Have you ever thought about running a contest on your blog?
It’s a great way to increase subscribers and get more traffic to your site.
At the same time giving everyone a chance to win something of value.
Example
The easiest way to setup and manage your contest is to install a contest plugin.
There’s many ways to increase subscribers but this would have to be one of the most effective.
- You can easily integrate this plugin with Aweber or MailChimp
- Each entrant receives a unique link which they can use to promote the contest for more chances of winning
- Entrants can mention and follow you on Twitter after entering a contest
- Entrants can “Like” or Subscribe to your Facebook profile after they have signed up
Plugin Settings
General Settings
Once you’ve installed and activated the plugin, you’ll need to configure some basic settings before you create your first contest.
Rules
You’ll easily find a free template for contest rules on the internet as a guide on what to use for the default settings.
If you’re running multiple campaigns, you can create custom rules for each on the Add New Contest page.
What this plugin does is it creates a custom post type with the slug “contests”.
Branding Settings
Here’s can can upload your logo.
Template Directory
Choose a template which fits in with your give away and existing website appearance.
Social Settings
Choose your preferred Facebook Social method.
Mailing List Settings
You’ll need to create a new list using either Aweber or MailChimp and enter the API key into the settings.
Add New Contest
All you need to do here is create the content for the sign up page.
- Add a featured image to display the prize
- Enter a start and end date
- Add custom rules for this contest if different from the default rules
- Add Participants to a specific Mailing List
Contest Winners
Contest winners will be displayed after the contest has expired.
After your entrants sign up, here’s an example of the page that will be displayed.
Tips for Running a Successful Campaign
JV
If you don’t have a huge email list, try and hook up with someone that does.
Sponsorship
If you do have a decent sized list, why not find a sponsor that’s willing to donate a product or service in exchange for promotional work.
Automation
Use a good contest plugin which handles the heavy lifting.
You can manually create a contest using WordPress however that requires a lot of time and effort.
If you’re wanting to increase your email list, using a plugin that makes it easy to integrate with your existing email service helps make the job easier.
All you need to do is create a new list.
Brad Dalton
@wpsitesdotnet
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