it – anything that’s different from the rest, has an original streak to it or is fascinating will attract a lot of positive attention. When you skillfully blend this into your marketing campaign and execute it the right way, there’s no doubt that you’ll get an amazing ROI.
So what can be contests used for? Most of the time they form a good tool to pull people to your site, build and expand your own opt-in email list or to simply grow the number of incoming links to your site. However, when it comes to really getting the most out of this tactic, you’ll need to think out of the box. In other words, the sky is the limit! Let your imagination run wild and you’ll end up with many expressive ideas.
Cross Pollinating a Product Launch with a Contest
A brilliant example on how contests can be used to gain massive exposure was the much hyped Firefox 3 release. Prior to the launch, Mozilla invited every Internet user to help them break the world record for the highest number of software downloads in a span of 24 hours. This smart stunt proved to be hugely successful, with over 8 million downloads in a single day – giving Firefox free publicity and generating unprecedented level of excitement and buzz. Since then, Firefox has experienced a whole new level of growth and is on the verge of becoming the most popular browser on the web. Talk about word of mouth!
Running a Link Building Contest to Maximize Link Popularity
It’s a well-known fact that good content and high quality incoming links are the 2 main factors which determine your ranking in Google. Although it’s not that difficult to generate quality content that’s informative, building relevant inbound links isn’t the same. It can prove to be a highly time consuming process. So here comes in the strategy that deals with building targeted links with a link building contest.
A link building contest is a unique way to attract webmasters and bloggers by giving them an opportunity to win a prize/gift for linking to your website. There are many sites/blogs running such contests, where a link is randomly selected and the webmaster/blogger is awarded a valuable prize. However, since the overall value of the links generated through this method is way more than the cost of the prize, the end result is sheer success.
Things to Remember When Starting a Contest
Now before you jump on to the idea and start crafting out a contest for your website, there’s one important factor you need to keep in mind – building trust. Convincing people to take part in an online contest used to be a lot easier in the beginning; however, it’s not the same anymore. This is due to the increasing number of scams taking place and people being promised free gifts only to get bombarded with spam mails about Viagra. In order to tackle this, you first need to create a relationship and build trust with people before you tell them about any contest.
Also, make sure you consult your lawyer about the contest, since there are a few legal restrictions for anyone running a contest. Just follow the rules of the game, and you’ll hit the jackpot in no time.
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