Anyone that runs a blog knows the important of link building and the time consuming task it takes to build them. One way to fast track your efforts is to use Promotions or contests. To be successful, however, they should be well laid out, offer an enticing prize, and not come with to many rules. If your promotion is all of these things, it will have the potential to go viral and generate a lot of good links.

One example of a well laid out promotion comes from David Airey, who runs a logo design blog. Take a look at the first headline and then scroll through the prizes he offers. They are good prizes and entice you to keep reading. Near the end he gives very simple instructions on how to enter and when the results will be announced. His promotion is simple, yet effective. The hardest part was probably getting the sponsors to give free product, however, you would be surprised at how easily you can get promotional giveaways if you make the effort.

One thing David did to probably get free prizes is include his sponsors in the promotion. You get an extra entry for every five sponsors you mention. This creates a good incentive for the sponsors to kick down some freebies for you to offer in the promotion.

Key Strategies

1. Keep it simple. The more hoops for the users, the less your promotion will succeed.

2. Offer something of value. It can be a service, cash, product, valuable insight, or free access to subscriptions. Offering something like a free like on your Page Rank zero site will not entice the readers.

3. Layout. Spend some time with the title and the goals you want. Layout them out in a easy to follow format and specify what you want the users to do and why.

4. Promotion. This is probably the toughest. If you have regular visitors, then you will probably be fine, if not, then you will have to spread the word in forums, comments, and posts. If it is a good promotion, it may go viral for you.

5. Set your goals. Make sure you set the goals of the promotion and see if they are realistic with the prizes. If you plan to get 30K readers, offering a $5 gift certificate at Starbucks is not going to do it. When well thought out goals are set you can monitor your success and fine tune future promotions.

A contest can be a great way to acquire links. If really think out your strategy and offer something that is easy to understand yet enticing to your audience, it will succeed.