I am sure that almost all of us, bloggers and blog readers love blog contest. For bloggers, it can be the best way to promote more interactions, get more incoming traffics and get to know with new blog readers. For blog readers on the other hand, contest can provide to them with best chance of getting some online income by doing what they love.

Great prizes come with great cost

However, everything great comes with great cost. Although the value of prizes that are being offered will affect how great the social buzz will it get especially through social sites such as Twitter, it can cost us a lot of money.

My first question - how can we get great prizes for the participants without costing us much?

The best answer that I can give is through online sponsorship.

This is the part why I love to be in the online world. The online communities are more supportive as compared to offline. Plus, most of the online products or services have already been developed and in management’s point of view it is regarded as sunk cost.

So, I am pretty sure that the products’ owner will not mind to give away couple copies of their product for example, for our contest that we are planning to have.  Instead looking it as a cost for them, we can easily help them to look it as great marketing tool with low risk and cost.

The hidden road…

My second question - what is the best way to look for sponsorship?

I have launched two contests for my site, Huzzer Magazine and the sponsorship that I got for each of the contests pretty impressive. For the first contest, although my site at that time can still be considered at a very young age (merely 2 months old), I managed to get sponsorships worth $700.

For the second contest that I still having right now, I have managed to get sponsorships that worth 5 times more than the previous one i.e. at $3500.

Below are the secrets of how a blog that has only 33 RSS subscribers and low traffics, has manage to get the attention of others to sponsor its contest prizes.

1. Be confident

You must not think that with the low traffics and subscribers, you will not able to get a lot of sponsorship for your blog contest. From my experience, there are plenty of people out there especially bloggers are willing to give you the support that you need especially if you are a beginners.

Don’t be easily disheartened with some who ridicule your effort.

2. Be truthful and sincere

You should never hide who you really are. Others will be impressed with it and sometimes the sincerity that you show will touch their heart.

This had happened to me once. After I contacted one management software company (hint: check my latest blog contest), they were asking about how many RSS subscribers that I have for my blog, realizing how crucial of being truthful is, I simply told them…

Good to know that you are interested in sponsoring the contest in Huzzer Magazine.

About the subscribers, there are 33 of them. I am sure that the number is pretty small for you. However, I just want to let you know that I expect that there are going to be a lot of people who join this contest due to the prizes that the contest is going to offer especially if your great product is part of the prizes.

And the reply,

Hello Helmi,

Thank you for the information and your honesty. We appreciate that. We decided to join in and give one…

How about that? Still scared of revealing the truth about you and your site?

3. Be bold

This is the most important quality you should have in order to get great sponsors for you blog contest. Don’t be scare of rejection as rather being disheartened for one rejection that you get, it is better to move on. There are plenty of chance out there if you are ready and confident to have them.

We are not kids, right?

Usually I will search in Google about the best blog contest ever launched and take notes on who have sponsored such contest. The chance of getting sponsorship from those on the list can be pretty high. Don’t be scared – go to their site, find the contact form and send them your email.

Remember…

“With fear, we overestimate the likelihood of something horrible happening and underestimate our ability to handle it.”

4. Be Google’s Friend

The best of way learning new is to learn it with someone else. With Google and the rapid growth of blogosphere, I am sure that you will find everything that you need. Do the same thing that I just mentioned – look how other contest find, managed and treat the sponsors.

Plus, instead of just follow it; make the things that you have just learnt better.

Forum is also a good place to start besides blog. I get below email template from one of the forum that I join and it is good template for those who have no idea how to write email to request contest sponsorship.

Hey!

My name is Helmi and I blog over at Huzzer Magazine – Making WordPress Seem Easy. It’s a blog that focuses on articles all about WordPress.

Anyways, I’m planning on holding a contest on my blog to generate some buzz and promote interactivity between others in my niche. With that idea in mind, I’d really appreciate some sponsors. In return, you’ll get some backlinks and some information about yourself and your website on the contest page.

I have to be honest…I don’t have massive amounts of traffic. However, I’m hoping that this contest will bring more exposure to my blog, and by extension, to yours as well. Something is better than nothing, right? And hey – relevant backlinks!

So if you have a request, please reply to this thread or PM me. I seriously appreciate your help and support!

5. Be yourself

There is nothing better than being yourself in whatever that you do. Rather than make the email that you send sounds boring and looks like typical email from some companies, your should bring in more personal touch and humor into the email.

Email with more personal elements will change the mood of the email readers. Trust me.

The final destination…

While looking for blog contest sponsors, you must to keep in mind that the contest is not only for your blog but for the enjoyment of your blog readers and as the marketing tools for the sponsors. Try to make the contest have the elements that will give something great to everybody.

If not, you will not get as many sponsored items that you get in your first contest in future, the readers will start to leave your blog. In the end, you will be alone at the destination that you have no clue about.

You and your blog sadly, will fail.