Tips for Winning Giveaways!!

I noticed my "bloggie friend" Sara, from Simply Sara, seemed to be REALLY good at entering and winning giveaways! I thought we could ALL use some good tips to score some fabulous free goodies! She was very sweet to share her fantastic tips.......

Christina e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to guest post on her blog about some of my tips/suggestions as far as entering giveaways are concerned. I told her I would love to ofcourse!! I don’t know why, but here recently I have been hooked on entering giveaways. Never had entered many before, but all of a sudden I just started to, kind of random really. I had always thought I was pretty unlucky….but come to find out, I do great on these blog giveaways! I have won some pretty great items! Want to see? Here are a few pics...

Here are some great tips to follow:

*Make sure to read the giveaway directions “VERY CLOSELY”. Some giveaways have specific instructions. If you don’t follow them, your entries may not be counted.

*ALWAYS type your e-mail address at the bottom of each post, whether it is asked for or not. When you add your e-mail, it gives the host a way to contact you if you win. I have been the winner of two giveaways where the “First” Winner never came forward.

*When you see “Mandatory” entries and “Additional” entries, try to do as MANY entries as possible. Always take advantage of the additional chances to win! When you just do the mandatory entry, it enters you into the giveaway once, but when you ALSO do the additional entries, your chances are better!

*When you are asked to tweet about a specific giveaway, always give the link!!! Same goes for your Facebook posts. They want to see that you ACTUALLY shared a post about the giveaway, and when you give them a link, they can instantly see that!

Twitter: After you post on twitter, click on the far right button beside your twitter name (has an arrow pointing out of it) Then select “Copy Link to Tweet”. This will automatically copy the link, so all you need to do is go back to the giveaway, and paste it there!

Facebook: After you share the giveaway on your Facebook, look right beneath your post, and you will see the time stamp (ex. 3 second ago) Click on that and it will pull up “only the link you just posted” copy that link directly into the giveaway you are entering.

*This tip is great if you use Google Reader to read through the blogs you follow! I have a great technique I use here when I am entering giveaways. When I am reading through the blogs I follow and I see a giveaway I want to enter, I will “STAR” it in Google Reader. When I do this, I can go back to my “STARRED” items and see all the giveaways in one central location. Once I have entered a giveaway, I will “UNSTAR” it, so I know which ones I have entered already. If you are a giveaway stalker like myself, I strongly recommend using Google Reader!

*When you are entering giveaways, make sure you separate each of your posts. If a giveaway requests that you follow their blog and tweet about the giveaway, make 2 separate entries. (Unless they make a special request to just make 1 comment, I have seen that) Some giveaways use random.org to determine their winners. So if you have 3 posts instead of 1 post, your odds are WAYYYY better!

I hope these tips helped!! They always seem to work for me!!

You can follow Sara on Facebook too!

Speaking of giveaways... be sure to visit the blog tomorrow for an AMAZING giveaway!