$500 of Prizes Up or Grabs for Referring Friends to DPS!
I’ve just announced that $500 worth of Amazon products are up for grabs over in the Forums if you can be in the top 3 to recruit new members to the Digital Photography School forum.
First Place will get $250 of products
Second Place will get $150 of products
Third Place will get $100 of products
Get full details of how to be involved in this post at our Forums – but please do note that you have to be a member of the forums yourself to be able to participate.
Hopefully this will bring on a little healthy and fun competition but also bring some great new members into the forums where there’s already some great learning, photo sharing and fun going on. So head over – read how to participate and lets grow the forums!
16 Responses to “$500 of Prizes Up or Grabs for Referring Friends to DPS!” - Add Yours
May 8th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I think providing better content on main pages would get you more visitors than giving out referrer prizes. In fact, referrer prizes lower the image of any site that provides it (that is “oh, do they need to give prizes in order to be ‘referrable’? they’ve got to be bad”).
For now, the blog usually centers around products instead of what the name of the site promises (”learning how to do -digital- photography)…
May 8th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Criticism: I don’t know. It feels like if it’s just for the cash, the likelihood of getting quality members is low.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
thanks for the opinions.
In terms of our content being more focussed upon products – I hear what you’re saying (although in the last couple of weeks the content has been as much ‘how to’ (if not more) than product related. The posts I write here are more a reflection of the questions that readers ask me than anything else – however I’ll keep your reflections in mind.
In terms of this bringing in lower quality members – I’m not sure quite that might mean. DPS is a place for digicam users of all levels (beginners through to advanced).
I guess time will tell how this goes – really it’s an experiment with both building a little community/fun with our members but also an attempt at spreading the word at the good thing that’s happening in the forum.
As I say – time will tell :-)
May 8th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Good idea for concurs!
May 8th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Why all that criticism? This is a great blog. It is not bloated with ads and topics are very useful and enjoying.
The referrals idea is great and there is no way that this will lower the quality of the visitors. I don’t know how. The prizes go to the referrers not to the visitors.
What are quality members? Is there an elite of members that I’m not aware?
C’mon guys lets be more open minded, those are old fashioned comments!
May 9th, 2007 at 12:43 am
let me explain what they mean by low quality: how would i promote your site if i wanted the money? well first i would send it to all my messenger list, then to all my email buddies. thirdly, I’d probably find some forum where i’d post the contest details and a referral link for my account so all would make the account in my name.
what’s the problem here? firstly, you encourage the spam you speak of since there’s no real way to find out if someone is spamming or just being persuasive/immaginative. secondly, the people you bring aren’t close friends or enthusiast photographers, but just many many people who want the money.
you should really change this to the person who brings the most people who contribute the most. measure the quality of the referrals not just their number.
anyway, my $.02 hope you see my point of view…
May 9th, 2007 at 7:04 am
Everybody here is assuming that the current members are going to spam the web with this promotion to earn some of bucks in Amazon Goods.
I guess that spammers have better ways of earning money.
I run a Photoshop site and I will participate in this promotion. I have all kind of visitors, from newbies to experts and that’s the kind of traffic I will refer.
I will use my newsletter and my banner space as the promotion method.
Will that bring low quality traffic?
I subscribed to many services using other’s webmasters affiliate links. That turns me into a low quality referral?
May 10th, 2007 at 12:46 am
first of all, yes, people will do pretty much anything for money. secondly, this is pretty much exactly what spammers do, they’re petty criminals, and your example is borderline if you ask me. why? well because the purpose here should be to bring in qualitative members, to bring people interested in photography who will contribute to the quality of the community and the website. if you just spam everyone with hey join there so i get cash then there’s a bit of a problem. point is there’s a conflict of interests. on the one hand the site needs to grow to get ad space. or something. on the other hand, it’s giving money away to the most referrals. which means only people like you stand a chance to bring people. i say an active member is better than 100 dummies.
ok, pessimistic. point here is you want, as a website, to increase your traffic. but if you do that with accounts people will never use or with members who will only participate once a year i fail to see the purpose. i really believe that if the price was a bit less cash and a bit more photo-related goodie other people would go for it.
having said that i’m not a member of the forums and this competition really sounds like a spamfest to me… most referrals wins. well, good luck then, i’ve already sent this to my three photographer friends and i see no purpose why i should advertise it to everyone just so that maybe i get an amazon book. i’m really disappointed by the contest since it gives no chance to the little guys. would’ve been better to give like 1$/referral or something like that. refer over 10 people and get a dps badge. keep it cheap, keep it in numbers and everyone will participate. but like this, why not just buy google ads worth 500$…
May 11th, 2007 at 12:48 am
I am a beginner dSLR user, recently finishing my first course. Your newsletter and site are helping me continue to expand my knowledge and provide great ideas to get out there and practice. Thank you. I am referring you regardless of the competition.
May 11th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Bring on the prize money I say… $$ = lens… lens = smile
Who doesn’t like to smile?!.. And, someone that needs some help with their photography MAY just get caught up in your advertising frenzy and end up on here, amongst us nice folk, getting the right advice! bonus!
I think I have referred four people, of those four people.. One of them is an aspiring snapper that needs some direction, the others are on the right track and I feel they will benefit from a like minded community. I wouldn’t call them low quality… (actually, one of them would punch me if I did!…)
I know spam when I see it…lol (my network received 24,000 emails yesterday… 17,000 were spam..) this isn’t spam.
must be coffee o’clock!… have a lovely day y’all.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Great idea! How will you deal with people creating fake accounts themselves?
June 6th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
I dare say that if all of the “signups” come from one address there would be some questions to ask…
June 6th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
(and when I say address, I mean IP address…)
May 11th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I have only one friend who is into photography, so I’m not wining the prize, but now I’m sure I’ll tell I’m about this site. Not for the money, although I’m saving (with low success) to buy my first dslr, but because this is an excellent site and with great people and advices.
So, don’t spam, bring your interested friends over and keep on sharing your knowledge.
A newbie into photography and into this site,
Leo
P.S.
If you have a dslr and want to give it away…. ;)
December 8th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
is this contest still valid ?
December 14th, 2008 at 7:16 am
THIS COMPETITION IS OVER – THANKS
SIME – DECEMBER 2009
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