Blog Contests and Giveaways Increase Traffic

Read through your blog feeds and you’ll probably find contests and giveaways. They are on marketing blogs, movie review blogs, SEO blogs and almost always on product review blogs. These type of posts help to get traffic to your blog.

What are some ways to gain traffic with giveaways and contests posts?

1 – Entry rules can include tweeting about your contest, sharing the giveaway on Facebook, writing blog posts about the contest, Stumbling your post and using SEO keywords for entrants to share.

2 – For product reviewers, some advertisers or PR people request giveaways with their reviews. They know that this will get buzz going for the product. To take advantage of this, use the same entry requirements as above. You can also ask people to subscribe to your blog feed, join your network on Facebook, and follow you on Twitter.

3 – Make your giveaway go viral. Make use of YouTube, Digg, Stumble Upon and promoting it on giveaway websites or other blogs for free. Cindi from Moomettes Magnificents provides a giveaway roundup using Mr. Linky.

4 – Be sure to use the same keywords when promoting. This also brings incoming links to your blog.

5 – Provide prizes that are popular and worthwhile. These are sure to gain a lot of traffic to your blog. Prizes don’t need to expensive, but unique, unusual and/or influential. For example, Deb from Chatty Gal is giving away 2 Zhu-Zhu Pets, one of the hottest toys of the year and right around the holidays. For parents trying to find these as gifts, this is a contest they want to enter.

6 – Create a page just for giveaways so your readers can find them easily. Robyn from Robyn’s Online World has a page titles Giveaways and Winners – Past and Present. Not only will her contests help her increase traffic to her blog, but so will this page.

7 – Writing giveaways or contests posts and being successful will provide you with options to run more giveaways. Sponsors will look at your success and want your blog to host their next contest, thereby providing more traffic to your blog. Ask the giveaway sponsor to write about working with you either via a recommendation that you post on your blog or via a LinkedIn recommendation.

8. Promote your contest with blogging friends and do the same for them.

9. Write a guest post and mention that you host giveaways. Provide the link to your contest page.

10. Retweet other giveaways so that other people will retweet yours.

Connie Roberts

ConnieFoggles