How Would You Hold A Contest On Your Website?

Take a photo of you with the prize so they know you actually have already bought it.

Hi. Good for you! Contests are fun and exciting! Everybody loves to win free prizes. Contests get people motivated to get something of value for little or no outlay other than a little time to enter. And contests can bring huge waves of traffic, exposing your website or product offer.

Let me say going into this, I have some experience in this subject --- but as a hobbyist. For more than 20 years, I have entered national sweepstakes giveaways and have won a lot of prizes. Some valued at more than $25,000.

I'd urge you to do your research and be careful or you can land in legal hot-water. I know that you're probably doing a small-scale contest/giveaway and most of what I'm about to share here may not apply to you. But understand that many people often confuse a contest with a lottery, sweepstakes or other prize promotion or giveaway. There is a great deal of similarity and distinct differences between contests, sweepstakes and raffles.

Go here and read some legal advice:
Legal Compliance Guide for Online Contests and Sweepstakes - Avvo.com

I am glad to know you want to project credibility; there is always the problem of fraudulent activity associated with prize promotions. We all hear negative stories about contests (and sweepstakes) yet brand name companies whose products and services we use everyday give away their products all year long (in legitimate prize promotions) and you never hear about those success stories.

The best way to inspire confidence in the people who enter your contest is to use a 3rd party agency (i.e., an advertising or marketing firm that handles prize promotion acting on your behalf as the official judging agency).

This agency, for a fee, can do everything: design and promote the campaign; develop the official entry rules; set the deadline; receive all of the contest entries at their physical location over the course of the contest run-time; and finally conduct the actual judging.

You may need to define the criteria that deems a contest entry as prize worthy. This can be done in meetings with the marketing agency. "Judging" a sweepstakes differs from "judging" a contest - a simply random drawing from all entries determines the potential winner(s). Only after these potential winning entries go through an inspection process (to ensure that they are in compliance with the official rules) are they considered official winners. Written, phone or email communications are then sent to the winners with information on how to complete paperwork (if required) to claim their prize.

The value of the

My hobby, for more than 20 years, has been entering national sweepstakes by mail. So I know a thing or two about this subject and I've won a fair number of very exciting prizes.

I don't know the size of your contest campaign or if you even planned to budget for the giveaway, but the very best thing you can do to impress your site visitors that your contest is the "real deal" (and not a fly-by-night scam) is to use an impartial, 3rd party marketing agency to handle all matters related to the promotion. A quick search on Google for "prize promotion agency" or "contest judging" should result in a few companies; one for almost any budget.

Good luck in your contest endeavors.

Ina

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It's a free to enter contest? If so, they don't have much to lose.