Links mean everything to blog survival. When you’re new, though, getting other sites and blogs to link to yours can be a challenge. (We know. Trust us, we know.)
One, your blog doesn’t carry any weight or prestige yet; it hasn’t been around long enough to be recognized as a household name like ProBlogger.
Two, most people don’t like to be the first in line to do something. They like to follow the group, not lead it. This is more problematic where commenting is concerned, but it’s still an issue for linking as well. People gravitate to high-activity or highly popular sites.
One of the more creative ways I’ve seen to boost comment activity, popularity and links to your blog is to run a contest. Give a prize for the 500th comment, the 100th trackback link or choose a random winner.
Drunken Monkey Knitting has a great example of a commenting contest.
Pick a prize that is worthwhile to a wide audience. Value is important, too. Try to find a prize that motivates people to action; they have to want to win that prize to participate.
For example, BlogsWeLuv is having a contest I’d love to win. The prize is a review of the winner’s blog, which can be valuable for making smart improvements and a great way to gain some press and popularity.
If you’re going to run a contest to boost your site’s popularity, prepare well. Determine your desired goal and results, and then build your contest around those. Cover all the loopholes. Outline your contest clearly. State your rules succinctly. Have guidelines that indicate how to enter, what the winner receives, when the contest closes and when the winner receives the prize.
Get the word out about your contest, too. If no one knows about it, no one can participate.
