I know that I have several followers that offer giveaways on their blogs and I want to share a few things. I have noticed several things that make entering giveaways more difficult in my recent entering. I only enter those that are easy to enter. I am not trying to say that my entries are super easy to follow, but I try to keep things clear and concise and have very few invalid entries because of it. If you are a giveaway blogger, you might want to check out the following points.
- If you are on Blogger, having your comment form embedded below your post OR as a pop-up is much easier to access. If your comment form opens to a new page, an entrant needs to click back and forth to get to the entry requirements. It is a pain.
- This is a HUGE one! If you require a visit to a sponsor link, click to enter on a form, or ask entrants to click to visit you on Twitter or Facebook, it would be very helpful if the link opens to a new page. You can accomplish this in Blogger by adding a simple code to your link by clicking on HTML and adding the bold line. Here is an example:
- <a href=”http://www.xyz.com” target=”_blank”>XYZ</a>. (You will add the bold right after you quotation mark for your link but before the end bracket.)
In WordPress, simply choose to open in a new page when you add your hyperlink, but you can also do the same as above by clicking on the HTML and adding the bold area.
- Requiring people to subscribe and/or follow your blog for the required entry is a great way to get more subscribers/followers, but not necessarily the most honest way. I have no issues with offering those options for additional entries. It is better to have people want to subscribe than to make them.
- Post on the giveaway itself when (time and date) the giveaway will be over. This helps people who are entering your giveaways.
- This is absolutely a personal preference, but if you offer a tweet entry, it is great to either have a tweet function on your blog post to use or offer the entrant a copy/paste option. It is much faster and easier to retweet when that is an option.
- If you do offer multiple entries, please make sure they are clearly defined. It is really hard to ready blogs that have entries in full paragraphs or all running together.
- Please be reasonable with your giveaway entry requirements. Asking entrants to check out a website is fine but telling them to link to 5 items on the site is just plain ridiculous. I know we all want to get the sponsor some face-time but you want people to enter your giveaways, not run because the entries take too long.
- I know there are reasons for CAPTCHA but really people, it is HORRIBLE to enter giveaways with them. If you are going to require a CAPTCHA code be entered, do it from the original comment. Having that pop up after you hit the enter key is just bothersome. Many times, you will lose people who click off the page because they are assuming the comment was accepted when in reality it was getting ready to pop up the CAPTCHA.
I know that may seem like a lot of complaining but I am really not. I still enter giveaways that do some of these things. As a giveaway blogger though, I know what I like and make sure to include those on my own blog. I always make sure my links open up on another page because that is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. If you take nothing else from this post, please fix those links if you are guilty of that one!
What about you guys? Is there anything I can do better to make entering my giveaways easier? Do you have any pet peeves to add to my list?
Shannon Flora says
Great lists!
Can someone explain what backlinks are?Also what it means when someone “posts your link to a different domain”?
Im quilty for using my blog for extra entries in giveaways as well.I honestly dont know to much about the blogging stuff,but now that i read this post it all makes sence to me.I will start blogging on my blog as well as posting giveaways for other bloggers.
Thanks so much for everyones help!
Shannon
shannpf1977 at yahoo dot com
Shannon Flora says
I have another question if someone could help me out with!
After i comment on this post or other posts i notice my comment name isnt clickable.Is that for certain bloggers?
Thanks,
Shannon
Stefany says
Shannon, you need to include your URL for your name to be clickable. Backlinks are basically saying that your post was used elsewhere. I have a backlink for this post when someone mentioned it and linked to it on their own site.
Tina "The Book Lady" says
OK – I turned OFF word verification. I was thinking today when I was doing some blog hopping it would nice if once someone did the captcha that particular day that a person wouldn’t have to do it for subsequent comments on your blog. This would be very beneficial for giveaway hops.
I would love the html for numbering the comments. Oh, and I saw how to have a comment pop up. I didn’t think it was a Blogger feature and I love it when I can do that when I’m doing giveaways.
Could someone explain backlinks? How are those beneficial to me and the person backlinking? (Is that a word?)
Stefany says
Yeah, I agree. When I was on Blogger, I preferred moderated comments over CAPTCHA. That way, I could stop spam and entrants could do it quickly. I would become familiar with names and just quickly glance at comments to see if I needed to delete/spam any.
Here is a great tutorial for numbered comments.
http://1stfloorflatcomputery.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-number-your-comments.html
Backlinks let you know when you post has been linked on another site. They are also known as incoming links. They let you know the popularity of a post. I always turned them off. I use Google Alerts to let me know when my domain is linked outside of my site.
Tina "The Book Lady" says
OK – looked at the numbered comments post that you posted above and you aren’t able to have a pop-up comments box. To me that is a small thing – I guess you have to weigh the benefits of numbers vs making filling in the comments box easier for your readers.
I do like how they wrote up the tutorial. Very easy to follow. Thanks!
Tina "The Book Lady" says
Wow Stefany! You are quick! I think TweetMeme is the one I used – although the instructions I used were on a page where an someone from India had posted an article on how to add your retweet button. I’m sure his instructions were just fine – just not working for me. Could it be because I’m using a LeeLou template?
This is the html he said to use. The first line he said to add his text after it. The first line is marked with a **** by me, he said to add the text after it. I used the FIND feature in Word to find this line after I expanded the template. Maybe I have the wrong line?
****
Tweetmeme..url = ‘’;
(does the format go BEFORE or AFTER the ? I’ve tried it both ways)
=====
Stefany says
Ummm, let me find a better example for you than that.
This one is from TweetMeme directly. Let me know if you need help with it. I would be glad to do it for you.
http://help.tweetmeme.com/2009/04/07/integrating-the-tweetmeme-button-into-blogger/
Sometimes a theme can make a difference but it shouldn’t with this I don’t believe.
Tina "The Book Lady" says
I would love to have you add it if you don’t mind. I can forward my passwords on to you – I actually have 3 blogs so I didn’t want to ask you to do it. Maybe if you could do one – I can do the other two, I’d just need to have a way to find the spot. I’d love to do a FB button to where it would send an update to FB. I haven’t seen one of those yet.
I like blogger – but it sure does some really weird things. I’m constantly getting lines here and there that aren’t part of the posts and then it’ll put like 6 empty lines between paragraphs. Very frustrating – but I think I’m starting to figure out what to delete to fix it.
Tina "The Book Lady" says
I agree with the Captcha’s – is there a way to make them stop popping up? I use Blogger if that helps any.
Also, I would love to have my entries numbered (for giveaway entries) – currently I’ve been counting them up individually.
I post my winners at the top of the original post where the giveaway is posted. Also, I email the winner first and then post them once they’ve gotten back to me.
I have tried and tried to add the twitter “retweet” button but can’t get it to work. I keep getting an error message. I’ve also emailed the people who wrote up the instructions but no one gets back to me. So what I’ve been doing is giving 1 or 2 options on Tweet messages that the enterer can use – that way they have the tinyurl and also they don’t have to think about what to use. Copy & Paste is awesome!
Thanks for a well thought out post.
Stefany says
The CAPTCHA is an option you can change in your settings. Let me know if you need help finding it.
Also, I can send you information on how to get your comments numbered. It is a simple html change.
TweetMeme is the one that always worked for me on Blogger. Have you tried that one?
I would be happy to help you Tina if you need it.
Catherine says
These are great tips and I will keep these in mind before posting my next giveaway. I dislike when a blog ask you to visit another blog and enter a contest. I like extra entries but shouldn’t have to visit another site to get them.
The Captcha also annoys me and if I started on that I’d rant for at least an hour. What I really don’t get is why people have both the Captcha and must approve comments before they are posted.
Alyssa M says
I agree with everything you said but one. I LIKE leaving the comments in a new tab and going back and forth between the requirements and the comments. It’s easier than scrolling up and down. If the comment box is at the bottom of the post like yours is, I generally open the window twice so I can look back at the entry req’s quickly instead of scrolling and searching. I DO, however, like the form repopulating. That makes it a lot easier. One more: I like when one of the extra entries is blogging about the giveaway. I ALWAYS blog about every giveaway I enter just to make sure I don’t enter twice, and it’s nice when I get extra credit for it! 🙂
Sharon says
This is a great post–and a great topic! I started entering blog giveaways about a year ago and have won a lot of very nice things. I truly appreciate the work that goes into hosting a giveaway and maintaining a successful site.
That being said, during the year I’ve been entering giveaways I’ve noticed a trend toward making entering giveaways more and more complicated and time-consuming. One thing I’m noticing more and more is extra entries for entering the other giveaways on the site. So if you really want the best chance to win, you’ll need to enter every giveaway offered–takes a lot of time and you end up entering for things you really have no need for.
I’ve also noticed a lot of bloggers giving entries for commenting on non-giveaway posts. Please don’t do that! I know bloggers love comments, but this tactic only makes you seem desperate. Same goes for giving entries for voting for you on Top Whatever Blogs. Wouldn’t it be better if people vote for you because they want to, instead of to get extra entries into your giveaway?
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is the “Security Warning” window that pops up in blogger each time you open the comment window, the one that you have to check yes or no each time you post a comment. That thing gets annoying, but I don’t know if there’s any work-around to it.
I agree totally with the unlimited tweeting being ridiculously overused by a few people–won’t enter any giveaway that offers it.
I sound cranky, so I’m going to quit!
Stefany says
That security warning you are talking about is an IE issue I believe. I think that is the main reason I switched over to Firefox. If you aren’t running IE, then maybe I am wrong.
I agree with you on the commenting on non-giveaway posts. While I really would love more comments on my non-giveaway posts, I don’t want to force people to do it. The same is true for the other giveaways. I don’t want people entering just to get another entry into something else. I want people to win things they want… and give others a chance if they don’t.
Thanks for commenting!
cher says
Great post – i agree!
Stefany says
Thanks Cher!
Jennifer-Eighty MPH Mom says
This is a great post! I just posted about winners (and how to win gracefully), and I am going to link to your post here, so I can show both sides. Thanks!
Stefany says
Great! Thanks Jennifer. I will come over and check out your post too. 🙂
Ellen says
Couple more- goodness I am a cranky old woman 🙂
Offering both a tweet AND a facebook entry daily. Please- one or the other. Most of us like one better than the other and either tweet or use facebook.
Bloggers getting extra entries for blogging a contest. I know some folks who never write a sentence, who’s blogs are filled with buttons for extra entries. I dont feel bloggers should get any more entries than the average person. Recently I have seen a contest where the entry is limited to those with 50 readers or more- thats even worse , preference is being given for bloggers . (some have get 5 for a button get 10 for blogging etc) If you start giving preferential treatment, for a certain type of entrant, that isn’t right either.
Another cripe- when people are entering with more than one ID. I’ve seen this countless times, and hope that folks are checking on it.
Stefany says
Agreed on the Twitter and Facebook. I don’t offer extras for my button or blogging anymore. I felt I was getting a ton of people who only had a blog so they could post giveaways, yet had no followers. It just wasn’t beneficial to me or my sponsors.
I specifically say that “one entry per household”. It always shocks me that people can be so dishonest about something. 🙁
Thanks for sharing!
Stefany says
By the way Ellen, that is how this post came about. I would be sitting there and thinking and be like… oh, that annoys me! LOL
Flufferwuffer says
Thanks for the tips…A lot of your pet peeves are the same as mine. Thanks for the retweeting tip! I do have a widget added to each of my posts for sharing on social media sites, but I never thought to suggest that my entrants use it! Thanks again!
Stefany says
Great! I am glad this was helpful for you!
Thanks for commenting.
Lona W says
I would like to add that I appreciate all the giveaway’s though and really I am not the complaining sort.
Stefany says
You are fine! This is good dialogue. 🙂
Maria says
I agree with you! I’ve become such that I will just do the simple entry methods & nothing else. Sometimes, if it’s not a super-desirable item, and the blogger offers 10,000 other methods of entry, I know I have no chance and don’t even bother.
I also dislike having to leave 5 comments (espeially with Captcha!!) to get one entry. Another gripe is giving 10 or 25 entries for making a purchase, which makes the giveaway a private lottery (and illegal).
I recently overhauled my giveaways and made it super-duper easy to enter. I haven’t had anyone complain yet that I got rid of 5 or 6 bonus entry methods, but I guess I should ask!
Stefany says
Maria, I recently did ask my readers what they wanted. What I found is that they did want the extra entries. I try to make all mine as easy as possible though and I only offer one entry for each type.
Thanks for commenting!
Lona W says
I agree with everything you said. I really hate when I click the link to post a comment and it changes my page to the commenting page. That is so aggravating. I always right click links to sponsors sites and such and have them open in a new tab, since I got tired it changing my page.
The only thing I would add would be I hate when there is mutltiple entries for completing one task. Like “subscribe and get 5 extra entries” or 3 extra for tweeting. It is time consuming and if there are captcha’s on top of that, you will be there all day. With WordPress, it takes forever because you have to wait so long in between posting to avoid the “you are posting too fast” comment.
Ok, vent over! Thanks for posting.
Stefany says
Thanks for your input Lona. I now right click too but it is a pain with my one computer that the mouse right-click doesn’t always work. LOL
JRFrugalMom says
This is a great list! Thank you! It has taken me a while to get my giveaways optimized, but I think I have it down now….although I just made a winners page…..yesterday!
I personally hate the code….and the word press message, when I am commenting too fast…oh yes the no end date and unlimited tweeting = no need for me to enter.
My biggest issue at the moment is that thing about giveaways is when companies ask me to send readers to their Facebook page. How do we do this without breaking the Facebook rules?
Stefany says
My understanding is that you can offer an extra entry if you say something like “visit xyz’s Facebook page and like them”. That is fine, you just can’t require the entrant like a page… only offer as an option.
If you are ever iffy on it, just tell the sponsor you will add their link in your post and encourage the entrants to visit them. Just let them know you can’t “make” people like them.
Maggie @ Tethered Mommy says
I hate Captcha codes when they pop up later. I also will not write my own tweets – too time consuming. I hate the WordPress “posting messages too quickly” and WILL be installing that plug-in on my own blog.
I appreciate you posting this and the comments. Let’s me know what not to do on my own blog! Of course, not having server failures is probably my readers’ number one wish for my blog right now. 😉
Tami @ ThisMomsDelight.com says
Maggie,
Who are you using for your blog host? My blog is down almost daily it seems.
Stefany says
Yeah, server issues would be a big no no. ha! I hope you get it figured out!
I am glad this was helpful to you. 🙂
Tami @ ThisMomsDelight.com says
Thanks for sharing your view on giveaways. I’ve been wondering about my giveaways and how I can make them user-friendly. I’m doing pretty good according to your preferences. I just need to make subscribing optional each time.
Stefany says
Thanks for visiting! I know these are my preferences but it looks like many are in agreement. Who knew?!?
🙂
renee says
I agree with everything you said! Captcha drives me nuts, i have click away forgeting about it before thinking i was done. i find you giveaways easy to enter.
Also bloggers need to make tweet rules clear 1x or 1x daily , and to those that offer unlimited tweeting, i find that unnessasary, i don’t have all day to tweet the same thing as somepeople apparently do, seems unfair to me.
Stefany says
Thanks for your input Renee… and for letting me know you find mine easy to enter. That is good to know!!!
Lindsay says
Great list! I’m not new to blogging, but brand new to giveaways…I have a few coming this month and will try to put these things into practice.
Katie says
@Stacie, you hit on a few of mine…that stupid WordPress thing about posting too quickly drives me CRAZY!!!!! If there is a solution like you say, I really wish people would fix that. And the CAPTCHA plus moderated comments is totally overkill and annoying.
I also agree with PP who mentioned the winners page, or a winners post, or something! If I’m really dying to win something, I do go back to the blog to see who won and when I can’t find it it is very frustrating.
I know all you bloggers put a lot of time into giveaways and I do really appreciate it…I have won some great stuff! So thank you for letting me vent a bit. 🙂
Tami @ ThisMomsDelight.com says
I usually post a Winner’s Announcement.
Stefany says
No problem. 🙂
Stephanie j says
Thanks for the tips. I will have to check in to having my links open in a new browser.
Stefany says
🙂 That is a big one for me. It is so frustrating when the blog disappears and I have to go back and forth!
Emily says
I always enjoy reading posts about peoples giveaway preferences, but it can be hard because everyones are different. For example, I know that a lot of people get really upset at blogs who have a lot of extra entries, because they personally don’t want to invest the time in extra entries. I however, LOVE them because I can sort of decide how ‘badly’ I want the prize. If I am dying to have it, I’ll do as many extra entries as offered. If it’d be nice but no biggie, I might do two or three and then move on.
So on my own blog I offer a lot of extra entries, but then I’ve had people comment saying that I offer a ridiculous amount of extra entries and they would never enter my giveaways. Which is silly and immature to me that you’d comment telling me that, you know?
I guess I might be the odd one out, but I really like when the comment box pops up because then I can open the mini comment window and have it right next to the ‘entries’ and go back and forth instead of scrolling down thru 200+ comments to the end of the post.
It doesn’t bother me as much if I can just hit ‘end’ on my keyboard and get to the comment area, but some blogs I follow have like six inches of icons/links at the end so i hit ‘end’ and then have to scroll back up to get to the comment area, which is super annoying.
So anyway it’s all interesting it’s just hard to know what is the ‘best’ way to go seems how everyone has different preferences. So I personally just make my blog to be in line with my preferences, I guess.
Stefany says
“I guess I might be the odd one out, but I really like when the comment box pops up because then I can open the mini comment window and have it right next to the ‘entries’ and go back and forth instead of scrolling down thru 200+ comments to the end of the post.”
Emily, that is not what I was talking about. That pop-up commenter is fine! I don’t like when the page disappears and you have a full page of the comment form. Does that make sense?
I think extra entries are okay. I don’t do too many but do offer some because, after talking to my readers, I found they liked them. I figure people will enter the extras if they want to. If not, that is okay too. 🙂
Emily says
OH yes! I do know what you mean and that bothers me too. hahaha. I have heard others say that they don’t like the pop up window though. For probably six months now I’ve been planning to make a survey about entry preferences for my readers to fill out so I can go with whatever is the most common preference but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I should though.
Kirsten says
Definitely agree with the Captcha! Hate those!
And providing what you want to have tweeted is a big help – I usually don’t bother tweeting if I have to write it myself.
No end date is annoying.
Not saying who the contest is open to is probably what bothers me most! There are already so many that are US only, which is disappointing enough, but when it simply doesn’t say I have to decide if I want to bother the blogger with an email to ask if it’s open to Canada, enter anyway and potentially waste my time if it’s another US only, or assume it’s US only and not enter!
Stefany says
Yeah, I didn’t even think of that because I am in the US and most are okay for me. I can see how that would be annoying though. I always make sure to include that in my giveaways! I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, or my own!
Stacie says
Hate captchas!!! Especially the ones on blogger where it pops up after you think you are done leaving your comment.
On WordPress, the message that you are posting comments too quickly is annoying. There’s a plug in you can install to stop this message. I think its called Disable Comment Flood (??).
When there’s no end date listed or when it doesn’t say who can enter. I won’t bother to enter if it doesn’t say open to Canada or open to all.
Making it too difficult and time consuming to enter. I know that some sponsors on my blog want these complicated entries and it just means people will pass it over. Keep it one step for the main entry.
Unlimited tweeting. I think one tweet per day is good. Some people don’t have time to tweet all day long so it stacks the odds against them for winning.
These are just some of things I have been told and what I have noticed in my travels in bloggy world. Thanks for the awesome post!
Gerrie S says
Thanks for your comment because I have not thought about stating whether my giveaway would be for US or any other. I need to go in and make that change!!
Stefany says
Stacie, I had no idea about the plug-in to stop the WP message. I will have to find it and update my plug-ins!
I wrote a post recently about extra entries. One thing I will never do is allow unlimited tweeting. That is just wrong to me.
Thanks for your input!
Gerrie S says
I was wondering if you would do me a favor….I am new to giveaways on my blog and I was hoping you would look at my newest giveaway and give me your honest opinion on my entries. You can send your comments to me in an email @
gerrie(dot)shaeffer(at)yahoo(dot)com
Also, for those with blogger, how do you get the comments to show numbers?
Thanks for the above advice and any personal advice that you can give me!! I love your blog so I will take your criticism with gratitude!!
Gerrie S says
Sorry…I forgot to leave the link to my giveaway
http://northcarolinamomma.blogspot.com/2010/09/mysterious-islands-dvd-review-and.html
Stefany says
Gerrie, I will certainly answer your question and help with the numbering. Let me get my son to school and I will email you. 🙂
Heather ~ Acting Balanced Mom says
Love the list – my big pet peeve is the captcha too, especially if you also have the blogger approval checked – if you’re going to read and approve every comment, get rid of the extra step!… my other one is not having working links – please check your links after you post … if they don’t link to the right place – fix them!
Stefany says
Ah yes, CAPTCHA seems to be a big one for everyone. Working links is a good one too. I didn’t even think of that but you are right!
Ellen says
I enter alot of blog contests- I prefer them & have met some really nice bloggers. But, here are a few additional cripes 🙂
Pet peeves :
Have a WINNERS list on your blogs. Some don’t have this, and it is frustrating not knowing the outcome if you have spent time entering a blog contest. Heck it is nice to give the winner a congrats! .
Be TIMELY in drawing winners. I know things come up, but I have personally seen bloggers take weeks to draw- referencing the above, if it takes you weeks to draw, and someone has to ask if you’ve drawn winners thats a huge hint. If you have a newsletter-take the time to show winners- it is only a few more sentences. (I do prefer newsletters to RSS)
EMAIL winners in a timely manner-again, I have seen this take weeks and have seen folks miss a deadline in claiming a prize. Please when you email -don’t make it look like a spam message from a Nigerian lottery saying congrats- say your blog name or something in the subject line 😉
Also realize that that everyone’s time is valuable. Without the numbers to show your sponsors, your giveaways wouldn’t happen. Your readers, your entrants , are what makes your blog happen.
Here is a big one- most of you are on Twitter. If we are tweeting a contest, we of course are following you. If we have a question about the contests, please answer. It doesn’t have to be within minutes, but goodness, I have had bloggers completely ignore a question 4-5 times.
OK there are my cripes for the night 🙂
Stefany says
I am guilty of not having a winner’s page. I used to do this and it has just been set aside. I post my winner’s at the bottom of each contest after a winner is chosen. I am trying to get to my giveaway winners sooner but I sometimes take a few days to a week to do them.
Thanks for your input!
MarfMom says
Those are all great ones. I don’t know if this is something giveaway bloggers can control (though I assume it is), but it makes it so much easier when I don’t need to retype my name/website/email for each entry.
Also, I usually don’t do giveaways that have multiple required entries, and I never do giveaways that require me to subscribe to something. Sure, make it an optional entry, but I don’t want daily messages in my inbox from some random company or blog I don’t really know.
Stefany says
I agree on the form repopulating. I am trying to figure out if mine is like that. Do you know Maya?
MarfMom says
I just checked! I do NOT have to fill out the form each time I do a giveaway entry on the same giveaway 🙂
Stefany says
Oh, so mine is good? Whew! LOL
Rosey says
I do not own a running blog, but I love your list, especially the retweet button suggestion.
Appreciate the time you used for the write-up.
Stefany says
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Rosey!
Ashley Elaine says
I agree that when entering a giveaway it is a pain when it goes to a new page and then you have to keep clicking back and forth & giveaways that ask me to sign up for their emails as the mandatory entry I don’t even both entering, it is no offense to the blog owner but my inbox gets full and chances are I already go to their page everyday.
Stefany says
I agree Ashley. I only subscribe if I really want to. I won’t ever do it if someone makes me. That is just shady to me. 🙁