Frequently Asked Questions

A: Danny (Founder / Chairman of the Board): Strutta is a platform that makes it easy for anyone to create and monetize online contests.

A: Jordan (Director of Community Relations): Before you even click that green "Create a Contest Now" button, think about what you want to accomplish with a contest or competition. Do you want to raise awareness of your brand, introduce a new product or feature, engage and honor your existing customers, increase site traffic and attract new customers? Thinking about your goals first will help you define the best type of contest for your business. Once you're ready, click the green and follow steps. You'll be surprised how easy it is.

A: Maura (Founder): We have 3 packages available:

• Basic - At $0, you can start building a contest for free. You can choose a la carte options like personal CName or CSS for an additional charge of $25 each.
• Pro - Our Pro package includes everything from your own Cname (recommended) and CSS to HD Video and all the leads you can muster for one flat price.
• Subscription - If you are an agency or superhero marketeer, who plans on doing multiple contests over the course of the year, then a Subscription package will offer you all the advantages of a pro but at a discount.

A: Danny (Founder / Chairman of the Board): Absolutely! Our basic contest package is a great place to start but if you are a small business that wants to build awareness and take advantage of the SEO benefits, then we highly recommend you purchase the CSS & Custom CName "a la carte" options for $25.00 each.

A: Maura (Founder): Currently, there is no way to charge for entries on the DIY platform without a bit of customization and legal consultation. It is definitely something we are looking into but the reason we have not implemented this feature yet is that as soon as you charge for entries the legal changes a well. However, if you are really interested in this feature, it would be a custom contest so, send custom@strutta.com an email.

A: Ross (Sr. UI Designer): At the moment there is no way of altering the HTML within the style kit. However, you can add HTML to the Description section of the contest in step 2.

A: Mike (Sr. Developer): In Step 2, scroll down to the Identity section. Click the 'Browse' Button and a window will open to let you select the file you would like to upload to www.strutta.com site. Once you find your header image, click the 'Select' button. Header images should be 950 x 130 pixels.

A: Mike (Sr. Developer): Yes, under Step 3, scroll down to the "Offsite Link" section and add the URL where you want visitors to be sent after they click your logo or contest header.

A: Ross (Sr. UI Designer): A short video that appears on the About section of your contest site that explains what your contest is about and describes what you are looking for from entrants. It is more engaging then an intro photo image.

Click the 'Browse' Button and a window will open to let you select the video file you would like to upload to the site. Once you find your file, click the 'Select' button.

A: Ross (Sr. UI Designer): An intro photo is like a print ad for your contest. It should be visually appealing and entice people to enter or vote. The default size of the intro images is 640 x 360.

Click the 'Browse' Button and a window will open to let you select the file you would like to upload to the site. Once you find your file, click the 'Select' button.

A: Jordan (Director of Community Relations): SEO! If anyone searches for the kind of content in your contest on Google, your domain will benefit from all the additional search engine traffic. At $25, all that additional "Google juice" is a price worth paying.

A: Steven (Sr. Architect): Strutta tracks all new entrants and voters for your contest as well as daily and total votes, views and entries.

If you want to know more about where your users are coming from and monitor traffic on site, you can set up a Google Analytics tracking code as well.

A: Steven (Sr. Architect): After creating a Google Analytics account, find your Google Analytics tracking code and paste the tracking code into the provided box in Step 3 of the Strutta wizard.

To learn more about the benefits of using Google Analytics and find out how to set-up your own personal tracking code, visit: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/

A: Mike (Sr. Developer): Contests usually consist of 2-3 contest rounds:

• Submission round - the period of time defined by you that will allow individuals to upload submissions in a contest.
• Voting Round - when the community is allowed to vote on entries in a contest.
• Judging Round - when a judging panel that you select has a chance to review and vote or rank entries.

The contest model you choose will dictate the number of contest rounds your contest will have:

• Popular Vote consists of two rounds - a submission round and a voting round.
• Internally Judged consists of two rounds - a submission round and a Judging round.
• Community Picks, Jury decides consists of three separate rounds. A submission round first. Then a community reviews and picks a number of finalists over a set period of time. You decide how many finalists you want the judging panel to review.
• Jury Picks, Community Decides consists of three separate rounds. A submission round first. Then the judging panel selects a number of finalists over a set period of time and the community votes for their favorite of the finalists selected.

A: Jordan (Director of Community Relations): The length of the contest is up to you, and could vary depending on the contest promotion you do. It can take some time to get the word out and receive submissions. On average most contests last 30-60 days.

A: Jordan (Director of Community Relations): Yes. In Step 4, under the "Contest Round" section there is a box for you to enter the number of winners you want to recognize. The order of the winners will be determined by # of votes or highest rank.

A: Danny (Founder / Chairman of the Board): Currently, we have two voting options for you to choose from:

• Vote Count - When a voter or judge clicks the vote button for an entry, an entrant receives 1 point. The highest vote count wins.
• 5 Star Rating - Voters select a number of stars to rate each entry with 5 stars being the highest rating and 1 star representing the lowest rank. The highest rated entry overall wins.

A: Maura (Founder): Offering a prize is completely up to you but we have learned that a good prize can have an impact on the number and the quality of the entries. Prizes can range from awards and recognition to gadgets, trips, your company products and cold hard cash. If you decide to give a prize(s), it is important for you to note the Approximate Retail Value (ARV) for legal purposes. In addition, you can also entice entrants with a prize photo and description.

A: Maura (Founder): If you would like to offer a prize, please check the box if 'the winner(s) will receive a prize(s)' and provide details under the prize section in Step 4. Once you check the box, you will be able to add prize title, image, value and details. Click the 'Browse' button to select and upload prize images on your computer to your contest.

A: Maura (Founder): The winner (or if the winner is a minor, then the parent(s)) is responsible for paying for all applicable taxes.

A: Maura (Founder): As the Contest Organizer, it is your obligation to ship and deliver the prizes you promised to the winner(s) within a reasonable time frame.

A: Danny (Founder / Chairman of the Board): We offer you three ways to moderate your entries. In section 5, you can choose the appropriate radio button:

• Entries go live immediately, but users can flag inappropriate or invalid content
• All entries must be reviewed before going live
• No moderation

A: Danny (Founder / Chairman of the Board): If you feel like you want to maintain control over what is published, then you may choose to review the entries first. However, it can be time consuming and entrants may be frustrated when they do not see their entries on site within a certain amount of time.

A: Ross (Sr. UI Designer): When you click the 'Add Sponsor' button in section 6, the page will drop down for you to enter the Sponsor Name, Description, and a Link to their website. Click the 'Browse' button to locate their logo on your computer and upload it to the site.

To add more than one sponsor, click the 'Add Sponsor' button again and enter the relevant information.

A: Ross (Sr. UI Designer): Sponsor logos will appear on the About page of your contest site and when a viewer clicks a sponsor logo, they will be sent to a sponsor page to learn more.

A: Mike (Sr. Developer): Our users are required to verify their accounts (by clicking an activation link sent in an email) before voting. All new votes and entries are kept in a "pending" state until the user clicks the email verification link. When the verification link is clicked, the user is notified that their votes have been made permanent and finally redirected back to the contest site. Once at the site, the user can clearly see that their vote has been recorded.
Read more about Strutta's voting process

A: Steven (Sr. Architect): By default, all contests built with the online software allow an unlimited number of entries per person, and just one vote per entry. Whether it is a single-vote contest or a five-star rating system, you can cast your vote one time each for each entry in the game. Give your own entry a vote, and vote for your friends too.

However, you can tell more friends and family to vote! To help spread the word, there's a share button beneath each entry that lets your share by your entry by email, on Facebook and many other sites. Each entry has its own unique address, which makes it easier for you to promote your entry.

A: Ross (Sr. UI Designer): Just under the right corner of your entry's page, you'll see a small "trash" icon that will let you delete your own entry. Just click it once, and then confirm you that wish to delete that entry. That's it! And you're done.

A: Jordan (Director of Community Relations): What may have happened is that the verification email we sent to you got caught in your junk folder, or blocked by your spam filter. Please check your spam or junk folder to see if our verification email is in there first. Once you find it, click the verification link in the appropriate email to activate your account. If you don't see it, send us a message at info@strutta.com and tell us the name and email address you used to create your account. We'll get you sorted out.

A: Maura (Founder): Some contests give you the ability to flag inappropriate content, but not all of them, because the contest creators can decide whether to use that feature. You'll see a small "flag" icon next to the entry that will let you alert the contest administrators. If you see comments that are offensive or inappropriate, click the flag icon and follow the directions. If there is no visible flag icon, contact the contest administrator directly using the contact button.