It seems that people are contacting me more and more to become a sponsor in their upcoming contests. Now, I don’t mind sponsoring an ad spot (on one of my many blogs), text link, and a custom made banner design or whatever, but more and more people are asking and I only have a certain amount I can give away. So, I’m going to pick and choose who I sponsor.
Below are some reasons why I won’t sponsor your contest:
1. Not asking me personally and sending me a generic spam-type message. Again, I’m getting more and more requests to sponsor people’s contests so if you’re not going to even address me then you probably won’t even get a response back.
Not to sound like an ass or anything but you came to me to get a sponsor for your contest not the other way around. And if you look at any posts, it says my name right there. So when I receive a message like:
“To whom it may concern (or hi):
My name is XYZ of this site. My site is growing very fast and receiving XXX amount of visitors daily.
I am looking for sponsors for my contest that would be willing to contribute XYZ prizes.
If you are interested, please reply to me before this particular date.
Best,
Their name”
90%-95% of the time this message is either a copy and paste method or a bot. If you were to take 2 seconds to replace “to whom it may concern (or hi)” to “Jay” then I might have fell for your trick.
Though, sometimes it’s even worse. There are people who put “Dear Webmaster or Blog Owner” and you obviously know what that answer is going to be.
2. No benefits for sponsors, no rewards… literally. If there are no benefits for me, as the potential sponsor, then there is no real point in me sponsoring, is there? Yeah I can be a good person and donate XYZ prizes but when it comes down to it, shouldn’t sponsors get some sort of reward in return?
When people approach me, one of my questions will be “how will sponsors benefit for your contest?” And if people don’t have an answer or not a good enough one, then more than likely I’ll pass.
Most people make it a requirement for contestants to write a blog post and include links to all the sponsors. See, that’s fine with me. We all love backlinks.
On the other hand, people use their daily traffic and RSS Feed count as a valid reward. Don’t get me wrong, having 500+ unique visitors daily is good and all but when you have 50+ sponsors, that traffic means absolutely nothing to me anymore. Not many will search through every single contestants’ site, trust me.
3. You’re really, really pushy and annoying about it. Just like anyone else, I’m pretty busy so if I don’t get a chance to e-mail you back on the same day you sent me a message then be patient. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t hurt to send me a follow-up message but sending me a few within a couple days is annoying.
Honestly, if you don’t get a reply back within a few days about sponsoring your contest, you probably fall under one of these reasons I’m listing now. Again, don’t mean to sound like an ass but please take a hint.
4. You have no readers or traffic. I remember when I asked people to sponsor my contest before, a few big names asked me how my traffic was and RSS Feed count, well, now I know where they’re coming from. Again, this should really go under #2 because this isn’t going to give the sponsors much benefit.
If a blog has 3 subscribers and gets 10 visitors daily, there’s no point in someone sponsoring a laptop or a big prize, is there? What’s worse, there are people who ask me to sponsor and their blogs have been around for a few months and they still have 3 subscribers. That just tells me this person isn’t too good at marketing themselves so marketing a contest should almost be out the question as well.
5. I just don’t like you. Yup, I said it. If I don’t like you, there has to be a pretty good reason behind it. For instance, if you were an ass to me when I was just starting out and all of a sudden you come around asking me for help, do you think I should help? Let me ask, would you?
Probably not. If they would’ve helped me when I first started then there should be no problem. I love networking and I’m always up for helping people out when I have time but if you were or are rude, disrespectful, etc then you shouldn’t even talk to me let alone ask me to sponsor your contest.
But then again, it was probably a spam-type message from your bot in the first place. 
If you fall under any of these categories, I probably won’t sponsor anything and more than likely I’m not the only one.
And if you don’t fall into one of these categories, then you should be good. Just let me know and I’ll consider it. Though, you also have to remember I do get a handful of requests sporadically so if I say no, more than likely I have nothing worthy or sponsoring at the time.
Oh, and speaking of contests, my Nintendo Wii contest ends this Friday ! So, go enter, I added a few additional ways of entering and added additional points for certain ways of entering.
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I have also received these type of Spam comments…mentioning they loved the resource I put on the post…and I was like ok? I really didn’t put a resource…but the name is legit. Then check out the link to them and !)(@&*…
Fighting spam gets to be a pain! =)
Great post Jay, but I have a question for ya
How does a person get to the point where they are actually asked to sponcer a giveaway? Not only that, but at what point do you (in general) get people to notice your site and ask you to review products to write about? I don’t know if these questions make any sence, but I’m just currious…I am definitely a newbie to this sort, I’ve been dabbling in it over the course of a year (off and on/not persistant until June of this year) but have never quite understood how it all works.
Starting out on anything is pretty tough to begin with…I understand that, but I seldom know what to write about and at times wonder how to succeed at this stuff. Granted, I am doing this in hopes of a second source of income (someday), but right now, I am just trying to learn everything. I know it will and can take some time. I can’t even fathem seeing any rewards (financially at this point)until I figure out what my “calling” is. Don’t get me wrong, I am having fun with all of it…I’m just really wondering how this part of it works. When does a blogger get their first “break” at writing and reviewing something big? When does a blogger get noticed?
Okay, I’m rambling now, so I’ll stop but any information on these questions would be helpful for a newbie like me
Talk Binary – Fighting spam sucks but when you get enough spam on your blog or site(s), that means you’re doing something right… if no one spams you then that means you’re not getting noticed.
Barbara – Don’t worry, your questions make perfect sense. But to answer your question, I guess it all depends. If your site is big enough, people will find you. Again, it depends though.
There’s a lot of variations, for instance, the niche of your site. I have people contact me for things related to marketing, tech, MMO, etc stuff. On the other hand, I have people contacting me on my sex ed blog to write review on their adult toys or whatever.
When it comes down to it you need to get your name out there, you need to market your blog, promote, etc. Once you establish yourself, everything else will eventually come.
Of course, you can go out and find sponsors yourself. I can show you how to do that as well if you’re interested.
Jay
Jay,
Thanks so much for the info and I am very much interested to hear what you have to say on how I can do that(when you have the time of course)…just let me know
Oh gee I sure hope I don’t fall in Catagory #5 Cause if I have offended thee I would sure like to know. LOL
Excellent reasons, all of them.
Barbara brought up some great questions and your answer was kinda well ….. blah. Sorry
When does one know if their blog is big enough? What are the finding based on??
Umm.. do you realy review sex toys?? ROFLMAO Had to ask
Hello blogger,
I see you have a good site. My name is Jason and I run a blog that is very new, with two subscribers and ten visitors per day. Yesterday, we got eleven visitors so this is proof it is growing very fast!
I am looking for sponsors for my contest that would be willing to contribute prizes. Sponsors will not be linked to, but I will think of you happily if you sponsor a prize.
If you are interested, please reply to me within the next ten minutes to ensure you get to take part in this wonderful opportunity. If you do not reply within ten minutes, do not worry as I will send you ten or fifteen messages to follow up.
Best,
My Name
Jasons last blog post..Site Flip Project – Enter Here
Wendy – LOL! My answers are blah cause it all depends. The more people who talk about you, someone’s bound to visit your page and want to sponsor, advertise, etc.
Well, I don’t know all the answers. And personally, my blog isn’t big at all or anything special but for some reason people still manage to find me, spam me, etc.
And for the sex toys questions, no, I don’t LOL! I said they continue to contact me but I usually pass on that. Though, everyone that knows that fact try to get me to get them free sex toys lol! (And yes, they would provide them for FREE for me to write reviews)
Jason – LMAO! I was dying when I read that man!
Jay
TUK, you beat me to it. I love the comment. The only thing you forgot was that Jay link to your contest as well as putting up the prizes, that way you could get up to 12 visitors per day
Sell Porn Make Moneys last blog post..I am officially “Mentoring” 10 people to Sell Porn
ROFL Jason.
Nice Post Jay!!.
I hope this not me.
I forgot to ask you when i holding my first contest. Sorry about that.
BTW i got an email yesterday and that exactly like category #1… Urmm……
Like Wendy said, Hope i don’t fall on that category too.
indocontests last blog post..Win $50.00 Or Other Wonderful Prizes at BlackHatWay
Forgot to comments followup.
Hi Jay! The last one is really harsh
You can also use the list to reason “why I wont exchange links with your blog”
Valuable reminder to contest masters, Jason. And if anybody’s going to have a contest, some time ago I also posted some reasons of “why I won’t enter your contest”
http://www.homebiz.bukiki.com/reasons-wont-enter-your-contest-mistakes/
if someone is lookking for sponsors the least they can do is find out what your name is. If they don’t put effort on it then just ignore, or reply with a simple no. It is their interest so they need to do the research.
in other hand. if someone wants to pay me and treat me like “dear blog owner” i don’t mind… lool
I think you wrote this post because you were really irritated by these spam comments. I dint experience spam comments through my blog because it isn’t a big blog like yours but i am really irritated like you because i receive spam in my email.
I can understand your problem.
Indocontest – I’m sure TONS of people got that same e-mail. But don’t worry, this is not you or any of these people that commented at that.
Rome – Where you been man? I e-mailed you the other day… what’s going on?
Hugo – I usually just ignore but sometimes I blast them, depending on how I feel lol!
M.Dinesh – Well, I did a quick fix on the spam comments getting through so that shouldn’t happen anymore. But getting these e-mails through my contact form is a little annoying too.
Jay
very well said.. ^_^
Pahns last blog post..Transfer Month
I like this Jay! I should go by the same rules!
Also:
Dear webmaster, will you sponsor my special contest today? I offer absolutely nothing for you, and if you don’t reply in two minutes then I am going to ask again. A lot of people hate me, I am not sure why, JUST SPONSOR MY CONTEST!
Lol…how would you like to be emailed like that?
As someone who’s currently looking for sponsors and running a contest
i do have to agree with you…
I’ve taken time to find people’s names and try to look at it from their point of view i.e. what’s in it for me?
I’m going for a creative angle and giving all my sponsors a logo on a tshirt. I’ll then wear that tshirt jumping out of a plane
+ any cash raised is all going to charity…
I think when people just hold a contest for no reason and don’t do anything creative for it, it’s always going to result in the sponsor losing out.
smemons last blog post..why can’t i do this every day?
i see and i can understand why never won’t to sponsor people contest. Huhu
Great post Jay! I also get a lot of requests and your reasons are almost the same as mine.
Lucass last blog post..Marketing Your Site Through the SitePoint Marketplace
Hey, if you are going to sponsor anything, there should be a ROI on your investment. People need to realize nothing in life is free.
I have actually been searching the web in hopes of finding a contest I can sponsor, maybe you can refer all the future people that contact you to me.
Rajaie AlKoranis last blog post..MonkeyBlogger.com For Sale
I was not asking you to sponser my contest i was trying to get you and your communiyt to get involved in it. You could win some cash and
Thanks so much for the info and I am very much interested to hear what you have to say on how I can do that(when you have the time of course)…just let me know
Tatil Yerleris last blog post..Samsun Otelleri