Hello, is $1000 enough for first place, $500 for second and $100 for third in seo contest? What's the prizes average in theese days? Also, what would be better, make contest or spend $ for advertising, links myself?
If you want anything usable (once the contest is over) try multiplying those figures by 10. Then come up with something original - like a REAL seo contest where people have to rank against existing popular phrases etc. Good luck
It all depends on how big of contest you are wanting to run. How many people you want to compete and how much you can put up for the prize.
The top prizes right now are 10 to 15 thousand If you do a short 2 month contest and make it a seo race it might work. But for a longer term contest you will need more cash. If you do a SEO contest please post it in my seocontest forum
To me it depends on what you want to achieve. For example if you are in extremely competitive industry like online gambling then your contest needs to be huge - only if a huge number of webmasters take part and provide you with relevant links then you'll be able to see the results in your SERPs. However if you are in less competitive niche then the prizes you mentioned may be good enough... however, in that case, I'd prefer to buy links rather than run the contest. The links you buy are generally much cheaper but usually irrelevant to your site. The links from SEO contest are expensive but as rellevant as they can be. The choice is yours.