Crazy Contest Results - Do You Really Want To Know?
April 14th, 2008 - Written by Gyutae Park in ContestsLearn more about Internet marketing strategy by subscribing to my RSS feed - free and updated daily!
As many of you know, the Craziest Internet Marketing Contest You’ve Ever Seen was a huge success for sponsors, for many contestants, and for Winning the Web. The contest closed with over $14,000 in prizes and quite possibly could have been one of the biggest and most eventful blog contests of all time.
WTW doubled it’s subscriber base from 400+ to 800+ in a matter of 3 weeks. Not only that, but traffic increased by over 50% and Winning the Web established itself as a more prominent resource in the Internet marketing industry.
So what now?
I originally planned on publicly releasing all of the statistics from the contest and the exact methodology I used to run the huge contest on this blog. This includes how I came up with the unique contest ideas that guarantee results, emails I sent out to potential partners, and some of the other cool things I did to get so many sponsors to come on board (even though the blog wasn’t that big at the time). But now I’m having second thoughts.
Releasing all of this information publicly would mean more exposure for Winning the Web but could severely reduce the effectiveness of the methods used. I probably couldn’t run big blog contests anymore - and neither could you. If everyone’s doing it, then the methods become stale and ineffective.
On the other hand, I could put it all in a ebook and charge a fee for it (I’m thinking $57). That would weed out most of the people who are less serious about blogging and keep the contest secrets more exclusive.
Or… I can just shut up and not release anything at all. 
I’m not sure what to do in this case and would love to hear some of your feedback. What would you be willing to do to learn more about my crazy contest experiences? Vote in the poll below and let me know.
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28 Responses to “Crazy Contest Results - Do You Really Want To Know?”
If your goal with this site is to teach, then you need to teach. If your goal with this site is to show everyone how smart you are, then don’t teach.
For the most part, contests are becomming over rated and people are really getting sick of seeing them. It was nice once to see them and fun, but everyone including myself got into it and I think the market just got boring.
As for goals, teaching is a means to portray yourself as an authority and that’s what I plan on doing.
Sharing the concept for free would be the best choice in my view!
“Or… I can just shut up and not release anything at all. :P”
That would not be a good marketing strategy
Damn you Gyutae! Lol… if you said you were gonna do it before, then you should. But honestly, how much of a secret is it really? Don’t make me postpone my contest post for you to drop the secrets!
Jay
Gyutae, I sincerely hope you release the information. Whether you release it as a free resource or paid doesn’t matter to me. I would gladly pay for the information if it’s at the right price.
I think you (and we) have already established that the information is of great value to a lot of a people. Personally, I’ve been waiting for it ever since the first few days of the competition. Specifically, I’ve been looking forward to your advice on getting sponsors. Generating fantastic ideas for competitions hasn’t been an issue for me recently, but having the knowledge and know how to secure sponsors isn’t something I’ve been able to easily research.
I don’t think the question is whether you should or should not release the information. I think the question is whether it should or should not be available for free.
To answer that question, you have to decide how valuable the information is. If 300 people purchase the ebook at $57, that’s $17,100 for you. A nice amount, for sure, but it’s a one time amount. Are you going to get a better long term result via in-direct income (or secondary income) by releasing the information for free? I’m not sure of the answer to that. Only you can determine the answer by looking at your future goals and plan.
I guess what I’m saying is, are you looking for a quick buck (because you will, without a doubt, make a quick buck from selling the information), or are you willing to take results over a long term and potentially see a better return?
I sincerely hope you release the information or at least talk about getting sponsors. Whether it is free or paid isn’t an issue. Of course, I’m always willing to find an excuse for a trip to NYC if you want to release the information in person.
You’re right. I think the information would be very valuable for a lot of people. However, the more public I am about it, the more diluted the contest strategy will become. I’m not quite ready to retire as a “contesteer” just yet.
At this point, I’m leaning towards the paid model (at a lower price point) with a free case study on the overall success of the contest.
Would love to meet up if you’re ever in NYC again.
I think you are looking at it the wrong way. As a “Internet Marketing” blog, you should look at it exactly that way. I think the details should be released, what you did was great and no one doubts that, but your “out-side-the-box” thinking is what makes you different, not the method used.
I think you should release some of the info for a few methods as a teaser. For free. To make people want to buy the ebook - with the full information on everything in and sell it for about $40.
I’m in favor of you not releasing this information. As your big contests are awesome and if you release them than they might go away
I’ll probably have another crazy contest down the line but it won’t be for a while.
Whoa.. Congrats Gyutae.. I think I’ve left your blog about a months..
The design is still same but the feedburner readers is quite impressive… COntest again?? Whoa what a rich people in this cyber world…
I would love to know how things went for you with the contest but at the same time I am thinking that there are bits and pieces of that info that you wont want to share so readily. In that case, if you are going to release it you should go ahead and charge a small fee for all the good work you put it.
You really know how to make money Gyutae…You deserve to share the information with fee, but make sure that it is affordable.
I’d never considered this world before - sounds rather intriguing. I shall read on.
I say keep it, in a nice packaged ebook format, and save it to give away as an exclusive promo for a new “build your site/blog by running great contest” blog I have been pushing you to make lol ;). Wouldn’t even have to update it all that often (at least not daily) but could do maybe one tip post a week or something and then maybe some random quick post about other contest going on as filler. Then give away this, and future, reports on your own contest to subscribers ;).
I’ll even help out lol ;). But if anyone should set up a “contest tips” type blog it’s you Gyutae!
I wish i had been one among the winners.
Anyways i look forward to more such contest at your place and also i wish to have the same response at my contest.
Thanks gyutae
I think you had an excellent contest and you should MOST CERTAINLY not give out your secrets for free. I think an ebook is an excellent idea, but a $57 price is a bit steep - $27 sounds a bit more reasonable to me, and would still weed out those that aren’t serious. Good luck!
At this rate, the ebook will probably be ready in about a month or so. Stay tuned.
Haha..I always enjoy reading about the crazy contests I find on the web.
Yes, I definitely want to know.
please show me the stats.