Thursday, March 10, 2011

How To Have a Successful Give Away!

Are you planning on having a Give Away? Do you host Give Aways? Would you like to get traffic to your Give Away? Here are some ideas that might be helpful.

*When planning a Give Away or Hosting a Give Away (G.A.):
1) Have a good write up on the shop the give away is coming from.
- If the G.A. is from your own shop - have a short write-up about yourself & your shop. Most people are interested in where the prize is coming from.

2) Make sure there are quite a few links to the shop.

3) Pictures are important. Have a few different pictures from the shop.
- Show a good variety of items : 3-4 pictures works well. This will make people interested in the rest of the shop too.

4) Have a Very Good picture of the prize and a good description.

* Every G.A. has different rules for entering. Here are a few suggestions for rules:
1) Have a mandatory entry. I like to have this entry be an easy one. What I do is have everyone go to the shop/site, pick their favorite item, then come back to my blog with the name/link. This way the shop gets traffic, hopefully interest & maybe a sale or two.

2) Have people twitter, Facebook, blog etc about your G.A. with links back to it. It's amazing how many people will do one or more of these to enter. The more links out there the more traffic you might get. You could also ask people to follow you on twitter.

3) Some blogs like to have people follow their blog as an entry option. I wouldn't suggest making this the mandatory entry, though some blogs do with some luck. Quite a few people will avoid these G.A.'s.

4) Have everyone leave a way for you to contact them.
ie: email, blog, etsy shop id.

5) Basically anything goes. The ways to enter a G.A. is endless. Do what works for you!

* Make sure you post the end date!!
I post G.A's on my blog and on two other blogs. Nothing is more frustrating than not knowing when the G.A. ends.


* Email the winner!
There are blogs that expect people to come back to see if they won. But realistically this isn't the best. Who remembers every G.A. they entered, where to find it, what the end date was etc. Next to no one. If you posted in the rules that everyone should leave a way for you to contact them - hopefully they did :) If not - pick another winner.
(I use Random.org to pick my winners)

Email the winner, give them 3 days to email back (make sure to mention that in the email). If they don't get back to you, pick another winner. I've never had to pick a 2nd winner. Everyone loves to win!!

* PROMOTION
Probably the most important step in having/hosting a successful G.A. The more sites/blogs you advertise on the more traffic to your blog & therefore to the G.A. shop!
I've accumulated a very long list of sites/blogs where you can advertise for FREE! A few of them you will have to join, but that is also free & well worth it. Here is the link to my list:

http:/www.audreysgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-to-advertise-give-away.html

When posting your G.A. on Linky's - make sure to add the end date! Link directly to the G.A. post. And if you happen to have a prize that is worth $20+, mention that as well.

Example:
AGB - Hand Painted Jean Blanket $65 - 01/08
http://audreysgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/jean-blanket.html

I won't tell you that if you follow everything I've listed that you will have the best G.A. ever. How many entries you get has a lot to do with what the prize is, where you promote, and how people are feeling when they see your post. Not saying that the prize has to be worth $20+, many items that are $5 get lots of entries. People are fickle, you just never know what types of G.A. they will want to enter. But the more you promote the better chance you have of getting people to your blog & entering the G.A.

* Moral of the Story :)
- Have Fun!!
- Make rules fairly easy.
- Don't forget the end date!
- Email Winner!!

If you have any tricks, links, ideas or suggestions please post them here. We would all love to hear them!!

13 comments:

  1. Very nice. I think you got all the important stuff. I hate it when the winner does not get a email.

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  2. Thanks for the info. I'll try some of your ideas next time I do a Giveaway.

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  3. Spot on Audrey and also a heads up to those entering, please make sure you let the hostess know if you will be gone when the day of the winner is announced! I give a 3 day period for winners to contact me after I post and send out Email and still, many have lost to the next in line!

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  4. Hi Audrey, Thank you for linking me, you have lots of useful information.


    www.cottonarts.co.uk

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  5. Thanks for all the great tips. Thankfully, I've got them all covered.

    I am between giveaways right now and getting people to vote on what to giveaway next (from my etsy store)
    The next giveaway starts on 3/10

    Could you post or link about this on your blog?

    I'm new at this and so far getting traffic is my biggest concern.

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  6. Thank you so much for this post! I am hosting my first giveaway on Friday. What wonderful timing. Have a blessed week :D

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  7. Hello,
    This post was very helpful.
    I am wanting to start hosting giveaways, but how do I go about getting people to actually sponsor? Is that even how it works?

    Emily
    http://writingsofasmalltowngirl.blogspot.com/

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  8. Great idea for posting this! ^_^

    I also think that if you're hosting a giveaway, you should put who the giveaway is for, if it is US only, US & Canada or Worldwide. Putting this in the giveaway post early on would be more convenient for the host as well as for those who will enter. c:

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  9. This is a great list and just what I needed! Thank you so much...

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  10. Thanks Audrey for this great list and for your advice also!
    Lynn

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Thank you for entering! Good Luck!!