This is Part Two of a series on using contests as a
marketing and promotional tool.

OK, you've decided to run a contest. Now you have MORE
decisions to make and a few steps to take before you can
get started

Choosing the Type of Contest You Will Run

Your first decision is, what kind of contest will you run?
You have several choices: a sweepstakes contest, a free
skill contest or a fee based skill contest.

Here are the pros and cons of each choice.

1) By law a sweepstakes contest must be free to enter and
you must choose the winner through a random draw. If you
charge money for this type of contest you have just entered
the "realm" of a lottery or raffle and you have to have a
state or provincial licence for that.

On the upside, a sweepstakes contest is "relatively" easy to
set up. Just collect the names of the participants and when
the time comes to choose a winner ... make a random selection.
On the downside is the fact that you will get a lot of very
unqualified visitors who just want to win something. They
will not spend much time on your website and they are not
likely to explore your product, book or services. However
... you will also attract, some qualified traffic. These
people will look at your product. Some of them may want
it right now and will buy right now.

2) Your second choice is to run a skill based contest with
FR>EE entry. You will want to choose a theme for your contest
that matches the theme of your product. For example if you
are promoting a book on how to setup and run a bed and
breakfast, you might ask contest participants to write an
essay about their best B&B experience.

The upside for this type of contest is the fact that you
will get more qualified visitors. People who enter will be
interested enough in your topic to spend some time on it.
People who enter the contest may purchase your product
before entering the contest just to find out who you are.

On the downside of skill based contests is the fact that you
will receive a LOT fewer entries. Any time you ask for "an
action" in a contest, you will get fewer entries.

A skill based contest is much more work than a simple
sweepstakes contest. You must collect the entries and you
must DO SOMETHING with each entry. You will need to develop
a way to "judge" the entries. Will you be the judge or will
you get an independent "guest" judge? What criteria will
you use to choose a winner?

3) Your third choice is a skill-based contest with an entry
fee.

Frankly, if you are running a contest in order to get
traffic and exposure, charging a fee will make it harder to
achieve your goals.

Just "taking an action," such as writing an essay, limits
your audience. Charging an entry fee will narrow it down
even further. If you choose to run this type of contest,
you will have to balance the "fee" by offering a prize that
is VERY enticing.

If you want to promote your product by increasing your
traffic and exposing the greatest number of people to your
product, then choose either of the "free" entry options.

Choosing the Prizes

Once you've decided on the type of contest you will run, you
need to choose your prizes. What are the prizes and how many
prizes will you give away?

With a sweepstakes contest, you can offer your book or your
product or a "taste" of your services. I would suggest at
least two prize offerings ... ie two first prizes of the
same book, or a first prize that includes a package of two
or three different books and a 2nd prize that includes one
book

With a skill contest, match the difficulty of the skill with
the prize. In the Bed and Breakfast example above, you could
offer a first prize consisting of a night at a well-rated B
& B and 10 second prizes consisting of a copy of your book.

The Rules Page

You need a rules page for your contest. The best way to figure
this out is to check out the rules pages from other similar
contests. Don't break copyright laws by copying
other people's rules pages. Use them as a guideline and develop
your own rules page.

The minimum information you need is:

1) Who qualifies?  Are there country limitations or will your contest be
International? Are there age limitations? Are there any
other limitations ... such as who "cannot" enter?

2) A list of the prizes along with an approximate retail
value.

3) A deadline date.

4) Judging rules. For example: "winners will be chosen by a
random draw."

5) Who the sponsor is.

6) You may want a clause in your "rules" page about
what happens if you can't contact the winner via email or phone.

SELLING Your Contest

You need a page that "sells" your contest. I know you are
giving away something for free ... but these days that's not
enough. You need to promote your contest and the prizes.
Motivate people to enter. Your advertising page is called a
"splash" page. Your splash page can be as simple or
elaborate as you want it to be. Showing the prizes would be
a great idea! If you are design "deficient" hire a graphic
designer from one of the freelance job boards to build you a
great looking contest splash page.

Some sponsors build the contest entry form right into their
splash page. Others have a separate entry submission page.

Entry Submission Page

If you are running a sweepstake contest, make it simple.
Ask for a minimum of information. First name and email may be
sufficient. The more information you ask for, the less entries you will
get.

If you are running a skill contest. You need very clear instructions
on how your participants must "submit" their contest entries. Online
is best. You will need some kind of forms submission provision
either on your site or on a third party site.

Thank You Page

Once someone has entered your contest and clicked on the
submit button, you must let them know their submission was
successfully received. You can use the Thank you Page to give
them more information about your product, to ask them to
subscribe to your newsletter, or use it to sell them an
affiliate product.

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If this seems like a lot of work you may prefer to "sponsor"
a contest through proofpositive.com We will setup a
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website. We will build a simple splash page that includes
links back to your website and will administer the contest.
All you have to do is ship out the winning prizes.

For more information on this service (free for a short time)
send an email to editor@proofpositive.com. Include "I'm
interested in sponsoring a contest" in the subject heading
of your email. Let us know what the prizes would be. Include
your name and telephone number and we'll let you know if we
can accommodate your contest.

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Melanie Rockett is THE Contest Guru! Her book Contest Guru's Guide To Winning Sweepstakes has been downloaded by thousands of hopeful winners. Her website proofpositive.com has hundreds of contests fro writers, photographers, cooks and musicians

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