I will be running a contest on a blog and would like to promote it to get the word out and encourage people to participate. What are some good ways to promote a contest?
Have you post your contest in BST >> Contests section here in DP? The other way that you can do is submit your contest to a blog related to blog contest. Here are couples of links that you can submit your contest: http://www.submityourcontest.com/ http://www.bloggingcontest.com/ http://www.contestblogger.com/ http://www.thecontestwinner.com/ http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/ http://www.contestbeat.com/ http://www.myblogcontest.com/ http://blog-contests.net/ http://aboutblogcontest.blogspot.com/ http://theprizeblog.com/ http://www.prizeatron.com/ http://contestime.com/ http://blogodise.blogspot.com/ http://mediamafia.org/enter_now/
The contest is not relevant to webmasters. Thanks for the links. This is the kind of info I was looking for.
You can promote your contest by tipping "Contest Blogs" to write about your contest. I have done this before and I got more bloggers to participate. Check out the list of Contest Blogs here: http://theweblogzone.com/promote-your-contest-for-free.html You can also link to your contest from your homepage just like what I did IN MY BLOG. As much as possible, link to your contest with an image instead of texts. It's more appealing so you'll get more people to check out your contest. While you're in my blog, don't forget to join my Feed Subscription Giveaway. Thanks.
I think a large part of contest promotion is relying on viral marketing though. You'll find that if a decent prize is on offer, your visitors will likely tell their friends, and they'll tell their friends etc.
I'm offering enough to get people interested, but not enough to make it viral really. Anyway, I'm hoping the existing traffic base will get enough people interested as well.
Before launching a contest, you must have a good number of readers and connections to owners of highly trafficked websites. Connect with other bloggers and maybe ask them for some help. In that way, you might gain sponsors and contestants.