How to Get People to Send Photos

Enticing users to submit their photos

[ccDan]

I have a site that's been online for about 4 years.

Around 2001 or thereabouts, I decided to add a photo contest to try to boost traffic. I put a contest up, following recommendations I found in an online marketing book regarding legalities for having a contest, and sent my URL to different directories, including some contest directories.

According to the contest rules, submissions would be taken up to such and such a date *or* when 25 entries had been received, whichever came *later*.

So, here it is, three years later, and I have yet to receive 25 entries. I have less than a dozen.

One question would be, can I cancel the contest? I don't have anything in the contest rules that covers our right to cancel the contest. At the time, I thought ending the contest at a specific date or once 25 entries have been received was sufficient. I didn't think there would be any problem getting 25 entries! Those photo ranking sites have hundreds of submissions, and all you get there is a ranking, not a monetary prize!

So, on the one hand, I have no clause covering our right to cancel the contest. On the other hand, is it unreasonable to cancel a contest if the requirements have not been met after three years?

The other question is, if cancelling the contest is not a good option, how can I entice people to submit their photos?

[rogerd]

ccDan, I'd recommend participating in communities that are likely to have entrants. I'm definitely not advocating forum spamming, but if you go to sites that attract photographers, graphic artists, & the like you'll meet many people who would no doubt be happy to submit a photo. Some forums allow signature URLs, and that would certainly be one way to get the word out about your site/contest. If you take this approach, think about what you can offer the community and learn from it - don't just knock out a few inane posts like a driveby spammer. Experienced forum people will see through this and you won't make any friends.

Another thought would be to exchange banners or links with appropriate sites. (I'm guessing you don't want to actually pay for advertising for what sounds like a fairly low priority effort.) If your site is low traffic, you may have to offer better placement than you get, but it's worth a try. In fact, I'd contact individual photographer sites about link exchanges - I bet that a significant number of the sites you contact turn into entries. Good luck!

[ken_b]

>>>According to the contest rules, submissions would be taken up to such and such a date *or* when 25 entries had been received, whichever came *later*.

So, here it is, three years later, and I have yet to receive 25 entries. I have less than a dozen. <<<

Did you specify a cut off date for the contest?

[ccDan]

ken_b writes:

Did you specify a cut off date for the contest?

Here is what I have on the site:
"Contest begins immediately and entries will be accepted until October 1st, 2002 or until 25 unique and valid contestant entries have been received, whichever comes later."

Originally, I had it as "October 1st, 2001" but changed that to "2002" in 2002, as I figured the old date might be discouraging entries.

According to my statistics, 72% of people that look at the contest rules page go on to the entry form page. But, only 1/10 of a percent of people that look at the entry form page actually submit an entry. And, of those that submit an entry, about 85% will follow through by actually sending their photo.

[ken_b]

..whichever comes later<<<

Oppps, I missed that before, sorry. That could be be tough to get around.

rogerd had some good ideas though.

[rogerd]

It might be a good idea to change that date, too - anyone who looks at it will assume that the contest ended or the site is no longer being maintained...

[ccDan]

rogerd writes:

I'd recommend participating in communities that are likely to have entrants.

I did that about two years ago, and managed to get 1 or 2 entries from doing that.

I should have been more clear as to the type of photo contest I have, but couldn't think of how to describe it without mentioning specific sites. It's not a photo contest per se, but more of a ranking type deal. So, all entrants really need to do is grab a camera or a webcam and snap a picture of themselves.

It's not an adult site, and no "adult" images are allowed. One would think that if adult sites can attract entrants, it would be far easier to attract entrants to a contest where we're not asking them to show anything inappropriate or racy or of that nature.

Over a year ago, I also ran an ad with a local site offering a similar but in-person contest. I figured that would be a good match. Out of that, I attracted 0 entries.

In the past, I have also ran banner ads with similarly themed sites, to no avail. So, I have spent money trying to promote the contest, but most of the entries have come thru free promotion, mainly search engine listings.

[rogerd]

Seems like you have tried some pretty good strategies, ccDan, and they haven't paid off. You may have reached the point where you need to decide whether to pull the plug or whether you keep trying to flog this project.

[Robert Thivierge]

Before giving up, I would try:
1) Condense everything. Try to put an upload form, a few input fields, basic rules (paragraph), and a submit button all on one simple single page (the main landing page)
2) Reduce (if possible) any private information you collect. People are wary of potential contest scams.
3) Remember the lure is to get people who want to share their photo on the web, not the prizes (unless they are real big). You might need to let people use you as a very limited "image host", even some hotlinking, just to get them. Hotlinking can be good advertising (if you place your url on the pics). People are always looking for free places they can put up their pic, to show others (as formerly free image hosts start charging or block hotlinking).

...only 1/10 of a percent of people that look at the entry form page actually submit an entry

Assuming you're terms are reasonable, the problem is probably that they're way to wordy.