  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: spidey  
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2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
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| Welcome to the Contests & Activities Newsletter. I’m spidey , and I'm your Editor this week. I'll be discussing Contest/Activity Promotion. |
| ASIN: 0997970618 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 14.99
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Promoting your Contest/Activity
Promotion is one of the key elements in running a successful contest or activity. You can have a great idea, presentation, rules and prizes, but if you don't attract participants, it can fall flat.
So, I'd like to discuss a few ways to promote contests and activities.
Sponsorship
When you click on "Sponsored" at the top of each WDC page (or through "Item Jumps" in the Site Navigation Tool at the left), you will find this explanation:
Sponsored Items are items being advertised by Writing.Com Members. The Writing.Com BidClick System provides all members with the ability to advertise, or sponsor, items throughout the community for a small Gift Point fee.
To add your own bid, click [Manage Your Bids]. There you can find information on exactly how sponsoring works. Sponsoring requires gift points (gps) per click. The item will be displayed in prominent areas of the site, and each time someone clicks on it, you will pay a certain amount of gps (determined by you) from your gp bank.
Sponsoring your contest/activity is a great way to get it seen by other members!
Auto-Rewards
Auto-Rewards offers a gps reward for each review over 250 characters.
To add an auto-reward to your item, click on "Edit" under the title to go into the editing screen. At the bottom of Section 6, you will see the area to add a reward, as well as information on auto-rewards.
By offering a reward, you may attract more people to your item. Auto-rewards have their own listings (Click on Auto-Rewards from the list at the top of each screen, or "Auto-Reward Items" from the "Item Jumps" in the Site Navigation at the left), and also include mention of their reward in public listings. Also, you may also be more likely to get feedback on your contest/activity.
Billboard
Preferred Authors and higher have access to a billboard where you can enter up to 125 characters. WritingML may be used in a billboard, so it's a great place to promote a contest! (Just be sure the contest title is E-rated). To view billboards, click on "Who's Online" from the list at the top of each page.
Bio-Block
Your bio-block is a section that visitors see when they click on your portfolio. Most WritingML tags work here, so it's a good place to promote your contest/activity. Just be sure to keep any shown text E-rated.
Highlighted Items
Highlighted Items are part of your Bio-Block. You may choose up to three Writing.Com items to display, including your own! Again, it must be E-rated.
To edit Billboard, Bio-Block, and Highlighted Items: Click on "My Account" and then "Edit Text & Special Settings."
Signatures
Create an image (or have one of the many sig shops on Writing.com create one for you) to promote your contest/activity and display it in your signature. Images can link to items, so when setting up the image, be sure to have it link to the contest or activity. When in the edit screen of your image item, Section 5 offers a field where you can enter the ID number of your contest or activity.
If you'd like, you can also use Section 5 on the edit screen to make the image shareable, so others can help promote your contest or activity, too.
To edit your signature, click on "My Account" and then "Edit Signature."
Plug Pages
For Contests, visit and enter your item at: "Writing Contests @ Writing.Com" [E]
For Activities, visit and enter your item at: "Activities @ Writing.Com" [E]
These pages have specific rules for posting. Read them carefully before submitting your contest or activity, and if you need help with one of these pages, visit "Plug Page Help" 
Site Newsletters
Newsletters accept submissions for consideration! Enter your contest/activity in the form at the end of this newsletter or in another newsletter that relates to your contest or activity! Also, you can find "Newsletters" under "Site Tools" in the Site Navigation at the left of the screen. There you will find a link to submit your item, as well.
Reviewing
Many believe self-promotion should be kept to a minimum when reviewing others' work. It's generally a good idea to keep a review focused on the review itself. The majority of your character count should be related to the review of the item.
That being said, I personally don't see a problem with including a small mention of a related contest or activity. For instance, I used to run a free verse poetry contest. While reviewing, if I came across a free verse poem, I included a sentence at the very end like this: "If you are interested in free verse poetry, you may want to check out this contest."
Just remember that the actual review should be the main focus of a review! Cheating the review system can be a serious offense!
There are many ways to promote your contest or activity on this site. Some require gps, but many do not. Promotion will get more members looking at your contest or activity, and hopefully will mean more participation!
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Enter your User Poll in my contest based on the Contests & Activities Newsletter:
These items were submitted for consideration in this Newsletter:
These items come from the Contest Listing Page:
These items come from the Activities Listing Page:
These items come from Billboards:
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
Don't forget to support our sponsor!
| ASIN: B00KN0JEYA |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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My last newsletter gave information on Polls. (Winners of "Invalid Item" will be announced in my next newsletter!)
Hi, Spidey!
Your list of polls were engaging, I tried almost all of them! I give you  for your simple and clear guide on how to create polls.
passionfruit  ~ ashraf_letters
Thank you! I'm glad you found my newsletter helpful, and I'm sure the owners of those polls are happy you took the time to view and vote!
Just sort of refreshing my mind. Must get back to writing. Have been speaking,teaching, and inspiring for the last few months. I long to pull aside and regroup my thoughts. Your news letter has started the process. Thanks&Blessings... ~ JudithJean France 
I'm glad I could help. Happy Writing!
Thanks for featuring "Review This!" in the newsletter, Spidey. The number of reviewers has increased thanks to the mention. ~ Diane
You're very welcome! Just goes to show that being featured as a pick in a Newsletter helps with promoting an activity! Submit those items! 
Cool! Thank you very much for picking my poll and putting it in editor's picks!  ~ PuppyTales
You're quite welcome!
Hi Spidey,
Thanks for the nice selection of activities and happenings at WDC! ~ Fallser
You're very welcome! I hope you found some interesting things to do!
Wow, Spidey! I hadn't answered any of those polls yet ~ thanks for sharing them! They were a welcomed distraction from making candles!  Another great newsletter! ~ terryjroo
Thanks for the compliment and you're welcome for the distraction! That's one thing I love about activities here. They can be a way to relax, to learn about a new subject, or to inspire. Mostly, they're just really fun!
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| ASIN: B01DSJSURY |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 5.99
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Contests & Activities: January 16, 2008 Issue [#2178]
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