Are You Suffering from Sweepstakes Burn Out?

If you have been entering giveaways for any length of time you know about sweepstakes burn out.  This is when you have been entering and you start to feel like it is a job and not a hobby! Often times this burn out occurs when you haven’t won anything or you haven’t won anything for a while.

Once you get started expect to wait six months for a win.

This hobby is definitely about persistence and also the law of averages.  Ever since I started I have read that you need to wait six months before you start winning consistently.  It is the absolute truth.  Now this doesn’t mean you will not win for six months it just means winning prizes will not come every week or twice a month until you have been entering this long.  It is all about how much you enter!  Once you get through the first six months you should expect to win at least twice a month or more!

Keep track of your wins

Document all your wins.  When you have won a prize, you will receive a notification either in the mail or online. Keep these notices.  You can use a typical three-ring binder and Sheet Protectors to put your win notifications in.  This is great to keep around because you can look at it and remember that you have won prizes and you will win again!  You may even want to take pictures of prizes and/or keep a journal about these prizes. If you scrapbook, you can make a page for each one of your prizes. You can even make a digital scrapbook of your prize winnings!  This really stirs up the desire again to enter more sweepstakes.  Read more

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Winner Announcements on YouTube

Are you someone that often runs blog contests?  Maybe you just run them once in a while.  Have you ever considered vlogging to announce the winner? With vlogging being such a hot thing lately, this may be a fun way to announce the winner of your contest!  Here is an example of a fun way to announce the winner:

If you are not familiar with how to do a vlog, Jendi from Jendi’s Journal.com has a great video series called Simple Video Tips!  Why not spice up your contests with a little bit of vlogging!

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Link Love: Deals

Coupons

If you haven’t ever printed coupons from the internet you need to start!  Our family uses coupons constantly. As a matter of fact, my husband came home the other day with six full bags of groceries and he spent ten dollars and change!  We love getting deals in our house!  So today I have devoted link love to getting deals.  First of all, the first day of each month there are new coupons you can print out! Not only can you print out coupons but there is a new way to not print out coupons.  Yes, you heard me right!  You can save money with coupons and not have to print or cut them out.  It is called Cellfire.  With Cellfire you load coupons on to your trusty grocery store shopping card.  I am really new to it but I am excited to use it! Kraft is offering a calendar that has $55 in coupons! I just requested mine.

One last link for you having to do with shopping!  There are some really great blogs out there that save me bunches of money by matching coupons and sales together.  This week I used Homemaker Barbi’s list for Target and Walgreens.  We got A1 Steaksteak sauce for $.09 at Target this week because of this list (we actually bought 3 of them). Thank you Homemaker Barbi!!

Here are some other summer time deals.

Bargain Briana shared the idea of taking our kids five and up to Home Depot to the kid’s workshop.  The will be making a garden caddy for free! FaveCrafts is giving a free ebook away that has fourth of July recipes and craft ideas. If you are looking to get in shape with your kids by your side you can get a coupon for a free 7-day Stroller Stride class!

I hope you enjoy all the deals I found.  Now is the time to save money big time!

photo credit: rocknroll_guitar

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Sweepstakes Convention

There are all kinds of conventions that go on each year.  There are Star Trek conventions, comic book conventions, anime conventions and even tattoo conventions! Yes, there is a National Sweepstakes Convention!  This is where fanatics from all over our country and sometimes elsewhere come together and have a big party! Each year one of the sweepstakes clubs throughout the U.S. hosts the National Sweepstakes Convention. I thought that since the convention is happening at the end of this week I would share a little about it!  This year the convention is being held in New Hampshire. They are having a Star Spangled Celebration!

This year is the 20th annual convention.

Can you believe that people have been getting together to talk about sweepstakes and contests for twenty years!! In my sweepstakes club we have at least three people going that I know of.  They will have such a good time and all of us wish we could tag along with them!

So what do you do at a sweepstakes convention.

At the convention there are contests and raffles, of course.  There are workshops on winning.  Vendors come to share their goods.  Vendor items will include envelopes, cards, handprinting, newsletters, software and the list goes on! You will be able to find and speak to representatives from each of the newsletters.  You will also find the most up-to-date software and learn how to use it! Not only do you get see all of these goodies and learn a ton, there will be good food and attendees will get to mingle with people that have won a lot!  Those that attend this convention are very diverse.  Some are just beginning to enter and others are well versed in winning large prizes.  It is a great place to learn some of the tips and tricks of the veterans!  I think one of the best things about the convention is the prizes to be had! Since I have a handprinting business myself I considered donating some prizes.  I opted not to do this since I want to keep my business small.  Even though I didn’t donate you can check out the list of people that did donate! Attendees will come home with one if not more wins!

When is the next convention?

This years convention is being held July 1st-5th.  Next year the convention will be held in the twin cities in Minnesota.  The dates for the 2010 convention with be over the Labor Day holiday.  So if you are inclined to spend a few days with some very excitable people then take time off of work and plan for it.  I am hoping I can make it to the next national convention!  There are a few mini conventions and banquets that are held throughout the United States during the year.  There is a Northeast Mini-Convention that is typically held in October in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Yes, the Hershey where the headquarters of Hershey’s chocolate is!  There are other banquets and meetings that you can find out about in forums for sweepstakes.  If you can’t make it to a bigger event start out with a sweepstakes club meeting near you.  You will soon learn how fun it is to connect with people that are excited about sweepstakes and contests!

photo credit: Tzuyü Jennifer

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CBC with Melitsa: How does Mom Giveaways Work

This is my final post in my cross-blog conversation with Melitsa Avila from Play-Activities.  I has been so fun getting to know her and learn more about her blog!

If you have missed any part of our conversation go to Play-Activities and also here in the News and Tips section! In Melitsa’s last post she answered my questions: What do you think has contributed most to your success and For someone getting started what would you recommend they do first?  Her answers were great!  Definitely check out her recommendations for what to do first.  She is so smart!

Now it is my turn again!  Here is what she asked me:

I’m learning a lot from you, Danielle. Can you explain more about how Momgiveaways works, what you have to offer and some tips when entering giveaways??

Mom Giveaways (MG) is a website set up to share blog giveaways, freebies and product giveaways. The most exciting place to be on MG is the giveaways section.  This section is where bloggers that are running giveaways go to advertise their giveaways.  There are bunch of new giveaways posted everyday.  If you are a blogger and running a giveaway, this is a great place to promote it.  The site gets a lot of traffic each day and there are over 700 subscribers to the newsletter.  Each and every day a newsletter goes out that contains all the most recent giveaways listed! Read more

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