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Thinking about having
Contests on your website?
Having a contest on
your website can be beneficial to attract visitors who can
become customers!
If you have been
thinking of doing regular monthly contests or even seasonal
ones there are a few things to consider.
I do a
monthly contest on my website www.freecandysticks.com.
and find it is well worth it!
If you decide to do one if it is for a prize you will be
mailing there a just a few things to consider.
1- Does the person need to be over 18 years of
age?
Is so say so!
Sending a prize to a 10 yr. old can upset their parents!
2- Do they need to be a USA resident?
If so say so!
3- Give them a time frame to reply to your email-
sending it signed receipt as some peoples spam filters will
toss it back to you as junk mail if your not in their address
book.
* I send them a copy of their entry so they know they really
did it as some forget and think you are spamming them.
Some will even refuse it so have a 2nd winner just in case.
Why they enter and refuse it is beyond me but it does happen
ever so often- smile!
4- Ask if they will give you permission to post their
name- I require consent to post 1st name only but ask if you
want to post last name and state on your website ASK!
5- Give them a time frame for the prize to arrive. I
use to put approx. 3 weeks and now say 4-6 weeks knowing it
will be sooner. Some people will expect you to send it
overnight to them so be clear on shipping time
6 - Having the winner do a winners comments can be good
for your contest and website.
I did try it on FreeCandySticks since when I email the monthly
winners some email me back so excited like I am giving them a
million bucks instead of Candy Sticks. Since my contest is
monthly the replies from the winners got to long to post so I
stopped doing it. But people do get
excited and tell you in their reply emails! (smile!) Think
about asking permission to post their emails if they are
excited as it is contagious!
7-When you mail the prize spend the few bucks to get a
signed receipt!
Even a low price prize can become a hassle if you send it and
they say they never got it . Some will say they never got it
and maybe they didn't so the signed receipt can save you from
not only a upset winner but also you don't want someone
telling others you never sent the prize when you did! Don't
let the few bucks stop you from doing a signed receipt as word
of mouth on the net especially in the wahms world can
be more costly then a few bucks! Save your sanity and good
business name with a required signed receipt.
* Plus I add a mompack to each months package too.
There are places you can list your contest on for free.
But I also suggest making a button/ banner for it also.
A 120x60 or 125x125 banners are a good sizes and ask others to
put them on their websites home pages- make sure to tell them
when it ends too!
My site NetworkOfConnections has a place to list contests, I
prefer continiuos ones unless you plan to email me and let me
know when your contest ends. 1 way to do this is if you ask
someone to list your contest for free on their site it is nice
to place their URL on your contest page
* See our contest banner at ----- list sites. This can be
small at the bottom of the page. It's just a nice courtesy
thing to do as a thank you for your banner or text about your
contest on their site for free.
http://www.networkofconnections.com/contest&freebies.htm
On the home page of www.freecandysticks.com is 3-4 banners of
places to list contests. I know they are good ones as the site
gets allot of entries each month. Plus if it is monthly
contest you plan to do and it has it's own page key word the
page such as "wahm christmas contests" Wahm contest,
free contest for moms. Just remember who you are trying to
attract with your contest.
If you do a regular contest remember to mention it in your
sites description when you do text link exchanges with other
sites.
Then promote your contest on your groups, yahoo and MSN groups
you are on. Most will allow it but see each groups
rules/details to make sure it's okay to post.
The only No’s No’s of doing a contest would be if you
decided to add the entries to a mailing list without telling
them.
If you DO plan to add them to your business newsletter
or mailing list be sure to CLEARLY say so on the contest page.
I recommend just above or below where they put their info at.
The other thing
that bothered me about a contest I entered was it was a month
long contest and I entered in the 1st week. For the
next 3 weeks I received emails reminding me to “enter again”
and how many days before the contest ended. I know I won’t
be entering that websites contests again!
Hope this helps those you doing who are thinking of doing
contests and doing new contests! They can be fun and bring in
visitors who turn into customers!
**Be sure to send
them to me at NOC (networkofconnections) if you will put a
courtesy link back as I mentioned above! Not required for
those who cannot due to company website and policy.
By Peggy Ross
© Peggy Ross 2003 All Rights Reserved
Please email Peggy
for permission to reprint
on your website, newletters or print
About the Author:
Peggy Ross is a stay at home mom of 3 children, ages 30, 27
and 12 and 1 grandson age 6, married to the love of her
life who retired early and is at home with Peggy everyday!
Peggy owns several websites all of which promote the work at
home women and mom!
www.Networkofconnections.com
www,thenewsletterconnection.com
www.freecandysticks.com
www.OurCircleOFFriends.com
www.ChristmasFromTheHeart.com
www.WAHMSNetwork.com
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