If you’re in the business of building links to your own or your clients’ websites then you will know how powerful some attractive link bait can be. And competitions are a magnet for both links and traffic.
Christmas is a great time to run some seasonal contests. Prizes can be almost anything, but the more generous you can afford to be then the more attention your competition is likely to attract.
A good example is the current Hornby Trains Competition that has just been announced by Sussex model retailers Modelzone. They’ve timed this competition to coincide with the ‘James May’s Toy Stories’ episode in which Mr May, along with 400 volunteers, re-build the long lost rail link between Bideford and Barnstaple in Devon using Hornby OO gauge track. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning an excellent Hornby Train Set is answer one simple question, and the answer is in the competition blog post.
Competitions like this don’t cost a great deal to set up and administer but they can generate a lot of buzz and attract some very valuable traffic. For useful backlinks my preference is to set up ongoing competitions that change, maybe every month, with a dedicated competitions page on the site.
Publicising your competition is, of course, very important so here are a few sites you might like to check out:
www.hotukdeals.com
www.netfreestuff.co.uk/
www.freeukstuff.com
forums.loquax.co.uk
www.theprizefinder.com
www.ukcompetitions.com
www.ukwins.co.uk
www.crazycompers.co.uk
www.competitionslist.com
www.myoffers.co.uk
www.competitorscompanion.com
www.discountedorfree.co.uk
www.freesuperheros.co.uk
