This week: Get The Word Out Edited by: GeminiGem of House Lannister  
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Hello! I am GeminiGem of House Lannister and I am your guest editor for this issue of the Contests & Activities Newsletter. This week we are going to talk about how to let people know about your contest to potentially increase the number of entries. |
| ASIN: 0995498113 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 19.95
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Get The Word Out
ou have a writing contest, maybe it is brand-new, maybe it is an old favorite. How do you get people to take a look at your contest forum and then give you their entry? I have some suggestions. Let's see if any of them might work for your contest.
List It! Make sure your activity is listed in places people check when they are looking for a contest to enter.
"Writing Contests @ Writing.Com" This is the very first place you should go to list your open contest. You can also go back and self-delete your entry in this list if you close your contest. I would encourage you to delete your older entry and put in a new entry to keep your listing fresh if you run your contest continuously or regularly.
"Contest Clues" This is a page that I own and maintain. I do my very best to keep this page up-to-date on all the contests running on Writing.Com. If you open a contest and don't see that I have listed it under "open contests", drop me an e-mail and I will be happy to update the with your contest's information.
Your Site Signature. Add the link to your contest to the signature that shows up when you write an email etc. Click on My Account in the left hand column of your screen. Click on Account Settings. Scroll down and then click on Manage Signature. This makes it automatic so you don't have to type it over and over.
Newsfeed. Use newsfeed to alert people that your contest is open and accepting entries. Let me pass on some words of wisdom about this.
Make it eye catching. Use an image, some color, bold, etc. to catch the scroller's eye, but don't over do it. If it is too "busy", they may skip over it because there is too much involved.
Include a link to your contest. I know that should go without saying, but...I've seen it happen. The best link for newsfeed is this one: {bitem:XXXXXXX} (replace the X's with the ID number of the contest).
Engage your audience. Try adding a quick piece of trivia that is somehow related to the contest: to the history, the theme, the genre, the writing type you accept (poetry, short stories, etc.).
Include some basic information. Let people know when the deadline is, who is judging, what the current prompt or theme is, what the prizes are. You don't have to include all of those things, you can pick and choose (although the deadline is always a good one to include).
Lather, rinse, repeat. Do not assume that everyone will see your one newsfeed post, especially if you have a new contest that not everyone knows about yet. Make sure you post multiple times through out the time frame the contest is running.
Ask a friend. Ask a WdC friend to take a moment and help you advertise your contest on newsfeed. Maybe you can trade off, where you advertise one of their activities and they do yours. You can even ask people to advertise it on their newsfeed and then you pick a name randomly from the folks who take you up on the offer and send them a merit badge. Remember, other members will have different styles and they are reaching different people on their personal newsfeed page. It is a win-win situation for getting the word out.
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| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2244409 by Not Available. |
You can find these and many more contests here:
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https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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| ASIN: B01MQP5740 |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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From one of my last Contest & Activities newsletters "Another Piece of the Puzzle" :
StephBee - House Targaryen
Awesome Newsletter!! Thanks for taking a peek at my suggestion. I love the focus on the other items at WDC.
Thank you for taking the time to make the suggestion!
From another of my Contest & Activities newletters "Made From Scratch" :
Dave
Please note the "Invalid Item" has not been active since September and I have not been able to reach the owner.
Thanks for the heads up. Looks like they deleted the contest in the mean time. It happens. When I update "Contest Clues" , I occasionally find one or more contests that have been deleted by the owners. |
| ASIN: B083RZJVJ8 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 19.99
Not currently available. |
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Contests & Activities: February 01, 2023 Issue [#11787]
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