How to Run Online Competitions (UK Specific Data)

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by tankard, May 24, 2010.

  1. #1
    Hi guys, after running a couple of online competitions I thought, I'd share some insights with you. Sorry, this is UK specific data. For other countries, you'll just have to search and research :)

    So, here's a list of the top most popular UK competition sites. You can list your competition free as long as it is a "no purchase required". To guarantee that you are listed, you have to give them a link back. Don't worry, it can be a nofollow link. The way I do it, below the competition form, I just say: "this competition is listed on this, this, this and that site". They are perfectly happy with it and will list you for free. Will they? Only seven out of 13 will list you. Don't bother with those other six. They almost never list third party competitions unless you give 'em an affiliate link.

    This table shows how many visitors I've got from each competitions site and what's the pages per visit rate. As you can see, three of the sites outperform other four big time.

    competitionslist.com - greedy bastard
    competitionstoday.co.uk - listed - 20 - 1.85
    competitorscompanion.com - listed - 25 - 1.6
    discountedorfree.co.uk - g.b.
    freebielist.com - g.b.
    freesuperheros.co.uk - g.b.
    freeukstuff.com - g.b.
    loquax.co.uk - listed - 121 - 1.78
    magiccompetitions.co.uk - listed - 14 - 2.21
    theprizefinder.com - listed - 195 - 1.54
    ukcompetitions.com - listed - 90 - 1.79
    ukwins.co.uk - listed - 13 - 1.46
    guide2win.co.uk - g.b.

    So far, my current competition has been running for 5 days and here are the results. Total visits: 478, new subscribers: 450, average pages per visit: 1.74 - so, many of them competitors actually bother to look past the competition page. Besides, many of them will come back after the close date to see if their name's on the list.

    Please don't try to con the competitors or ask them to buy anything. Lotteries and competitions in the UK are regulated. However, do ask for an action - get them to sign up for your newsletter and say something like "you will be able to unsubscribe from the newsletter whenever you wish, blah blah blah". Then it is perfectly legal. And know what? Only some 10% of the competitors will actually unsubscribe - the remaining 90% are yours to keep :D

    So, when are you running your next competition, eh?

    Do you have some nice tips you'd like to share? Know any other good competition websites? Please chip in!
     
    tankard, May 24, 2010 IP