How NOT to Run a Blog Contest
Recently I’ve been involved in blog contest and the situation I’ve been put in was anything but pleasant. I’m not going to use names since all I want to do is to tell you what you should be aware of when running or sponsoring a contest. The following story is an example on how not to run a blog contest.
The story
Since I’ve started Blogsessive I got in touch with a lot of people that share similar interests with me and so I came to “virtually” meet the character in my story. I must admit that I enjoy the way he writes and the energy he seamed to put in the things he got involved in.
Based on that, when I learned that he launched a new project and held a contest to create a bit of buzz in the blogosphere, I offered my help as a sponsor with one of the things I really enjoy doing – logo design. And not one logo, but four identity packages containing logo, business card and letterhead design. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how expensive such things are when they don’t come as a prize.
All good, contest was launched and after a first episode, a winner out of four was picked. Wanting to not lose time, I contacted the guy asking for the winner’s contact details to get in touch and give her the prize. The answer I received was:
Sure, I’ll send them in a few minutes.
And that was the last I heard from him, no matter how many attempts to get in touch I made. Also, the information about the contest failed to show up on his blog either.
So, there I was, sponsoring a contest that died due to bad management and communication, with a winner that was expecting a prize and with a huge possibility of having my name put in a bad light.
Seeing that no matter what I did, I couldn’t get an answer, I’ve decided to do a bit of research and finally contacted the winner myself and offered her the prize, which she loved.
Consider this
Whenever you decide to hold a contest, remember that whatever you do – good or bad – will also affect your sponsors, and no sponsor wants to be in the spotlight because of you lack of interest in how the contest is managed.
Luckily, in my situation everything got sorted out, but not thanks to the guy I initially wanted to help.
And speaking of contests…
Make sure you check back on Blogsessive next Monday (of course you could visit daily) as I’m starting this months contest. I’m only going to tell you what the prizes are:
- Logo, business card and letterhead design by yours truly;
- A premium WordPress theme license;
- 1000 business cards printed with the custom design I’ll provide.
There will be only one winner for the whole package and there will be writing involved.
And just so that you can see a sample of what you could get, here’s a logo I’ve designed for a previous contest winner:
Check back Monday and be careful with how you manage your blog contests!
-
- Spread the love!
- Digg
- StumbleUpon
- Delicious
- Free, fast RSS updates?
- Join the 2,141 subscribers NOW!
I love blog contests! They are great to enter because the odds are usually pretty good. I have learned to stay away from the “giant mega super biggest baddest contest” ever type – those are the ones that don’t usually pay out, either from lack of organization or maybe shady people, who knows?
I really like the looks of your logo design, I will stay tuned for Monday!
I love entering contests aswell, you never know you could win, and it can gain you a little bit of traffic just entering, and then more so if you win.
Nice logo, really like that, I didn’t know you did logos, how much do you charge? but its beautiful.
Craig, thanks for the logo appreciation. About how much I charge, well, hire me.
I charge a base fee (affordable) and after that a few factors that vary from project to project, client to client, adjust the pricing.
But let’s get back to the contests. Chelle, looking forward to your entry Monday.
Oooh a contest. Mayhaps I’ll actually enter it this time rather than let “I’m not good enough” get the best of me. Just hope I have time. Why did nobody tell me college wreaks havoc on your schedule?
That’s a superb work you have Alex.
I recall the contest, but forget whose blog it is, but never mind, I don’t think it is worth it to dig it up.
That’s indeed a pretty bad experience! But to be a more benefit-oriented here, if someone decides to treat sponsors like this and don’t care about the sponsors, they should at least think of something else: they won’t get support for a new contest, ever
@Michael: I remember you hesitated a while ago. Try it now.
@Hendry Lee: Thanks. And, indeed, the name is not important anymore, just the situation which I trying to prevent from happening to you.
@Alina: A bad experience that I’ve learned from. In regard to their future contests, believe me when I say that I don’t really care.
I’ve had a contest won $50 but the sponsor said that his Paypal account was having problems. And he was only offering a 1000 Entrecard credits to replace the prize (yeah right..).
I agree that we need to select which contest we’re going to jump in. Maybe you would like to see some other ways to hold a contest:
http://www.homebiz.bukiki.com/.....-mistakes/
I was doing some research on how to run a blog contest or giveaway and found this. Thanks for the info – I will make sure to run mine as professionally as possible.
You make a great point in that it reflects poorly on everyone involved if things aren’t handled correctly.