Today is Day 30 of the Be A Better Blogger series. We’re using the outline offered by Collis Ta’eed in an article titled 31 Days To Becoming A Better Blogger, and our topic for the day is:

Day 30. Hold a small competition with a modest prize. Whether it’s an eBook, a free consultation, a DVD or a CD, a small prize and a small competition can help boost reader engagement and participation in your blog without denting your finances too much…

Darren Rowse has a great article at Problogger about this, where he shares two good reasons for setting up your own blog contest or competition:

Two benefits of Running Competitions on Your Blog:

1. New Readers - competitions are potentially good for drawing new readers to your blog if you have a way to get the message out.
2. Reader Stickiness - those readers who are already regulars on your blog can become more loyal, more engaged and/or feel more ownership over your blog after a competition.

See How to Run a Blog Competition to Find New Readers and Make Your Blog Sticky to get 9 tips from Darren on how to run a successful contest.

When considering how you want to run your contest, also consider your current objectives. If you are trying to get backlinks, drive traffic, or trying to increase your subscription count or comment numbers, then weave that goal into your contest idea…

Have you participated in Blog Contests before, or perhaps hosted one at your blog in the past? Tell us about it!

Best,