Blog contests are a good way to incorporate readers and direct traffic to your page. Once you have stimulated some interest in the contest, it is important to remember that the actual contest cannot be the only means of promoting your content. A blog contest should instead be the beginning of a relationship with new readers or about maintaining the interest of current ones. There are several ways to use email to promote your blog contest.

Here are 4 tips to get you started:

Put Your Signup Form to Work

When bloggers sign up for the contest, send an opt-in email asking them to join your network. You can even set up separate signup forms for bloggers and readers and segment your content (if you’re really ambitious). As your contact list grows, you can use those permission-based email addresses to continuously generate a buzz for not only the contest but the site itself.

Maintaining a consistent dialogue with those that are interested in your content takes work. Use email as a simple way to “pop in” on the blog contest participants and nurture a budding relationship. Be careful not to pop too frequently however as it will induce them to pull the plug.

Create a Drip Campaign Leading to the Contest

For those unfamiliar with drip campaigns, they are essentially sequenced emails that distribute on a schedule that call centers use to keep customers interested. Your company’s email messages start “dripping” into prospects’ inboxes, constructed to deliver an email once a week, month, year, day or whenever you determine. Drip campaigns can be utilized as a strategy to guide prospective customers toward your product or services while reducing the amount of manual labor it would otherwise take to distribute the same amount of information.

Email Video Interviews and Photos of Others Who Have Won

Unfortunately, contests online are cloaked with a sense of dishonesty or come off as some sort of gimmick. Use email to reassure contestants that you are trustworthy by creating videos of interviewees or photos of winners. This will also create a sense of interconnectedness among contestants and is the best way to generate a little social media hype.

Add Social Links to Every Email Promoting the Contest

The success of your blog contest relies heavily on social media. Every available facet of social networking is available to utilize as promotion by adding link buttons. Add “Like” buttons for Facebook and encourage Twitter users to create hashtags for your contest by connecting them with other contestants’ contact information by email.

With a little ingenuity and by following these 4 simple tips, you can get the most out of your blog contests and increase the appeal for your readers.