Fresh Twist on Mac ‘n’ Cheese Contest

We’re tired of plain old mac ‘n’ cheese. Right now we’re far more interested in all the fun ways you can dress it up. So we’re on the hunt for your most creative ideas. Whether your signature mac ‘n’ cheese recipe features fresh veggies, meats, or something else delish, now’s the time to show it off. Whip up your own original recipe, snap a photo, and enter it now! Photos must be of the actual recipe submitted, and the recipe must be original.

Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia, who are 18 years of age or older.

PRIZE: One (1) Grand Prize will be awarded. The grand prize winner will receive a check in the amount of Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($250).

Deadline of entries is on December 1, 2009. For more information please visit MixingBowl.com

International Student Travel Video Contest 2009

InternationalStudent.com is excited to announce the launch of the fourth annual Travel Video Contest!  Prizes are bigger than ever! Not to mention worldwide fame and fortune in the international education community with your very own blog on International Student.

This competition is open worldwide to those who are planning to enroll in college or university outside of your home country. If you are not currently studying outside of your home country, your entry must describe your proposed study abroad 18 years old and above.

This year the winner will receive a grand prize of $3,500, plus the opportunity to blog about their experiences abroad to international students all around the world. Second and Third placed winners will also get either an iPod Touch or video camera as their prize.

Deadline of entries is on October 30, 2009. For more information please visit InternationalStudent.com.

Greenies for a Year Photo Contest

As a pet lover you want to make sure you do everything to make your four legged friends stay as healthy as possible. Upload a photo that showcases your furry’s friend healthy smile!

Prizes:  Winner’s choice of a one-year supply of GREENIES dental chews. Prize will be awarded as twenty-four (24) 12oz. packages of GREENIES dental chews.

Eligiblility: USA 50+ & DC   13 -18 or older

DEADLINE: June 30, 2009

ENTER Greenies for a Year Photo Contest

Writing Comments Contest

Win your very own copy of the Working Writer Happy Writer: How to Build a Thriving Writing Business from NOTHING by making a comment on one of the Blog Posts in the Writing or Marketing Category.

You don’t have to use your real name … but IF you want to win, you should use your real email (it will NOT be published).

All you have to do is make a RELEVANT comment of 10 words or more on any of the posts.

On June 30 we will choose a winner through a random draw of all blog posts made (in the Writing or Marketing Category) in June, 2009.

Each comment you make is one entry into the contest … so if you make 5 comments, you have 5 entries.

PS.  You can also enter our Photography Comments Contest.

Photography Comments Contest

WIN your very own copy of the 2009 Photographer’s Market by making a comment on one of the Blog Posts in the Photography Category.

You don’t have to use your real name … but IF you want to win, you should use your real email (it will NOT be published).

All you have to do is make a RELEVANT comment of 10 words or more on any of the posts.

On June 30 we will choose a winner through a random draw of all blog posts made (in the Photography Category) in June, 2009.

Each comment you make is one entry into the contest … so if you make 5 comments, you have 5 entries.

PS.  You can also enter our Writing Comments Contest.

Contest Winners!

The winners of the May 16 COMMENTS contests are:

Writing Comments Contest:

The winner of  the Working Writer Happy Writer: How to Build a Thriving Writing Business from NOTHING is Kevin Syn from Wichita, Oklahoma.  The winning entry was Kevins comment:

I am a writer and I must say I get a constant stream of ideas for articles from twitter. I follow anyone in my subject areas and cruise and follow links for an hour a day. Well, an hour is what I’ll confess to.

I am challenged to keep my tweets to 140. You might have been able to guess that.

OH yeah. I use tweetdeck it makes looking for subjects easier.

Which is found on the post:  Is it Really Possible to Grow Your Business with Twitter?

Photography Comments Contest

The winner of “2009 Photographer’s Market” is Alison Kyle from Miami, Florida.  The winning entry was the comment:

Rodney,

I went to your business insider website to see your squeeze page. My question is, when I sign up for the free report, am I getting the free report AND a regular newsletter, or other emails? oR just the report?

I also got a pop-up panel for the newsletters on this website. Is that as effective as a squeeze page? I really liked it and signed up … so it worked for me. Where can I get it?

Alison’s comment is found on a post written by our guest expert, Rodney Washington: Can a Photographer Effectively Use a Squeeze Page?

Thanks to everyone who entered.  Please try again in our current COMMENT CONTESTS.

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The winners of the May 9th COMMENTS contests are:

Writing Comments Contest:

The winner of  “The Well Fed Writer” is  Kate Baggot, a Canadian freelance writer who is currently living and working in Europe.   Kate actually commented  numerous times increasing her odds of winning.  The winning entry was her comment:

I’ve always found that when most of these large-scale public events hire staff, they start by recruiting from their pool of past volunteers.

Which is found on the post:   Finding Work By Focusing on Events

Photography Comments Contest

The winner of “2009 Photographer’s Market” is Almost a Pro, a “semi-professional” photographer working out of Miami. The winning entry was the comment:

I have recently signed up with Dreamstime. It was a bit of an effort, but I finally got 25 photos loaded and within a day made my first sale. I got less than an $0.25 for it LOL, but it was money I didn’t have before and now I will get the rest of my collection uploaded.

Even if I just pay for my gear it is great. And I have to admit feeling so excited about my first sale. You’d have thought they were giving me a check for a hundred thousand dollars.

Which is found on the post  Working With Stock Photo Agencies Part 4

Using Contests to Promote Yourself Part Two

This is Part Two 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 FREE 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 sweepstakes 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.

If this seems like a lot of work you may prefer to “sponsor” a contest through proofpositive.com We will setup a sweepstakes contest that features your product or book or 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.

Melanie Rockett is a writer, photographer, marketing consultant and Internet Entrepreneur.  She has written 10 books and thousands of articles. Her photos have appeared in books, magazines and television programs.

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RESOURCES

Get Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort, Second Edition

Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling

Get Clients Now!(TM): A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches

Using Contests to Promote Yourself: Part One

This is Part One of a series on promoting yourself with contests.

Contests are proliferating on the Internet. The reason that contests have always been popular is a) because people LOVE winning stuff and b) because it is a great way to promote products, brands, and companies without seeming like advertising.

Take this scenario. You are watching TV and an commercial for a bathroom product comes on. You get up and go do a few minutes of the dishes. You are back in front of the TV and this time a commercial comes on, but instead of trying to sell you toilet paper they are telling you about the great vacation trip that you can win, all expenses paid. Instead of looking at toilets and toilet paper you are looking at a couple enjoying a romantic cruise, or an Island paradise holiday. This time you stay and watch the commercial. You even write down the name of the contest and brand of TP and the website address. It’s NOT a commercial right? It’s a chance to win a trip.

Well, it IS a commercial … a commercial that gets your attention because the focus is on winning. The sponsor gets to say their name, the name of the TP they are selling and they get to send you to their website. This type of advertising WORKS!!!!

The reason that contests are proliferating on the Internet is that they are relatively easy to set up, and they are inexpensive to run. If you have a website, you can get a contest happening within a day or so.

Contests are a great way to get exposure for your books, for your software products, and for your website. If you do it right, you could also build your ezine list at the same time. But a word of caution here … you need to be very careful here because you don’t want to get accused of hijacking email addresses and of spamming.

For more information on setting up a contest go to Part Two in this series.

You will often see contests and sweepstakes that are run by a third party. There are several reasons for this:

1) Running a contest takes time and effort

2) Running a totally “blind” contest takes technology

3) Having a 3rd party running the contest reassures the “consumer” that the contest is above board. After all, it is too easy for “some” companies to award prizes to friend and relatives, or to not award the prizes at all!

If you have a “skill based” contest (writing, photography, cooking, video, misc) please feel free to promote it by adding it to the proofpositive.com contest database.

In conclusion. Contests are a fun way to promote your books, your products, your services. Consider this as one of the tools in your Marketing Tool Box.

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Melanie Rockett is a writer, photographer, marketing consultant and Internet Entrepreneur.  She has written 10 books and thousands of articles. Her photos have appeared in books, magazines and television programs.

RESOURCES

101 Ways to Promote Yourself: Tricks Of The Trade For Taking Charge Of Your Own Success

Blueprints for Success: Networking–150 Ways to Promote Yourself (Blueprints for Success Series)

Poor Richard’s Internet Marketing and Promotions: How to Promote Yourself, Your Business, Your Ideas Online 2nd Edition

Mother’s Day “Best Cat Mom” Award

Well I just couldn’t resist telling everyone about this cute contest.

If you have a cat, and you’re the best mom ever … be sure to enter.

HOW TO ENTER
Leave your entry in the comments field of this post. Tell us whut makes YER Food Lady the best cat mom ever. Make shur to put in a valid emale/url so we can give yoo yer prize if yoo win.

ELIGIBILITY
All Catsters, Dogsters, and cats with blogs can enter. Multiple pet howseholds may combine thare entries or submit seprit entries.

CONTENT
No limitayshuns. Can be fotos, text, poetry, anything that can go into a comments box.

JUDGING
The Cat’s Meow staff will chooze the winning entry for the best entry submitted. Yoo’ll git points fur orijinality, humor, pathos, and execution. (I dunno whut pathos meens, but it looks good, duzn’t it?)

DEDLINE
5pm Catster time on Saturday, 9 May.

PRIZES
The Grand Prize winner will get the following prize package:

• 25 zealies
• A pink Skeezix the Cat Cap (also avail. in green or bloo)
• A Catster T-shirt

DEADLINE: May 9th, 2009  5PM

Tell everyone why you are the BEST Cat’s Mom ever!

We Have A WINNER!

The winner of our APRIL Blog Comments Contest is Joe Press for his comment on The War on Photography.

Joe Press has won a $25.00 Amazon Gift Certificate.

Any comments made during the month of MAY 2009 will be eligible for the May Blog Comments Contest

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