Six Steps to a Better Giveaway, Pt. 1

So you want to do a giveaway. You’ve seen it on many sites and you wonder what the best way to jump in would be. It’s always a good idea to think about your strategy before embarking on a contest. The following six steps will help you make your giveaway easier to manage and hopefully save you some frustration.

1) Figure out your giveaway goals.

What do you want or expect from a giveaway? It could include any of the following: a new clientele; potential new customers; new readers; a list of people who might be interested in your product/service; or increased site traffic (while contests can temporarily increase your traffic, it is hard to turn those visitors into regular readers unless you offer a lot of great content that is interesting and valuable to the people visiting). Or maybe you just want to give a little back to your loyal readers. Once you decide what you want from the giveaway, you can then figure out what your return will be and whether it was really worth the time and effort involved.

2) Determine the type of prize.

You could give away something you purchased or something that a company has donated. If you use something you bought, you are free to run the giveaway on your terms. Donated items can have stipulations on how you qualify entries. And if you are part of an ad network, there may be restrictions on giveaways as well.

Think about your readers. A successful giveaway will be a product that fits your audience. If your readers are single young professional with no children, are you going to give away baby toys? Not unless you want to annoy your readers with a useless (to them) contest.

3) Think about prize value.

What’s your budget for a giveaway? If it’s only $5, you might as well not even bother. Few people will enter a giveaway for a low value prize. It’s not worth their time — or yours. The contests with large numbers of entries tend to be at least worth $20 or more. The bigger the prize, the more people will jockey for an entry — as evidenced by HP’s magic giveaway just before the holidays last year (50 sites gave away identical packages of computers and software). If the giveaway is really large, there may be tax consequences to consider. Be sure you consult with your tax professional.

—

To keep this from being too long, I’m breaking it in half. Later today you can see the last three steps to help you plan a better giveaway.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or tax professional. Check your local laws for any taxes or restrictions related to giveaways. Your mileage may vary. Always give away responsibly. Void where prohibited.

image: sxc.hu