Hmm….to tell you the truth, I haven’t won in many contests….maybe one time that I bought a raffle ticket and won a dinner at a restaurant one time.And it was a nice meal too, I might add.
But when bloggers create contests and they encourage people to write an article or post as an entry for the slight possibility of winning a contest, they do something more for the contest entrant.The entered post becomes very popular, and backlinks are gained back to the entrant’s site or blog,thereby creating traffic and higher page views.And if the contest is held at a very popular blog,all the better.
Get loads of comments
The entered posts gets loads of comments, and feedback on what the entrant has written. There is promotion all around, to the entrants included site link getting more clicks, and linkbacks from other people,thereby creating further popularity. And if the entrant does win from the contest, that is the icing on the cake as the article that is written will be referenced and seen by many.
Get link love
Then the entrant’s blog, that is entered as a link back in the article gets visited more frequently and the visitors read your blog entries and may come and visit more than once. So if you don’t win anything, consider what I have said, because unlike buying raffle tickets, lottery tickets and playing the gambling machines, there are benefits after the contest has finished. Or so that is the theory, isn’t it? if the popular blog holding the contest has comment luv installed, the links entered into the comments form get link love and a do-follow backlink to their sites and blogs. And so on and so forth.
Continuing benefits would last beyond the contest
There would be continuing benefits that would last beyond the contest. More traffic for everyone and it’s a win-win situation. More popularity and hey, someone might drop off a donation or ask you to do a guest post for another blogger or to be a regular contributor at another well known, popular blog.
Have you ever participated in a blogging contest? PLZ, share your experience!
This post is part of our amazing Blogging Contest, plz add a comment and tweet it to support the author.
image credit: traffic
Article by Joanne
I have a blog called, Best Of Joanne which has articles,and is about reviews of other blogs, sites and contests around the web
17
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
I just downloaded a new plugin for WordPress today as a matter of fact. It’s called “And the winner is…” and it’s supposed to manage blog contests where commenting is the source of contest entry.
I’m trying to come up with a good promotion that will draw in entries!
Michael Beck recently posted..The Battle for The Best Breakfast in Highland- Michigan
Seems a good idea!
Hey Joanne, good points about how participating in contests help gain traffic.
And there will be continuing benefits as your post and backlink will always be here.
Peter Fuller MBA recently posted..Attention this book will make you MONEY
Twitter: tonygreene113
July 11, 2010 at 11:22 am
If I cold get just a taste of the exposure that sights such as this one gets. I’ll be a bit more happy for all of my web properties. Good luck in the contest.
tonyknuckles recently posted..Comluv And FamousBloggers Ultimate Contest Sponsors
This contest has increased traffic to my blog, yes. More importantly, I met some really experienced bloggers and was able to increase my skills light years faster than I would have if I was doing this on my own. I lucked into finding this contest, but hope to learn how to find others like it. I want to continue to learn and improve my skills. I certainly would not turn down a prize, but I entered to get better at blogging.
Stephanie Smith recently posted..Growing Your Blog’s Income
It helps a lot if you have someone to help you get better at writing or doing articles.
I did this one myself.
Joanne recently posted..WordPress › Blog » 100 Million Plugin Downloads and Counting
Yes, having a mentor significantly increases the chances of success. There are always tricks that no one writes down that really help things. It is nice to have help finding them.
Stephanie Smith recently posted..Free Tuition to ComLuv/Famous Blogger Contest College
Love this contest but I am sure won’t participate since my English is broken, who to vote me as a winner? when a pig fly!
football prediction recently posted..Drilling Engineer
Yeah, its rather competitive, isn’t it?
Joanne recently posted..WordPress › Blog » 100 Million Plugin Downloads and Counting
It is competitive on one level, if you want to win. If you want to learn, though, you do not have to be so competitive. You can participate and see what feedback you get, what new techniques you learn, and who you connect with.
Stephanie Smith recently posted..Free Tuition to ComLuv/Famous Blogger Contest College
Twitter: indblog
July 5, 2010 at 4:56 am
I have not held my own contest yet (planning on doing this by the end of the year) but I do participate in plenty of them and enjoy the traffic more the potential of winning a prize.
Dean Saliba recently posted..Adsdaq A Reliable Network In An Unreliable Market
It’s getting that way for me too.Don’t go for the possibility of maybe winning a prize,just hope for the traffic and the feedback sort of thing.
Joanne recently posted..WordPress › Blog » 100 Million Plugin Downloads and Counting
Twitter: element321
July 2, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I agree, there are a lot of benefits for holding and participating in contests. Just this contest alone, has caused a ton of links, traffic, new writers, and new readers to Famous Bloggers. Its great to see how this contest is doing…
element321 recently posted..Does Your Site have an Error 404 File Not Found Page?
It’s great to see the entrants entries and articles.
Joanne recently posted..WordPress › Blog » 100 Million Plugin Downloads and Counting
I think there are lots of benefits of participating in a blogging contest. You have mentioned lots of them above. I also think that you learn a lot simply by participating. For example by participating you might get an idea as to how you are going to organize your own contest. What could you do better? What is already done well?
Nice article
Those are quite pertinent questions to consider with running blog contests.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Twitter: dragonblogger
June 29, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Though I create more contests than I join, I think contests are a great way to interact with readers and offer something. By leaving your trail in contests as well you get notice because everyone who enters a contest usually likes seeing who else is entered and interested.
Justin Germino recently posted..Manage All of Your Passwords Online Security with Clipperz
Yes and I enjoy looking at the entrants posts as well, too
Opps I forgot to login so my comment isn’t moderated and I can easily
reply – sorry Hesham!
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
It’s ok dear!
Twitter: heydevesh
June 29, 2010 at 10:50 am
Hey Joanne,
Nice article. You’ve shared some awesome points.
Guest blogging content can help us in many ways, getting targeted traffic, commenting. subscribers, branding etc.
Thanks for sharing this great Post.
~Dev
Dev recently posted..Technshare Reloaded
Thanks for your input.I really like the feedback people have given.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
To be honest, i have never been in a contest, maybe i should try it, but if i am participating in a contest, traffics are not my main aim. I guess socializing myself is my first aim.
Besides, i am not confidence myself to participate lol..
Kimi recently posted..Change Twenty Ten’s background- WordPress
If socializing is your aim,then that’s good….I wonder how many people will do that with me…
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Contests have done well for me, generating lots of traffic for my site. I’m still working to determine which is the best balance between setting up lots of ways for entries to make it go viral, with it becoming to over the top and confusing for the readers.
Mike recently posted..Unveiling The Daily Shot Of Coffee Store
I have yet to learn how to make a contest entry go viral, let alone a contest…
But we all learn things along the way,don’t we?
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Participating in blogging contests is really a win-win situation for bloggers.High traffic blogs often give you more valuable prizes.Therefore, i think that we should target those blogs to get more promotion,exposure and prizes.
Asad recently posted..How to Add Facebook Share Button or Widget to Blogger Posts
Yeah it seems to be that way inclined, towards the more popular bloggers.
They seem to be at a better position somehow.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
I have participated in blogging contests before and never won. Neither do I get much traffic. The conducting blog may benefit from backlinks and promotion but the quality of such posts are usually very poor.
Paul Tech recently posted..Cool Gadget Bringrr Ensures You Never Lose Your Phone
Well you never know how things go with a contest.Some people win,some lose,and some luck out totally.Like I could totally luck out badly, you know?
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
You have put in good pointer but I do not agree participating in contests gain you any traffic. If you are talking about the benefits of Famous Bloggers contest, then we may get increase in our traffic for the only reason that we are submitting Guest Posts. Its Guest Post which will earn us traffic and not the contest.
And Guest Posting Contest are rare. Your should have included the word Guest Posting Contest. Then I would be correct.
Participating in contest can never gain you any traffic. Conducting one will surely benefit.
Agent Deepak recently posted..Blog Marketing Method – Giveaway Marketing
I guess your right,the blog that holds the contest usually gets the most traffic and the
participants in the contest get the minimal flow on effects.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Interesting points you share there about blog contests.
But like The Bad Blogger said above, I wanted to know what benefits does the blog owner get out of contests? I know he gets posts/articles, but are there other benefits also?
Nabeel
A whole lot of traffic and great promotion of their blog……that’s for sure.
What else…..higher rate of subscriptions to the blog hosting the contest….
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Yeah, you can make friends from participating in contests,you’re right. It depends if they keep in touch with you and for how long.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
I have seen a blogger who appears in all of the blog I have visited. He comments on posts, participates into competitions and regularly be a guess poster of several blogs. Since then, I have known his name and what his blog is about. I think each of us, if we want to promote our blog and our reputation in the online world, should take actions like him. We need to show to the world who we are, what we do and how good do we know about the stuff we are doing. Then, readers will begin to notice us and follow what we say on the blog.
Mike recently posted..Top 4 security tips for your Magento store that can be done easily
Yes, I have heard that doing those things like commenting,entering in contests,
being a regular guest poster etc,can only do good for you overall promotion.
But it takes time,doesn’t it?
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
That’s a good point and a great response – well said! the potential is there to connect with other people,definately.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
When someone participate in a blogging contest, the intention would definitely be increasing the traffic of his/her blog. The prizes and excitement associated with it will be often secondary. But it is true for only experienced bloggers. In case of first-time bloggers,who really don’t know such benefits , the prizes are the things that attract them into these contests.
Jakes recently posted..Things you must do before deleting your orkut account
It is interesting how beginner bloggers and the experienced ones go about entering contests. the novices go for the prizes and the experienced go for the traffic.
Who knew? but in my experience, you have to have your options open because you might not win or you might get a consolation prize if there is one.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Twitter: Ileane
June 28, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Hi Joanne, it’s nice to see you hear doing a guest post. Good for you.
From my experience, all contests are NOT created equal. I entered quite a few and I’ve won some nice prizes, but in terms of traffic and increasing visibility the best contests are the ones that Hesham sponsors. He is King of Contests!
Ileane recently posted..SEO for WordPress via Stephan Spencer on WordPresstv
Well, I must be in luck then,so that must be good.The thing is will they or will they not accept your article? so guess I have been lucky in that sense.He is the most popular person then.Sometimes it takes a while to find out which ones are the most popular.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
goood post.
COntests are fun and quite useful. I participated in a lot of them in the beginning, but I haven’t done so recently. Crap crap.
THe best thing is always the traffic you get from it. I never really care about the prizes – they are secondary.
Mars Dorian recently posted..Why Some People Almost Always Sell Their Digital Products
It’s always a never ending stand-by, traffic.Which is better than totally losing on several lottery tickets.Which I never seem to win.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Contest is good, but I always said this, and I always repeat it even if it sucks, almost 90% of any contest blogger create doesn’t really create any cash out of it while he give valuable traffic and prize to winning participant which as far as benefit is concern, cash isn’t coming in for the blogger that took his time and energy to create the contest.
There is still no course or any product that actually show us step-by-step to create contest that give win-win situation, did anyone out there realize this? Well, I bet I had given an ideal to someone reading this….
The Bad Blogger recently posted..How To Get As Much Traffic As Possible From Article Directories To Your Blog With This Dumb And Simple-Yet-Effective Testing !
Well, yeah you would think that the contest how tos and guidelines would be enough,
but I had a few challenges on what to do on Heshams site while I was writing my post for the contest.But I think I did OK.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Contests are amazing in more ways than one and can benefit both parties tremendously. Well that and you get to win stuff
of course.
Ryan Hanzel recently posted..Response cached until Mon 28 @ 20:57 GMT (Refreshes in 13 Minutes)
Yeah it would be nice if I won something, but I am not getting my hopes up about it.Just see how it goes.
Joanne recently posted..The Kachingle Medallion Plugin For Wordpress – A Unique Way To Getting Micropayments For Your Blog
Definitely some great points! More people definitely visit a site during a contest, so you will get great exposure for your writing, and any links you include in your bio with it. Plus you get to expand your social network with other contestants and re-connect with those you might have lost touch with to get some friendly push for your entry. You win all the way around, whether you actually get a prize or not!
Kristi Hines recently posted..Strengthen Your Article Marketing With CommentLuv Links
I agree with Kristi in this. I have attended a blogging contest on a quite popular blog and it did help in both traffic and networking. I get to meet quite a lot of interesting people with profound knowledge. Sometimes the beauty of it is the connections built that last for a long time.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
Ching Ya recently posted..How to Use Status Tagging Successfully on Facebook Pages
{ 3 trackbacks }