What contests interest you?

I want to kype the idea of an extremely valuable contest, but I have a bit of an issue with well, not being able to justifiably afford a vBulletin or IPB license. Amongst other details.

1: Is free domain+a year of hosting a tempting offer? If so, does the control panel matter?
2: How about training and general support - security, optimization, monitoring, etc?
3: Actual design and coding support? (to a limit...) "Free custom theme in your CMS, blog, or forum of choice, plus one custom module or feature requiring ~12 hours of coding and design." - okay if I was going to give both of those out I would need to know that it was going to be insanely successful >_>

 

I would totally go for a contest where the prize was 12 hours of free coding. Point me towards the forum! Free domain & hosting, not so much. Optimization and security could be useful but they're simply not exciting.

 

$75.00 Gift Certificate to Cinemark Theaters would interest me.

It now costs $75.00 for a family of five to go to a movie on a Saturday evening where I live. $45.00 ($55.00 for a 3D picture) for tickets and than drinks and popcorn. I have about 6 movies that I want to see this summer so...

Hosting? No.. I don't want shared hosting somewhere. Domain Name? Doubtful I would find one that was worthwhile without spending a few hundred dollars.

Support Services? Don't really need them.

Design and Coding? Maybe but really not a big concern.

Movie Certificates, Amazon.com Certificates, Nice External Hard Drive, 19" LCD Monitor, Game Subscriptions, even a choice of a Blu-Ray movie... those are worthwhile.

 

...I think you missed the part where I'm poor :-p

If there's no interest, of course I won't waste my time, but still.

 

Its not us that you need to run a contest for. It would be the members of the site that you're running it on. Prizes really need to fit the audience they are going to be given to.

I have a feeling if its for the sites in your signature that Web Design and Free Hosting aren't the type of things that would interest them. A copy of "Playboy Mansion: The Video Game" or "Rumble Roses" might be.

If your site has the audience than you can get the prizes without much cash outlay. You need to get sponsors for the prizes and they cover the cost of that in return for you advertising for them. As the sites in your signature fit very specifics niches, then it shouldn't be too hard to find specific prizes and sponsors to support it. Finding prizes is easy if you know what your audience wants.

That was really the point of my first post. If you're going to run the contest on a webmaster related site, the prizes you listed will appeal to someone on that site. However getting Sitepoint.com to donate $150 worth of books to the winner might be more exciting for people with established sites.

I am not really participating in this site's contest. Not because its a bad contest but the prizes don't really hold a thrill for me. I would be more excited if the prizes were like the ones listed above in my previous post. You just have to find out what gets your visitors excited and then find prizes to fit that need.

 

It's for a general server administration and security community. Apparently people find my thoughts on the matter somewhat valuable, so I figure I'll make one.

 

in that case, the security and optimization consult might be just the ticket. (But don't discount the coding idea either, I can think of several people who would start salivating at the idea.)

 

Then your thoughts (time) might make a good prize :thumbup:


Then of course spin that time into a larger quote/proposal if appropriate.