How to Boost Your Traffic with Giveaways and Viral Contests

Everybody loves contests. So, why not use them to attract more people to your website and boost your traffic?

It is true that every website owner should aim at creating quality content that truly answers to people’s needs, especially now, since the algorithm of Google is constantly changing.

However, this requires time, a lot of effort, and plenty of money, especially if you hire someone else to do the job. That is why using contests and giveaways from time to time isn’t such a bad thing, since they will give you enough viewership to promote the quality content as well.

• Improve Your Traffic Rates and Your Social Media Presence

These strategies can give you quite a boost in traffic, especially when you are holding the actual giveaway or when you announce the winner of the contests. Those are the times when you’ll have your regular visitors coming to your website, but also plenty new ones. It is true that after the content/giveaway is over the numbers will drop more or less, but some new visitors will probably stick around after this whole experience.

Calgary internet marketing strategists use a contest to not only boost their traffic, but it can also help improve social media awareness. To achieve that, you must suggest to the participants for the giveaway or for your contest to do things like signing up for your newsletter, liking your Facebook page, commenting on a specific blog post or follow you on Twitter.

• Boost Engagement

The idea of winning a prize has a huge bearing on your visitors, regardless if they are interested in your site of no. Even if the prize you offer has no substantial values, people still enjoy the fun of entering a contest. Everything from a phone app, a book, a subscription to a service or even a mug with a special drawing on it can spark interest in them.

However, to boost traffic and engagement on your website, you need to think carefully about what you’ll ask from them. The key is to keep them interested and challenged, but not make the contest too hard either.  Also, another element is how you manage to promote the event – you don’t want to end up with a great contest, really appealing gifts but too few participants.

A good way of marketing your contest is by asking the help of the sites that promote these kinds of contests and even to ask the help of your visitors to spread the word.

• Obtain Valuable Information about Your Prospects

Another strategic benefit coming out from this is that you will have access to customer readership data. It is much easier to understand the demographics, which can be of tremendous help in developing other traffic boosting strategies. That happens when you ask for people’s personal information to receive the prize that you have put up.

A perfectly good way of tackling this is to initiate a dialogue with your readers and discover what their interests and passions are. By doing so, you grow your chances of having viewers re-share your giveaway or contest and make them come back again.

• Have a Plan and Stick to It

If you’re wondering how to host a contest that is interesting enough, here are some steps. First, it is best to pick up a time that is good for a contest – usually on Christmas, or when a specific brand is celebrating their anniversary, for instance. You must also decide what type of contest would you like to host and what the prizes will be – keep in mind that they don’t have to be necessarily expensive, but they must be catchy enough for the readers to wish to work for them. If you want some pricier prizes, it is best if you start looking for sponsors sooner rather than later, so that you don’t end up without the prizes. Also, how often and through which channels you wish to promote the contest is of utmost importance, since promoting an event usually takes a bit of time, and you must be prepared properly.

Next, start writing the texts for the social media pages, so that you can release them all at once. Be careful to be specific enough regarding the rules and when the time is right, release the contest.

Have you ever held giveaways or contests? How did they boost your traffic? Share your story with us in a comment below.