I know you've seen those awards graphics all over the web.
Most web sites win one, two or a dozen awards and display them
proudly on their home page until the page loads so slow that
no one visits anymore. Finally, they realize this and create a
separate awards page, and eventually, if they are anything
like me, they have to create an entire awards section!
At some point many of these award winners realize that, hey,
they could also give an award themselves! Sometimes they want
to give awards out of a desire for more traffic (an awards
program does generate more than a few hits), and sometimes
they want to reward other sites for their achievements. More
often, a webmaster cannot explain why he wants to give awards
- he just wants to.
One note of caution: if your goal is traffic and traffic only,
then awards are a fine way to get people to your site.
However, by far most people who sign up for awards simply go
straight to your award application form without looking at
anything else. So while it is a way to get people to your
site, it really isn't a great way to get qualified visitors
who are actually interested in what you have to offer.
A good awards program is a lot of work. Spend the time and you
will have some great and perhaps unexpected rewards of your
own. Please don't just slap together a silly little awards
program and expect to get very much from it. And don't go out
and get a script to automate the whole process. That's not
what awards are about.
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All right, the first thing you should do (before you do
anything else) is sit down in a comfortable chair with your
comfy slippers and a glass of your favorite beverage. Make
sure it is quiet and you have some time set aside. Now, think
about what you are trying to accomplish.
What is your purpose in creating an awards program? Are you:
- Trying to get traffic - Trying to get other people to link
back to you and raise your search engine popularity - Want to
give something back to the internet community - Like the idea
of helping others improve their web sites - Want to light up
someone's life by giving them an award - Like making cute
little graphics
You answer(s) to this question will determine how you proceed.
If you are just trying to get traffic or increase your search
engine ranking, then you do not need to put in anywhere near
as much time and care into your program. Just create your
graphic, a simple explanation page and make your award known.
If, on the other hand, you've got loftier goals, then you need
to continue your thought process. Now that you've decided on
your purpose, think about some other things.
1)
Do you want a general award (best site) or a specific award
(best Star Trek The Next Generation fan site with pictures of
James T. Kirk?)
2)
Do you want to allow automatic submissions (which means
many people will who apply for your award will never even see
your site?)
3)
How specific do you want to get with the criteria? Some
programs just say "you'll get it if I like your site" and
others have pages of complex equations stating exactly what is
expected to get an award.
4)
This is very important: how much time do you want to spend
on your awards program? A couple of hours a week? More? Less?
5)
Are there specific types of sites that you do not want to
allow? For example, many programs exclude adult sites and our
own program excludes psychiatric sites. It doesn't matter
whether or not anyone agrees with your exclusions - it is your
awards program and you need to be comfortable with it.
6)
Do you want to allow children under age 13? If so, you had
better review the legal requirements involved (specifically
the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.)
In addition to all of this, it is also important to treat your
awards program seriously, at least as seriously as your web
site. As you hand out your award to more and more sites, you
will find people judging you based upon whom you have judged.
Give out your award lightly just to get some traffic, and you
will find your own site judged lightly and visited
infrequently.
