Online competitions = free marketing

Running online competitions is a very effective way of getting people to look at your website who normally wouldn't even be aware that you're online in the first place.

For the cost of a prize, you can encourage people to click through your website and have a look at what you've got on offer.

The prize doesn't have to be a big, I've got 100-200 entries for competitions with just a book on offer as the prize.

All of those clicks are from people who wouldn't normally visit my websites.

However, there's a really important reason why running competitions in the early days of a website is a good idea .. but I'm going to keep you hanging on until the end until I reveal it!

The main competition websites

I'm sure there are more out there, but I'm happy with these three, they provide a good quality, reputable service and they do a lot of business on the web.

All three offer free and straightforward competition submissions via a simple form.

The websites I use are:

1) Loquax Submit a competition to Loquax

2) UK Competitions Submit a competition to UK Competitions

3) The Prize Finder Submit a competition to The Prize Finder

If you click on the images, you'll be taken to each of the websites where you can give them the once over.

Before submitting online competitions to these sites there are a few tips and tricks you should be aware of that will improve the marketing element of what you're doing.

Make sure your online competitions have rules

There are some simple measures you can take to be seen to be absolutely fair about the competitions process.

Tip 1: Create a separate rules page and link to it clearly from your competition page.

Here is the wording I use on my rules pages of my online competitions - feel free to cut & paste and adapt:

This competition is open to UK residents only.

Overseas entries will not be considered.

One entry only per person.

There is one prize on offer.

If you are under the age of 16, you must obtain permission from your parent/guardian before you enter this competition.

You must provide (website name) with your name and e-mail address if you wish to enter this competition.

(website name) will only ever use your personal details for the purposes of administering this competition.

Deadline for receiving entries is (time/day/month/year).

The winner will be the first correct entry drawn at random. The draw will take place on (day/month/year)

The random draw will involve the use of a random number generator. The number of entries will be counted and the generator asked to generate an integer between 1 and the number of entries.

Entries will be selected in this way until one is found that has all the correct answers and adheres fully to the rules.

Emails will be organised in the order they have been received (ie by date received) for the purposes of selecting a random entry.

The site Editor's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The winner will be contacted personally by email and will be asked to provide a UK address which the prize will be sent to.

The prize(s) must be taken as stated and cannot be deferred. There will be no cash alternatives.

(website name) does not accept any responsibility for late or lost entries due to the Internet or postal service.

Entrants must supply full details as required above, and comply with all rules to be eligible for the prize(s).

No responsibility is accepted for ineligible entries or entries made fraudulently.

(website name) reserves the right to cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.

Prizes unclaimed after 28 days will be deemed to have been forfeited and (website name) reserves the right to either offer the prize to the entrant whose name is next drawn at random, or to re-offer the prize in any future competition on (website name).

Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering this competition.

These rules are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

This competition is administered by (website name)

There's absolutely no doubt whatever about the crucial information.

Put a clock time on when the competition closes, and discount any emails stamped with a time after that.

I use the random number generator at random.org and I assemble the emailed entries by date received - just click on the 'received' tab in your email client to do this.

Tip 2: Publish the details of the competition winner as soon as possible after you have drawn the competition.

When you publish the details of the winner just put name and geographical location, not full addresses.

I also take a screen grab of the page from random.org showing clearly the time the competition was drawn and the winning number.

I also wait until I have made a contact with the winner before I delete all the entries, just in case they don't get in contact and I end up drawing another winner - under the stated terms of the competition.

Aim for complete transparency and total integrity at all times.

All you need is a messy dispute over a competition to make you look unprofessional and dishonest.

Creating effective online competitions

Most of the people who use these three websites are competition lovers - they want to be in and out and move on to the next competition as soon as they can.

Here are my top 5 tips for effective online competitions ...

• Set multiple choice questions which make entrants look around your website and force them to see what you're offering: An example would be 'What sector of the small business community does web-work-at-home.com specialise in? A) Flower arranging b) Home internet businesses c) Train spotting. The aim is to make them leave your website knowing exactly what you offer.

• Don't set impossible questions: We're not aiming for 'Mastermind' here, just a mild challenge that people will be able to do with not too much trouble.

• Pick a suitable prize: Don't give away a gardening set if your website is all about making websites. Give away a related book instead - you're aiming to draw in people with an interest in your website niche.

• Use an image of your prize on your competitions page: Show your users what they'll be winning. Add an affiliate link to the prize so you can take a small commission if they decide to go ahead and buy it anyway.

• Set up an autoresponder for your competition: When people take part in your competition, they have voluntarily got in touch with you. If you set up an autoresponder to send them an automatic receipt, you can add a few sales messages while you're at it. Nothing too much you understand, something like Thanks very much for your entry in the web-work-at-home.com win a web design book competition. If you're the lucky winner we'll be in touch with you. If you enjoyed looking around our website, why not check out our latest offers/subscribe to our blog/take a look at the following pages?'

One extra tip now for the more advanced user:

• Use tracker links: A tracker link is a special link that you use to identify where people have come from to reach your website. Your tracker link for Loquax might be Http://www.web-work-at-home.com/loquax. When somebody entered your website via Loquax, you'd be able to see that in your website statistics, even though the entrant would just be directed to the competitions page. Tracker links are a useful marketing tool to help you work out which your most successful marketing links are.

Online competitions - save the surprise until last!

The entrants stay only as long as it takes to get through your competition and they're away, looking for the next one.

So why have I wasted your time giving you all those tips?

There's one really valuable thing that you get from running online competitions - good quality, inward bound links from high ranking websites, essential as part of your marketing strategy.

When you've been running your competition for a week or two, when you do searches for your website, you'll see results returned with your Loquax competition ... which means the search engines have clocked that Loquax - and the other sites - are linking to you.

So although the traffic a competition generates isn't particularly useful, it does help your website ranking in the short term.

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