Contests and marketing

So the first month of having the review contest up, we had about 20 entries.  This month, we already have about the same number.  Which is really, really good.  In addition, we've got two publishers lined up  for the small publisher contest and I have 1 more in discussion right now.  Also have 1 more in mind. So that should sort that out for the next little while.

 Now, I'm obviously not giving away all this money / games out of the kindness of my heart.  With the small publisher contest, it's to help brand us and create some buzz.  In addition, stocking good games that have some minor buzz to them that might be hard to find hopefully draws those customers to us - at which point, we can sell them other games too.  

 For the reviews, it's a well known e-commerce fact that reviews help generate sales.  So the more reviews we get on the site, from more people, the better for us overall.  It's also great that these reviews are long-term - a review I pay for now is still going to be around in 3 years (and hopefully, if the game is still in-stock, still contributing to my bottom line).

I generally prefer contests to actual sales - I always puzzle about what games to sell, and when.  Sadly, my backend hasn't been upgraded to a point where I can tell off-hand what hasn't sold in the last X months.  It's definitely something I'd love to get upgraded on the site, but till then, putting together a for sale list is a bit of a hassle.