1. Register for twitter, facebook, google, blog and email accounts that you use only for entering contests. Start with the email because you need that to register for the others. There are several sites to open free email accounts: gmail.com; hotmail.com; yahoo.com. Make sure you link that email to your everyday email - you don't want to be notified that you won and not see it! 
2. Now that you are ready to enter, how do you find giveaways? There are three ways that I use, but I think the linky is the best way. Many blogs will have a linky where other blogs can post their giveaways. If you go to the page on Kelly's Lucky You that says "Giveaway Linkys" you'll see an extensive list with click-through links. The second way is through a giveaway listing like Prizey.net. I especially like that one because you can click on the alarm clock in the header "click me for today's last chances". The third way is from email subscriptions to giveaway blogs. I have a folder created in my email manager that says, "Contests Enter These". When I'm going through my emails, I put any blog subscription posts with good contests in that folder to enter later.3. Enter using all the options for additional entries. If you have a choice between entering ten contests or entering one contest ten times, what would you do? The winning answer? Enter one contest ten times.
4. Look at the total number of entries and the ending date. I often use prizey.net and click on the alarm clock in the header "click me for today's last chances". If a contest has 100 entries and there are 10 options, that means I will have approximately a 1 in 10 chance of winning. Picture 9 other people in a line with you. One is going to win! That is a pretty good chance! But you have to do all the entries. One time when I recommend an exception to this is if there is a prize that you especially want to win and you are willing to do daily tweets, then enter early, do all the entries, and don't worry about the odds of winning.5. Go for smaller prizes as well as the "big fish". When you see a contest for a $250 Visa Gift Card, there will be a ton of entries and your chances of winning will be lower than when you see a contest for a $25 Visa Gift Card. That doesn't mean you shouldn't enter the $250 one, best is to do both, but if you can only enter one, go for the $25 one. Ouch, it hurts to say that. But it is realistically possible that in a year, you can win ten $25 gift cards if you enter consistently. And you have won $250! A big reason for me to do this is because it keeps up my motivation. If you are taking the time to enter contests consistently, weekly wins will keep you going.
Please leave a comment and let me know if you have any tips to win giveaway prizes!
Good advice!
ReplyDeleteI also just google certain keywords to find prizes I want.
Today I found out I won a $500 Home Depot gift card from a local radio station! I only had to enter once, and that's all it takes sometimes.
;-)
Wow thanks for the great tips!! I have won several prizes and it is so fun! I like the idea of having a different email for contests but could you tell me how I would link that email to my regular email?
ReplyDeleteLove your blog!
bee blessed
mary
Hi Mary Ellen!
ReplyDeleteGreat question! It's different with each service and too long to answer in a comment, but here are links with directions on how to import mail from a different email address.
Yahoo Mail: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/manage/manage-46.html
Hotmail: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-hotmail-other-accounts-mail-ui
Gmail: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=56283
Kelly
Great tips, I agree, focusing on the smaller prizes makes sense. I put a few quick entries in the big contests, because you never know and I'd love to win a Kitchen Aid mixer or something like that. But if I find something I want with less than 200 entries I try to do all the extras.
ReplyDeleteHi Anne!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you said that - one of the early win giveaway prizes for me was a silver artisan Kitchen Aid mixer **ah, I'm in love with it**. I have it right next to the Keurig (bought with a prize gift card) and they are the most beautiful things in my kitchen. I really am in love with those two products, hehehe. *dreamy look in my eyes*
I won the Kitchen Aid from an "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" instant win sweepstakes. But I don't do those very much because even though the prizes are big, they are few and far between. I have a hard time motivating myself to do it. I'll do a post soon about instant win sweeps soon though! Maybe it'll push me to enter again. Thank you!
I have won a lot of giveaways in the last few months, and I've found that I seem to win more often when I only do a couple of entries. I don't keep track, but I remember doing as many entries as possible for the things I REALLY want, and those are never the ones I win. I don't know, it's probably just luck or maybe everyone has a different system. But, when it comes down to it, only 1 person is going to win and doing lots of entries is really just like having more people enter.
ReplyDelete