PublisherForums "Prizes for Posts" Contest Finishes!

[Tyler]

Well, it's been a full 6-weeks and the PublisherForums "Prizes for Posts" Contest has come to an end.

Unfortunately, the turnout and effects of the contest were astronomically disappointing. There were $3,619 in prizes up for grabs, but only two members qualified for anything. It's extremely surprising that more people didn't take advantage of all the prizes available to be won; there was some real great stuff up for grabs.

Why did the contest run so poorly? A lot of people have their opinions on this, but it seems to be a combination of the webmaster forum niche being much too saturated, the winning requirements of the prizes being too hard, and not enough participation by myself.

My personal opinion is that the contest could be improved in the future by:

Running the contest for 1 month instead of 6-weeks. The extra two weeks may have put some people off from participating as it seemed too long.
Slightly reducing the winning requirements. I say slightly because there has to be some form of effort and commitment involved to ensure people don't make 5-posts and then leave.
Giving away even more and bigger prizes. While this was certainly our biggest contest yet and we had a ton of great prizes up for grabs, I think giving out even more prizes would have a noticable effect.With that being said, let's get onto the winners. As stated above, there were only two members who were eligible for any prizes: profitline and Trusttec. Each qualified for the Quality Posts category.

As stated in the contest rules (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/):


"In order to be eligible, the administrator must find the member to have produced especially high quality or helpful posts, and a minimum of 125 posts must be made. The top quality posters will be chosen by the administrator. Members of the forum will then vote on a poll within 4-days at the end of the contest to determine the winners."


I'll be making such a poll shortly. The poll will ultimately decide between who gets 1st and 2nd place.

1st Place ($1,125 in Prizes)

Choice of custom Wordpress Theme or vBulletin Skin, fully coded ($650 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#customtheme))
Karas: The Revelation DVD* ($15 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#karas))
Mythbusters Mega Movie Myths DVD* ($22 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#discovery))
1-Hour phone consultation with Tyler Cruz ($75 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#tylerphone))
3-Month WordZe Subscription ($135 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#wordze))
1-Year Sitewide 120×60 Ad on PublisherForums.com ($153 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#12060))
$75 Cash via PayPal courtesy of NeverBlueAds ($75 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#neverblueads))

2nd Place ($575 in Prizes)

Social Media script from EntertainmentScripts.com ($297 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#entertainmentscripts))
Karas: The Revelation DVD* ($15 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#karas))
Life in the Freezer DVD* ($10 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#discovery))
1-Hour phone consultation with Tyler Cruz ($75 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#tylerphone))
1-Year Sitewide 120×60 Ad on PublisherForums.com ($153 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#12060))
$25 Cash via PayPal courtesy of NeverBlueAds ($25 Value) (More Details (http://www.publisherforums.com/contest3/index.shtml#neverblueads))

[DotDriven]

Congrats to the two "winners"!

And yeah, pretty amazing more didn't take part. Was an easy contest to win in and had some great prizes. But considering my own lack of participation, even though I really planned on it, is a sign of what other people probably did.

I actually signed in today to get started lol! Looks like my timing was a bit off ;). I knew about it from the start, wanted to take part from the start and really did plan to but just never seemed to fit it in. I kept thinking about it and wanting to stop by but ended up getting busy with something else even though I still check the blog almost daily.

Not sure why others didn't jump in the forums but it's pretty well known that forums are hard to get going in most cases. Although there was some "content" here already there wasn't anything that I HAD to have that would drive me back every day. Sure, once you get started many times you start making relationships and get comfortable so that is what helps bring you back but there needs to be activity that you need to feel you have to take part of in the first place to even get people to lurk, then post. I'll be honest, the only reason I was planning to start posting was for the contest since I could really use a lot of those great prizes. But I was also hoping to be part of what would end up being another great active forum where I could learn stuff and start some more good long lasting relationships.

No idea what could have been done differently to be honest. It's not that the prizes weren't good enough for people.

I think one way to get more people active on the forum, contest or not, is to integrate it more into the blog. Although you wouldn't want to take comments off the blog, maybe make sure to have a post/link for every good blog post for people to discuss things in more detail? Or maybe only post the initial part of your post, maybe like your findings from some kind of test of something, on the blog but then have a link to a post in the forums with the breakdown and details? I mean you know you have some active blog users who even like to comment so maybe make it so it's easier to comment on the blog and forum for topics they already seem interested in.

And of course if you can take part more in the forums with more detailed help on things it will help. Like good information and help that people can't get on the blog. It's always that catch-22 with getting a forum moving...it takes activity to get activity going lol. So the best way to get activity going is to have something there for people to connect with and start taking part in. Yeah, there is some already but the more the better ;).

Anyway, was a great contest and happy for the people that did take part. Kind of pissed at myself for not checking in earlier and getting started lol. But too late now :(. Maybe an extension for whatever is left over?