If you run a blog and you want to increase your readership, there is no doubt that running a giveaway is a great way to achieve your goal. Let’s face it, we all like to get something for free, and the thrill of winning a contest is great, so it stands to reasons that offering a freebie or two will have benefits for your online business.
Of course, running a giveaway isn’t easy. Too many bloggers have gone into the process thinking that it’ll be a cinch, only to be shocked by the amount of hard work it involves and the many problems that can crop up. If you want to run a successful giveaway without experiencing any pitfalls, check out these secrets to running a great giveaway:
Start with Research
If you want to do your giveaway right, why not take inspirations for others who have done it before you? Google other giveaways of the item you’re planning to give as a prize and see how other bloggers have made it work. This will give you a much better idea of how to go about it yourself.
Choose a Prize Related to Your Niche
I know you want to grow your traffic, but if you give away something like ash or a gift card for Amazon, you’re going to be inundated with hundreds, if not thousands of entries, which will take up a lot of your time, and many of these people will not stick around to read your blog – they’re just there for the cash. That’s why it’s better to offer a prize related to your niche. The entries will be more manageable, and the entrants will actually be interested in what you have to say. Sure, you won’t get the thrill of seeing your visitors shoot up by a massive amount, but the long-term results will be better.
Use a Business Address
If you are running the kind of giveaway where you need or want to allow postal entries, then it’s a really good idea to get a business address from physicaladdress, where you can have your mail sent and forwarded to your virtually. This will help to protect your privacy and ensure that you have less of a headache dealing with mountains of post.
Make It Absolutely Clear
When you’re running a giveaway, if you don’t want to be inundated by complaints, it’s important that you lay out precisely in clear language exactly what entrants have to do and exactly what the prize will be, when it will be awarded, etc. Transparency is of the utmost importance if you want your blog to be transparent and your contest fair.
Promote on Many Platforms
Of course, there’s no point going to the trouble of organizing a giveaway if no one knows about it, which is why you need to take the time to promote your contest not only on your blog but also on other blogs in your niche, on your social media and on giveaway sites like online-sweepstakes.com and contestrcorner.com. If you do this, then you will definitely see good results from your giveaway.