Journals
Thursday,Jul 30 2009, 04:53:00 AMZorpia Premium Theme Contest
After the success of our first theme contest, Zorpia's Homepage Theme Design Contest, we are glad to see how much users participated and shared to us their creative & personalized themes. And now we are back with our 2nd theme contest, Zorpia Premium Theme Contest.
We are looking for a more high end, professional, elegantly designed themes! Prize awaits the lucky winner. The winning theme will be featured all around Zorpia. What are you waiting for? If you got the skills and creativity, SIGN UP now!
Tuesday,Jul 28 2009, 04:38:35 AM5 Tips To A Successful Contest
5 things you should know to run a successful contest:
Zorpia recently released the Contest Event feature, inspired by users who enjoy running their own contests. The good thing about this feature is that anyone can start their own contest, no experience required. All you need is creativity!! :)
Tired of boring contests? Here to help make your contest more fun and engaging, Dr. Zorpia has some helpful tips to share!
1. Give an Eye-Catching Name for Your Contest
Let’s start with the most important part of your contest. Out-of-the-box names, like eye-catching words, will grab the reader’s attention if you put them into your contest’s title. This may be enough of a reason for them to click on your contest and join.
Ex: Fiercest Pose Photo Contest

If the words you used are catchy enough, then your contests should receive a lot more entries.
2. Tell a Whole Lot of People about Your Contest!
There are many other ways to tell a lot of other people about your contest.
Try our Advanced Search, where you can search for members whose interests match the theme of your contest.

Another effective way is using the Group Search feature, where you can search for groups with interests related to your contest’s theme.
Send private messages to the Zorpians who’d surely want to join your contest. Politely ask the group administrator & members if they’d like to join. You may want to ask the group administrator to post a group topic or to message all the group members, asking them to join your contest.

For example, let’s say your contest’s name is the “Best Nature Shot Contest”, you may want to search for photography & nature related groups to find members who’d like to you’re your contest.
3. Prepare a Few Entries as Examples
Some contest entries are easy to produce. However, this is not always the case. Some contest entries may take more time and effort to produce an entry than others.
It’s best to gather your friends and prepare a few initial entries beforehand, to get your contest started. This will encourage other Zorpians to participate.

4. Keep Your Participants Updated!
Don’t just watch your contest happen, get involved! Keep your contestants updated by participating in the contest’s discussions and topics. The more activity on that page, the more visible it will be. This means more entries for your contest!
Some users may lose track of your contest, so it's best to keep reminding them! When announcing updates about your contest, (you may want to try using the group announcement feature) take the opportunity to connect with your contestants. Get to know them more.
You may also want to try updating members through group forum topics or the “message all members” feature.

An example title would be, “There are 3 days left before the contest ends!”
You should take the time to message and/or announce that members only have a specific amount of time left to prepare their entries. Announcements like this will help remind them of your contest’s deadline.
5. Make Sure Your Design Matches the Contest Theme
The design of a page is the first thing the user notices, so it’s important that the design of your page is attractive & exciting. Your contest’s profile photo, the group’s homepage design, your group’s banner as well as any other contest related materials should be related to the contest’s theme.

Let’s take an example. Say your contest’s name is “Window Contest”. Your contest profile photo should then be related to “windows”.

Another example is the “Best Valentine’s Kiss Photo Contest”. The group’s design, profile photo and header mainly depict the “Valentine’s Day” theme. It is also important to note that the prize should be the highlight of your contest page's design, as prizes always attract participants.
:):):)
I hope these 5 tips will help you run your contests more successfully! But remember, this is a contest, so the main point is to enjoy and have fun! Be imaginative and don’t give up when your contests run dry or slow. Aside from these five tips, there many other ways to improve your contest’s popularity. For example, if you write topics and message members about your contest, you will definitely get more "buzz" on your contest!
The followings are some contests we ran in our groups before:
> Zorpia’s Homepage Theme Design Contest
> Best Easter Egg Design Contest
> Best Valentine Kiss Photo Contest
Thank you for reading my Contest Tutorial! Until next time… :)
Monday,Jul 13 2009, 03:43:53 AMZorpia 2.1
Kick your homepage design into high gear and create stylish themes for you and your friends! Bring out the hip, vibrant & creative homepage design skills in you. In order to achieve this, we know that homepage design tools are very important.
After months of developmen
What's new with Zorpia 2.1?
> 3 column layouts for homepages
> Share & apply themes from our public theme library
> Sell & purchase themes on Zorpia
> Improved CSS code tools
Zorpia 2.1 is gonna hit Zorpia very soon, so stay tuned! :D


