Contest Advice?

[Emma]

Hey everybody. My blog is 3 months old and I thought I would do a little promotion to kick it up to the next level.

I offered Darren at Problogger an ipod nano video for his 3 year anniversary. Hopefully I'll make the grade. Those would be great links and money well spent. But he's still deciding which sponsors to use.

In the mean time, I also decided to give away an ipod nano video on my site. I made it a really easy link back contest. With clear directions.

So far the response has been amazing. Tons of links and some very nice posts and comments from some.

The problem I'm having is some entrants, are just throwing in one link to my contest post contained in a long diatribe of other contests. Then the URL's their leaving me are just to their site and I have to scroll through just to find the post.

I clearly state the post needs to contain a link to my site and a link to the contest post. And then leave me the url in a comment so I can check it out.

I want to be ultra fair and establish a good reputation. This contest looks like it's going to be popular so managing it may be some work.

What I would like to know is. How should I handle these posts that don't include both links. I made the contest really easy and simple. Is it fair to enter the people who didn't link back properly. Or should I only count the entrants who included the 2 specified links.

I'm surprised by how many people didn't bother to at least try and read the entire contest post.

I have some time to work it out. I just wanted some other opinions? What do you all think? Thanks Emma

[davemcnally]

I don't think it's fair to include people who didn't bother to read the whole post and adhere to the terms of the contest. They obviously don't care too much and just wanted to win the iPod.

I would only include the people who have done exactly what was asked of them.

[Jelena]

I agree. You should exclude all the people who really didn't bother to read the rules properly and follow those simple rules you set shouldn't be the ones to win the prize.

[4clubbs]

They need to follow your rules completely in order to be eligible for your prize. Otherwise, it's not fair to those who "played fair."

And just a personal opinion of mine, the dude at Contests, Prizes, Link Exchanges: Contest Blogger (http://www.contestblogger.com) is a bit of a jerk. I would not recommend using that site if you can keep from it.

[Emma]

Thanks everyone. I reposted the rules so they would be really clear. And everyone has a chance to submit their post correctly. Having a contest is kind of crazy. But I think it's a good investment.

4clubbs Thanks for the advice I like it when people have an opinion. I'm still kind of new so I don't know everyone very well yet. Emma

[ses5909]

I am in agreement here that people HAVE to follow the rules or they don't qualify!

[Emma]

Thanks Sara. That's how I was leaning too. I reposted the rules at the end of the contest post, in the comment section and also created a new post. The new entries are better, but I just got one that for her contest entry URL she entered my URL.

Then when I clicked on her name and went to her blog I had to scroll through and finally found an entry that said it you want to win something cool click here. And to see what it is click here.

One was a link to my site. One was a picture of an ipod. I tried to make this so simple. Just mention me and my site with a link to my site and a link to the contest post. Then leave a comment with the URL to your post.

The good news is the people who were nice enough to make an acceptable post, have a lot better chance of winning. Now I know why people list a million rules when they have these contests.

Thanks for all of your advice. Hopefully this thing goes smoothly. Emma