No visitor's feedback on a giveaway. What am I doing wrong?

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Permalink Reply by Amanda / Administrator on May 28, 2008 at 12:13am

It might be the time of the year... I know I have been so busy with family changes with school letting out, Son's Commencement, Memorial Day Holiday do-ins.... Can barely find the time to respond to my stack of e-mails that never seems to go away. I think persistence is the operative word.

Amanda / Admistrator

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on May 28, 2008 at 4:41am

Another possibility: as you've noted, you don't know your audience and its motivation(s). A lot depends on that. For example, the WashPost has run a weekly contest (The Invitational) for years with token, deliberately cheesy prizes and get tons of entries because the contest are fun, sometimes clever, and people apparently love to see their names in print. Maybe if you experiment with quiz formats and/or prizes you may hit on a formula that appeals to your audience. You'd also find out who your audience is.

Andrew

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on May 28, 2008 at 10:45am

Another view, from the BBC online:

"The annual report into web habits by usability guru Jakob Nielsen shows people are becoming much less patient when they go online.

Instead of dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave.

Most ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7417496.stm

Andrew

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Permalink Reply by Amanda / Administrator on May 28, 2008 at 4:15pm

I have to say I'm one of the people the BBC refers to - I go in - complete a task and leave - ignoring all other efforts to grab my attention.

amanda

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on May 28, 2008 at 5:38pm

Ripley [movie reference: Alien] would approve.... Do you know what parts of your site your visitors are actually viewing?

Andrew

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Permalink Reply by Steven Patton on June 30, 2008 at 6:12am

Here's my 2 cents worth (and probably overpriced at that rate) - First, I don't even understand what your first prize is. The other two prizes are coasters. Personally, I wouldn't even register for a giveaway on a website let alone spend 20 minutes researching questions for coasters...

I probably should clarify that last statement. Registering for a "giveaway" on the internet usually means that you have to give away some personal information, like phone number, address, name, e-mail, etc. That means that you're opening yourself up for solicitation for very little potential gain.

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Permalink Reply by Alana Gentry on October 14, 2008 at 11:48am

HI Andre,

This question and your last blog post are month's old so maybe it doesn't matter anymore :) but first, your question is a good one. I've thought of giveaways too and just haven't pulled that trigger. But an even more important question is who is coming to your blog? I've found that knowing who my readers are makes a world of difference. I don't know everyone of course but I know a large percentage of them because I've built my readership though social networking. Both my own efforts and of course, my friends and family telling their friends and so on and so on. You might consider giving some time to finding out who you readers are before you design giveaways. Hope this helps!

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Permalink Reply by Andre Costa on October 15, 2008 at 7:08am

Hi Alana.
Thank you for the feedback. It is always useful!
I have not touched my blog in months (as you could see!), and I don't when I am going to work on it again - I am kind of unhappy with what I am doing and want to make some changes, but I have not yet been able to decide what changes that might be!

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Permalink Reply by Alana Gentry on October 17, 2008 at 7:49am

Do you mean you are unhappy and want to make changes with your blog or your career?

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Permalink Reply by Andre Costa on October 19, 2008 at 7:50pm

Alana,

I think the lack of attention I give to the blog is a reflection of my life at the moment - so, to make a long story short and to answer your questions: I am unhappy with both! I do want to change careers (into the wine industry, if possible) and I want to turn my blog/site into something more meaningful.
Thanks for asking.

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