The OpenWater Blog

How to use online contest and awards to boost SEO and web traffic

Often I’ll be approached by a potential client that says something along the lines of “I want to increase the number of submissions I’m getting”. I’ll typically come back with the response of “Why?”. If an organization is charging for submissions the response is obvious (more money in the door). Typically the other reason is to increase exposure and awareness of their organization with the hopes of increasing membership or member satisfaction.

High level goals aside, an online contest, when administered effectively, can have significant impacts and pluses for organizations looking to increase exposure (and web traffic) to their site.

The beauty is how simple and effective online contests and awards can be. Breakdown below:

1. Organization blasts out a “call for nominations” to their membership and base through social media and email.

2. Person interesting in winning the award (submitter) fills out the submission form and enters the contest.

3. In some cases (in the event of a photo contest or video contest) a public submission gallery is available, in which case the submitter will “share” the page with their friends all over linkedIn, facebook and twitter.

–> note, once an influencial submitter does this, submissions will typically increase rapidly at this point

4. Private judging commences and finalists are picked. Some organizations opt to do a ‘public vote’ at this point and open up the finalists to popular vote…further increasing exposure.

The beauty is in step #3 (the gallery). This is tsunami free content, typically relevant to your organization, going straight to google. An awesome permanent way to increase search engine activity and deliver a cool membership perk.

More cool tips to come in future posts.

~Tim

photo: Vishraval via WikimediaComons

Timothy Spell

Timothy Spell co-founded OpenWater in 2007 with the goal of helping organizations tackle and better manage the oftentimes overlooked awards and contests industry. As an author and speaker in the awards industry, Timothy provides unique insight on how to use awards to boost membership, social media followers and search engine traffic.

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