DisregardMe

Here are 8 tips for holding a blog contest.

Have a clear goal.
Having a contest for the sake of a contest is just silly.  Instead have a clear goal in mind.  What is it you want as a result of this contest?  50 new subscribers?  Lots of inbound links and a better technorati rating?  Bucket loads of spam comments?  By defining exactly what you want that should help focus on how to run your contest.  It will also allow you to better measure its success or failure.  This way you can improve for your next contest.

Prizes don't always have to cost you money. 
You can have additional prizes that are of value such as:

• Technorati Favorite
• Link back in post
• Blog roll link on home page
• Submit to social bookmarking type sites
• Stumble it with Stumble Upon (this has been great for me)
• RSS Subscription

Sometimes having a blog contest that ends a month from now isn't always a good thing.
There is little immediacy when the contest ending is so far away.  As a contestant I will likely completely forget.  Try having a shorter contest with less money for a prize, then have it more often.  Costs the same amount but you should get more activity and return visitors for it.

Try to give away something unique.
How many ipods have you seen given away in a contest, or $25?  Buzz can be created by having a unique prize.  Recently we saw someone giving away an iphone.  Good way to catch general buzz and go with it.

Prepare ahead of time.
If you get a lot of contestants it can be a pain to keep track of things.  Figure out what your system is before you start.  I have had a few contests now clearly misplace my comment for my entry.  Very frustrating from an end users point of view.

Use visuals.
Take photos of the item and use them in the post.  It makes it more real.  Create a story about it.

Better promotion.
When having a contest don't just blog about it.  Ask your contestants to help promote it.  Through blog posts of their own, but also ask them to digg it or to stumble it.  Sending more traffic to the contest page and upping participation that much more.  Get creative with it.  Also let the half dozen or so blogs like this one know about your contest.  Search out all the blog contest blogs out there so we can post about it.  We have people subscribe to our feeds just to learn about contests. (do you subscribe?  do it now!)

Don't ask too much from contestants.
Having too many requirements for your contest can be a barrier for users and net you less participation.  Use common sense and ask yourself if you would be willing to go through it all, or maybe ask a peer to give feedback before you post the contest.  Remember, the easier you make it the more people will be likely to do it.

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