yea you could do that, but like i think everything in there is going to be sorta contrived then. Like no one is going to come to your site and look for iche related stuff in your contest thread.

It is just for fun, the purpose of it really is not for the posts you will get in the contest but to get people coming back to check out the contest and when they come back to see how high the post count is or to post again in the contest thread, they may see other threads they like and want to post some of their own. thats how you get the relevant content with this

This was our most recent competition. It turned out to be more popular than recent ones and actually did inspire some genius contributions!

The PCHF Caption Competition! - PC Help Forum - Free PC Help

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PC Help Forum.com - Online PC Support has Evolved

Hey lafsunlmtd, that thread contest idea sounds nice i think it would work very well on AF.

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Metaltera.com :: Breed the Metal
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I ran a contest on one of my forums when I first started and it did alright. But I haven't even thought about running another one. Sometimes it just leads to spam post or a bunch of members that sign-up and never post if it's a referral contest, or people just join to try and win , never to be heard from again until you have another contest.

I think some of the best contest are those where you/your forum gets something out, like an article writing contest, a how to, something along those lines, where you can submit it to article content sites, etc.

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I usually contact Name Cheap and they provide domains as a part of the prize to whoever wins the contest. Usually the person who posts the most during two to three months win.

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Just Gareth Marketing, Making Money and Promotion
Custom-Forums Paid posting service!

I have tried one so far, it was to try to get folks to refer other members and have those other members actually post. I tried with a 25$ american express card as the prize, but that was evidently quite lacking. I'm just not in a position to offer a free platform or games yet, though I would like to go there. I think there is a huge amount of potential in contests to help your forum grow as well as make for some fun. I would like to find a way to reward the members of my community, but I cannot jump into expensive prizes until I have a bigger footprint and can actually afford it yet.

Are there any other ideas for contests that are cheaper yet still inspire fun times for the community?

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Video Game Forums, Video Game Arcade

i concur, in Feb when we start seeing some more traffic and get the new skin etc up, i was thinking about doing one for a free vbseo license or godaddy gift certificate or something

User referral contests, most active, who can guess what day the xxx,xxx post will be made on the forum are ones I've seen in the past.

When I ran and owned LoveThatSound, a community dedicated to all things in the musical spectrum, I started a referral contest (with guidelines -- ie the referrals had to post a certain amount of times/be actively involved with the community). The winner of the contest would receive an iPod Nano. It started out pretty successful, but as time went on, I feel that people lost interest due to the fact that it wasn't as easy as they thought. The money for the iPod Nano was going to come out of my own pocket, but you have to lose some to gain some right?

KeepMusicAlive, another online community I am a member of, created several contests -- prizes ranging from gift cards to other misc. music related items. He didn't spend a dime on the prizes, he went out to the local chain retailers and talked to the owner about advertising. He had a business plan/proposition all ready for presentation, so don't expect you can just walk into your local GameStop and get a couple of video games just by winging it. It takes planning and in the end is well worth it. His contests were a lot more successful and his community is still thriving today.