Draw Attention to Your Blogs With Contests and Giveaways

Everyone loves free stuff. Fortunately there’s no shortage of businesses looking for people to give stuff away on their blogs. Every day I receive another request to do a product review and giveaway. In the past two weeks, I’ve given away or posted giveaways for  two blenders, some refreshing beverages, lingerie, an MP3 player, an external hard drive, and a party planning notepad. In the upcoming weeks I’ll be giving away a toaster oven, bottled water, energy efficient light bulbs, a much in demand book by a couple of well known probloggers (guess who?) , and more. Why am I doing this? For several reasons.

1. Contests bring in traffic. Everyone likes free stuff. If you’re giving away a great product all the lurkers will come out of the woodwork to get something for nothing.
2. It’s a good way to get backlinks. Nothing says SEO like a bunch of sturdy backlinks. Get other bloggers to talk about you by giving away a tasty prize.
3. It’s a great way to reward your readers. Offering up some great prizes to the people who visit your each day is a nice way to say thank you.
4. Businesses will remember you as someone who does great product reviews and giveaways. You want this so they can send you more stuff. Of course you may have issues when your family trips over all the boxes in your office, but give them some of that free chocolate you got the other day and they’re sure to be more understanding.
5. It makes you feel good. I love giving stuff out to my readers. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

One thing I learned is a contest is a great way to foster community. For instance, when Freelance Writing Jobs was struggling due to lack of community, I ran a contest to reward the month’s most prolific commenter. Many of the commenters are still coming back and participating in the discussions. A contest is also a great way to jump start or bring attention to a brand new blog.

What are you waiting for…go give something away!