Contests = Great Linkbait
I manage a skateboard blog and like all my websites I commonly perform experiments with it in the name of learning something new about search engine optimization. Other times, I do something that turns into a lesson on SEO without that being the intention.
Recently, I decided to give away $1,000 on my skateboard blog to the skater who could duplicate the video segment a certain professional skateboarder created about 12 years ago. I wasn't really thinking about the attention this post on my blog would garner, and I've been surprised by the results from an SEO standpoint.
The traffic on my skateboard blog had already been growing considerably over the past few months, from 6,886 unique visitors in January, to 7,723 in February, and then 9,670 in March. These are numbers I was already proud of. But today is only April 12th, and the site has already registered 7,482 visitors. The traffic is already slowing down, but chances are traffic will reach at least 15,000 visitors this month, and perhaps as many as 20,000.
But traffic in and of itself isn't going to boost my rankings on Google. But what will is the mechanism by which the traffic is reaching my site. Lots of links. So far this month sublimited.net has picked up links from the homepages of three of the most popular websites in all skateboarderdom, and 15-20 decent links from other skateboard related websites, with the total still growing.
Now here's where it gets beautiful. All of this hasn't cost me a dime. "What are you talking about, it's going to cost you $1,000!" Well, it might, and it might not. You see, I set the rules of the contest, and the rules say the $1,000 only gets paid out if someone meets the requirements. And there's no guarantee that anyone will meet those requirements. Now, the honest truth is that I hope someone does meet the requirements, and if they do, I'm happy to pay out the $1,000.
The question is, in your world, what kind of contest could you sponsor that would attract attention, what would it cost you, and is there a way to enjoy the linkbait benefits at a cost that is non-existent or minimal? In my case, I believe the $1,000 was necessary to generate enough buzz. In your world, you might only need $500, or $250. Then again, you might need $10,000. But you might be able to get sponsors to cover the cost. Maybe it's not cash but a giveaway. I've noticed that people seem to like free iPods.
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This is an important post, I like how you leave it open to any industry, in the search world there seems to be two "contests" and at this point they're getting cliche. Theres the "review my blog" contest and the "SEO contest" which is really a "do my SEO for free" contest. Perhaps I'll try a tester and see how well this works. Good work.
Posted by: Utah Web Services at April 18, 2007 03:09 PM
I'm currently running a contest over at Straight to the Bar (a site for lovers of strength sports), and I'm finding the same thing. The site's traffic continues to grow at a similar rate to before, but the inbound links are rapidly increasing.
I'll definitely be doing it again.
Posted by: Scott at April 28, 2007 04:51 AM
Brilliant! While this was an "accident" I bet there's ways to mimic the results and have more influence in the links that get posted to your site. Perhaps a simple "challenge your boarding friends" page that encouraged them to spread the word offering them a simple copy & paste code to put in their site for linking back to the challenge/contest. Just one idea, there's BOUND to be a thousand more.
Posted by: Another Utah SEO Company at May 4, 2007 04:58 PM
