  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: Melissa is fashionably late!  
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Are you looking for your next greatest inspiration? How about tips on running your very first contest? If so, the Contest & Activities newsletter has something for you!
This week's editor is Melissa is fashionably late! and will discuss attracting contestants to your contest! |
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Attracting entrants to your contest
So you've created your contest, figured out your rules, and it's open for entries. You wait and you wait, but no entries come. You check, and your contest isn't even getting any views! What do you do?
Here's some thing to think about:
 Is your contest getting enough exposure?
Advertise your contest through the Writing.Com BidClick system if you have the available Gift Points. Depending on where you advertise, and how much exposure you want, you can sponsor an item for a few hundred Gift Points a click. If you want the item to appear in the top 10 sponsored items, however, it will cost you more.
You can get more exposure by submitting your contest to "Writing Contests @ Writing.Com" , if you don't have a lot of GPs to spend. Many people check this item when looking for a contest to enter, plus it's free. Your contest will remain on the listings until it's cycled out by other submissions.
Other ways to gain exposure would be to submit your item to this newsletter to be used as an Editor's Pick, to occasionally plug it on Scrolling Messages, or post it in "Writing.Com General Discussion" or other message forums where such is acceptable.
Are you offering appropriate incentive for entry?
Less people will be interested in entering your contest if your prizes aren't appropriate for your prompt. Offering 1,000 GPs for a poetry contest where an entrant may post any of his or her poetry items is appropriate, whereas offering the same for a special and difficult prompt may not provide potential entrants motivation to write something specifically for your contest.
Another way to promote entries is to offer entrants Gift Points as a "thank you" for taking the time to enter your contest. Depending on the number of entrants you are expecting, the amount of your prizes, and your available GPs pool, you can give each entrant anywhere from 100 GPs to 5,000 GPs.
Is your prompt too complicated for potential entrants to be inspired?
I once saw a signature contest where the host asked for a picture of a blonde cheerleader sitting on a brown horse, holding red and white pom-poms with a smile on her face. While I appreciate the specifics, sometimes it can be frustrating and offer less inspiration for the entrant.
If you've covered all of the bases, then you may need to determine if your contest is appealing on a visual basis. Are you listing your rules in a clear and easy-to-read manner? Are you utilizing WritingML in a way that allows your contest to look appealing? Are your rules too long, too many, or altogether overwhelming?
If you're using a message forum for your contest, have you posted in it? Message forums without any posts in them don't come up in the item search.
Just because you're hosting a contest doesn't automatically mean you will gain a lot of entrants if you offer large prizes, advertise to the hilt, and offer a fun prompt. Sometimes there are not many potential entrants to market to. When that happens, don't cancel your contest. You can choose to judge what you have or extend (but if you extend, only do it once and don't extend for too long of a period of time - anything over 2 weeks is deplorable).
Most of all, don't give up! This contest may not have been as successful as you'd anticipated, but your next one may get more entries than you had planned.
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Contests & Activities: June 13, 2007 Issue [#1764]
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