...what do you usually offer your winner? i'm referring to affiliates for niches other than internet marketing.
We've run a number of affiliate contests on MaxBounty.com through the years. I've found cash prizes don't get much interest from affiliates, nor gift cards. It's the alternative gifts that capture their attention. When the movie The Italian Job came out on DVD, we gave away copies of the DVD and remote control Mini Coopers. Other occasional prizes were foosball tables, ipods, a summer BBQ package (gas bbq, giant cooler, steaks and $50 BEvERage money), and my absolute favorites were the Balloon Bazookas. http://www.balloonbazooka.com/ The contest which by far received the most affiliate attention was for the $500 bottle of Scotch. That said, while it seemed affiliates were excited about the various contests, they rarely resulted in much more traffic, so I'm not sure how worth while the whole contest thing is in the long run.
Yes, they are for increasing sales (or more ad revenue in our case) but not as many would try as I'd expect. Budget varied for us, so it's hard to answer. Some months it was just a couple hundreds, other months it was a couple thousand.
JP, interesting feedback, Peon What about say contest of building new site and then somehow from that give certain bonuses or incentives;
would you advise an affiliate contest for someone just starting out to do internet marketing? just a question that popped into my mind.
Would I advise? (Remember, our contests never got much of a response...) I'd say NO, it's not good for starting out. Best to put that money and effort into promoting your affiliate program instead. Once you have an affiliate base, then try the contest idea.
We have had contests offering $70,000 and up in contests and prizes that included cash, electronics, trips and more. Our holiday contest last year had $40,000 in prizes - here is all the info: http://affiliate-directory.5staraffiliateprograms.com/affiliate-sales-contests.html We gave away a bunch of Nanos, big screen TVs, cash and all kinds of stuff. IMHO unless you are offering a really big prize, I don't think contests move the needle too much. I think they are better for getting PR and recruiting new affiliates. I know a couple companies that have given away cars! How can a small merchant compete with that? Then there's the matter of structuring. If you only give a prize to the top performer or even the top 3 - then it doesn't incentivize the newbies or lower tier performers and actually can be a de-incentive because they know they could never win. When I design contest, I like to offer a top performer - top rookie and most improved prize to give affiliates at any stage a feeling that they could win. OR one of my fav contests is the secret day sales contest. I've done a couple of these that were successful. It's more random and gives anyone a chance to win. The highest single sale on secret sale day wins - so the more sales you make, the greater your chances. Even a newbie could luck out and get the biggest sale. This contest was for Irvs Luggage, where the price of the products varied widely. If all products are the same price or it's a lead gen program it could be closest sale to noon. But the key is, the more you promote and sell the greater your chances of winning so it helps boost sales across all tiers of performers.