A really effective way of attracting visitors and promoting your website is creating competitions. Competitions have a fun element to them and many people enjoy participating in one. You know that winning feeling!

I will  give you an example of how one competition created a great big buzz, promotion and back-links for my blog. In fact as early as 5^st of January 2010 DynamoAsh.com suddenly jumped to Page Rank 3 and I know for a fact the competition played a very big role in this. Not bad really for a 2 months old blog with only 5 posts! How did it happen?

I launched this blog back in October 2009 and since I was quite new to blogging I decided to seek the advice and guidance of a pro blogger so I contacted the authority blogger Chrisg.com to help speed up the learning curve. In my opinion when trying to master a new area it pays dividend to seek help and mentoring from somebody that has been there and done it!

Chris provided much valuable help and advice and as we were chatting on Skype and I was explaining about some of the consulting and  SEO audit services I provide, he came up with this competition idea. I was initially planning to give away some SEO audits for free to demonstrate my ability and also attract visitors, but Chris told me about the importance of perceived value of my services. In other words just giving away something for free makes it sound of low value.

Chris offered to create a competition on his blog to give away three starter SEO audits to the winners of competition. This was obviously a fantastic idea which would work to my benefit in all fronts: buzz and promotion for my new SEO audit service, visitors, valuable backlink, and last but not least an opportunity for me to try and test my new audits and receive valuable feedback and testimonials. Chrisg.com benefited form this as well by providing an interesting post and the chance for readers to win valuable SEO advice and review for their website! Excellent idea!

You can see the actual competition post here:

http://www.chrisg.com/win-dynamoash-seo-audit/

And see what the winners had to tell about my SEO audit here:

http://dynamoash.com/seo-audit/

Do you have any interesting competition stories to share?

Related posts:

1. Link building part 1: One way editorial links and how to get them
2. Top 10 SEO myths revealed
3. How to grow a digital agency – a success story

It’s a Saturday morning and I am reading the latest .net magazine. By the way, It’s a great magazine for all Internet enthusiasts.  I am reading an article about the digital agency Fortune Cookie whilst eating my fried egg breakfast.

.net profiles a digital agency every month and this month they were covering the agency fortunecookie.co.uk in an interview with the founder Justin Cooke. I started reading the article. The first question from .net to Justin was “How and when did Fortune Cookie form?” The answer to this question always fascinates me.

I’ve been working on growing my own digital agency for the past two years and who better to gain inspiration from than other entrepreneurs who have made it. One of my biggest questions has always been how to win those bigger and better deals? I am sure you know the scenario: small agency bidding for a large project, client asking for previous experience and a solid track record with their industry. Yes! Typical chicken and egg scenario.

So anyway, back to the answer that Justin gave to .net’s question “How and when did Fortune Cookie form?” Just the first two paragraphs told me so much that I can’t believe it. Have you ever had that moment when suddenly everything becomes clear and an answer appears right in front of you?

Here is the exact answer:

“JC: I founded Fortune Cookie in 1997 with the aim of making it one of the most successful web design agencies in the UK.”

With the aim of making it one of the most successful web design agencies in the UK

My commentary: already here we have the mindset of an ambitious and confident entrepreneur.  What we also have is clear goal setting and vision. All of the things I have heard time and time again from various entrepreneurs and motivational speakers. A bit different than when I first started with the aim of designing a few websites that can pay the bills! Go figure! OK that was long time ago and I have expanded my vision since then!

Justin continues:

“JC: Our first account was with a luxury Caribbean hotel chain, as we had no previous experience, we did the work in exchange for hotel room bookings, which we then sold on to the travel agent for £35.000 profit! Fortune Cookie was a one-man band in the beginning and I founded the business on credit cards.”

WOW! Talk about thinking outside the box…

My commentary: I mean here it is again a fantastic example of an entrepreneurial mindset. How did he get around the lack of experience? He provided his services in return for something the hotel could give away for free. I remember Roger Hamilton put it very nicely once. “first prove your worth, then ask for what you are worth”. Other things that inspire me here is the fact he started the whole business on his own and only on credit cards. So no big investments or venture capital here.

Back to Justin’s answer:

“JC: We got lucky with our second project. The CEO of Thames Water had returned from a course in the US where he’d learnt about this new medium called the internet. He found Fortune Cookie in the Yellow Pages, called us up and we struck a deal! Thames Water would send us a Quark Express file and we’d transform it into ‘an internet’! I was then able to take on our first two employees. “

Inspiring stuff!

My commentary: So here we have another key element of success: LUCK! Yes luck, but still that luck wouldn’t be there if Justin hadn’t placed the ad in yellow pages. Reading this struck a chord with me. When I was operating as a one man band, my biggest question was at what point can I afford to take on employees? Justin’s story answers this for me: When you win a large enough deal that allows you to pay the monthly salary of an employee then you are in a position to take on your first employee. Simple isn’t it? I think so.

My conclusion – key elements in getting a new agency off the ground:

• Ambition
• Clear goal
• Being creative and think outside the box
• Prove your worth first
• Take action
• Luck

Ok, so this was me getting so much clarity from reading two paragraphs on this article! I don’t know maybe it was the omelette I was having for breakfast. I am sure Justin’s story means different things to different people. You can read the rest of the article in issue 198 of the .net Magazine. The website for .net magazine is http://www.netmag.co.uk.

What has been your experience with growing your business?

Related posts:

1. Link building part 2: How one competition boosted my Google Page Rank
2. Top 10 SEO myths revealed
3. Link building part 1: One way editorial links and how to get them