Contests

Most popular bloggers will hold contests sooner or later. It's just a method to promote their blogs. At times, the prizes can be expensive, other times it’s a simple, smaller cash prize. The majority of the time they will also require you to somehow spread the word of the contest by posting about it on your blog. However, most of the time they require you to do something that promotes their blog in some way.

Remember though that your readers probably aren’t too interested in which contests you are entering. The occasional contest is fine, but there are some weeks where you will see numerous contests. You need to be able to tell apart the contests that are of no benefit to you.

Prizes usually range from hosting, to domains, to layouts. If you’ve already got your own blog, and on your own hosting, then you probably won’t want to enter these contests. You get a limited time prize or a layout which you don’t really need. Is it really ise telling your readers all about this “great” contest, linking to the blogger's blog about two or three times, and alienating your readers? Obviously not.

However, you should consider some prizes like free advertising on their site, free reviews, free text links, Entrecard credits, money, and just about anything virtual. If you can put it to use, it may be worth entering simply because it would have a positive effect on your blog (if you were to win it). Contests are usually held in a fashion that benefits the blogger the most. Even so, some contests are worth it.