The Contest

Not even two days ago, I launched a contest.

The prize is something I'd love to win my own self. So that's a good sign that others will lust for it too. In fact, maybe I need to take a photo so that people can wrap their lust around specifics instead of vagaries.

But the prize is $200 worth of high end makeup.

Visitors submit makeup tips. We (Makeup Deal of the Day), select the best 10 tips. (Wish we'd picked 20.) And we then put those tips up for visitors to vote on. The one with the most votes, wins the prize.

What do I win by giving this away? More than I could have even originally thought about.

• I pull people to the web site who might not otherwise visit
• By signing up for the contest, they agree to be on my mailing list
• I can use the tips to generate search engine content, and search engines LOVE content
• I can submit the contest to contest and sweepstakes sites to generate more backlinks
• Hopefully people tell their friends about the contest
• When we are down to 10 tips, I'm sure that everyone will tell their friends to go vote for them, generating more site visits.

If this works as well as I think it will, I may do it quarterly. Or heck, maybe even monthly, but that might be kinda nuts.

I'm using Wufoo to generate the forms. The first 3 forms are free, but I will probably start paying them. I think their forms could be useful for many things.

http://www.makeupdealoftheday.com/pages/makeup-tips-contest-200-worth-of-makeup-to-the-winner - for the contest.