Note from Khalid: The following post was written by Matthew who was instrumental in helping us promote the invesp blog contest. I asked him to give us some ideas about ways to promote a blog contest. Make sure to chat with him if you need help in something similar. My review of the results of the contest will be published next week.

Some bloggers think that they can just post a cool prize for their contest and traffic will flow. That is along the same lines as the myth “create good content and they will come”. Many bloggers and website developers overlook the fact of how important marketing is.

Tools at your Disposal

When marketing you want to think of many different possibly ways to promote your contest. There are many websites out there to use, it’s become a lot easier to do promotion.

Forums are your Friends: Don’t overlook forums! By making a short, simple, and sweet post describing your contest you can gain lots of exposure. Would you pass up the thread stating “Subscribe to INVESP and win $400″, I wouldn’t. There are many forums that you can promote your contests on, such as PayPerpost, Digital Point, Bloggerforum, and more

Use Your Network: Websites like MyBlogLog have become perfect for promotion. If you have spent time building up your network, like I have, MyBlogLog is perfect. They have a great new tool where you can send a message to everyone in your community. By doing so, I can alert nearly 600 people of a new contest in 1 minute.

Ask Your Blogging Friends: It’s important to branch out and communicate with other bloggers. If you plug their promotions, they will do the same for you. ‘Scratch my back I’ll scratch your back’ type of thing. If you are having trouble with that, offer them incentive. “Hey promote my contest and I will give you a linkback”. It helps both parties involved.

It’s Not as Easy as it Sounds

Okay, It’s not that easy, it does take work. I have the advantage over some bloggers because I have been blogging for almost a year now. I have had time to build relationships with other bloggers and extend my network. When the guys here at INVESP left a comment on my blog about promoting their contest I jumped at the chance. Soon after accepting the “job” I got 17 links to their contest as well as several forum posts. The results have been great and they are very pleased with my service (which is why I am writing this post!).