Can you increase your traffic through holding contests?
Yes!
It is one of the more under utilized strategies to get more customers.
 
Why do they work?
Just about everyone loves contests, and they are a great way to get your customers to interact. And they make your business stand out. According to a recent study of Facebook users, 35 percent of new fans came on board to enter a contest!
“Increase Traffic and Leads With Contests”

Remember, the worst thing you can be in business is boring. Therefore, contests will add excitement to your marketing efforts. Since most other businesses have very dull advertising, even being slightly interesting will increase your profits.
However, there are certain things that will make your contest much more effective.

Here are two tips to maximize your results:

1) Get the word out
It does little good to have a contest if you don’t tell anyone. How can you get the most people to find out about it?
Use social media.
If you have a popular blog, post about it there. Also, if you have a lot of followers on Twitter, make sure to mention it there a swell. And consider joining Facebook groups related to your niche. Wildfire Interactive reports that 29 percent of fans on Facebook who click on a trivia contest will share it with their friends.
And you can do videos about the contest and post them on popular video directories like Youtube, Digg, etc. This will get the word out extremely fast. If you have a large email list, let them know as well.
Do a press release.
Editors hate boring “advertisement” press releases. Therefore, don’t talk about your business. Instead, if you can come up with a human interest story, they are very likely to write about your contest. A successful press release will flood your site with visitors.
2) Offer a good prize
You aren’t going to get many signups if nobody cares about the reward. Make sure it is going to motivate people to participate.
Does it have to be expensive?
No it just needs to be something your target market cares about. Obviously giving away money always works.
However, you might want to try something more unique.
For instance, offer a day with a celebrity in your niche. Another option is free round trip airfare to a seminar you are hosting.
What kind of contest should you have?
There are a number of things you can do. One example is to have people send in a creative video about why they deserve whatever you are giving away.
Just use your imagination. And if your contest is particularly popular, you might even be able to generate sponsors for it.
And don’t forget about other people’s contests.
You can still benefit from them. One way is to donate to them. Being a sponsor will enable you to advertise to their customers.
The bottom line is, holding contests and donating to other business’ contests is a great strategy for boosting your business. Use these two tips, and you will see good results.
Speaking of Contests, we have one coming up ourselves where you can participate by sharing the contest – the more you share the bigger chance of winning.  More on that in the coming week….
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