How to Enter Blog Giveaways

I’ve had some people question me on how to do this, and I’ve had some people make a few mistakes while trying to enter my giveaways.  So I thought a post explaining how to enter a giveaway on a blog was in order.

There’s going to be a few discrepancies when entering a giveaway on different blogs. For example some blogs will ask you to enter your info into a form to enter the contest.  Most, mine included, require you to post a comment.  The directions I’m about to give are for my blog in particular, but should be pretty much the same for any Blogger/BlogSpot blog.

The first thing you need to know in order to enter is how to leave a comment on a post. To enter you will need to make a comment on the giveaway post. Scroll down to the bottom of the post describing the giveaway and look for the spot where it says “Post a comment”.  There should be a big blank box for you to type in.  Once you’ve typed out what you needed to say for your entry click on “post comment”.

This is what I mean by comment box. Type your comment/entry in here. And by the way I love comments on my non-giveaway posts too!

If you are on the front page and not on the specific page for the post that box at the bottom won’t be there.  Instead you can scroll down to the bottom of the post and at the very end, just to the right of the time stamp it will say “# comments” (eg. 25 comments, or 0 comments).  If you put your mouse over that text you’ll find it is a link and clicking on it brings you directly to the comments section of that particular post.  If there are bunches of comments, as there normally are on a giveaway, you’ll still need to scroll to the bottom to find the Comment Box.

Click on “115 comments” to get to the comments page.

Okay, so now you’ve figured out how to leave a comment, what should the comment say?  Well most of my giveaways have multiple ways to enter.  You can do any or all of them.  You can enter just one time, or many. It’s up to you.  Sometimes one of the entry types will be specified as the Mandatory Entry, in which case be sure to do that one first. Then you can go on to do as many of the optional or bonus entries as you desire.  I’ll break down each way you can enter and exactly what you need to do.

1. Publicly follow Maple Leaf Mommy on Google Friend Connect.
If you’re not familiar with Google Friend Connect, it’s a quick way to track blogs that your interested in.  To follow my blog on Google Friend Connect look for the widget in the right hand tool bar and click on follow.  You can sign in using an account you’ve already created at Google, Twitter, Yahoo, Aim, Netlog or OpenID. Once you’re signed in you click “follow” and then “done”.  You have to have your privacy settings set to public, meaning that others can see that you’re following my blog.

Here’s what the  Google Friend Connect Widget looks like.

After doing this  you would leave a comment saying something like “I follow you on Google Friend Connect (or GFC as most people shorten it). Followed by your email address if it isn’t publicly visible in your Google Friend Connect Profile.

2. Follow Maple Leaf Mommy on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway.
If you’re not already following me click on the link, head to Twitter, and click on the box below my profile that says “+ follow”. You can Tweet any old thing you’d like, as long at it links back to the giveaway page. Or you can cut and paste the suggested Tweet that I’ve provided. You can leave a Tweet once daily, for a bonus entry once per day.
After doing this you would leave a comment saying something like “I tweeted.” or “Daily Tweet”.  Followed by the permanent link to your Tweet.  To get the link look at your Twitter feed and look at the tweet you just posted.  In the bottom left hand corner of that particular Tweet there will be a time stamp.  It will say something like “56seconds ago” or “4 minutes ago”.  Click on those words, right on the time stamp and it will bring you to the direct permanent page for that tweet. Then you just cut and paste the URL into the comment box.  It will look something like this: “http://twitter.com/#!/MapleLeafMommy/status/27133014299385857”.

Click on the time stamp to get to the page with your tweets’ permanent link.

3. Like Maple Leaf Mommy on Facebook.
To “like” Maple Leaf Mommy on Facebook you can either click on the link and head directly to Facebook where you can choose to “like” my fan page, or  you can find the Facebook widget in the right hand column and click on “Like”.

Here’s what the Facebook widget looks like.

Once you’ve done that just leave a comment saying something along the lines of “I like you on Facebook.” followed by the name you use on your facebook account.  If you don’t want to give out your full name just put the First Initial and your Last Name (eg M. Leafmommy).

4. Subscribe to my blog by email.
To become an email subscriber either enter your email address in the widget along the right hand side (where it says “Subscribe via email – enter your email address”) or click on the link and then enter your email address, and click on “complete subscription request”.  You will receive an email confirming your subscription.  You will need to click on the link in the email you receive and activate your subscription for it to be live, and for it to count as an entry.  
Once your done that leave a comment saying something like “I am an email subscriber.” followed by the email address that you subscribe under.

5. Visit the sponsor’s website and answer a question about what you see there.
Such as tell me your favourite item available for sale on their site, or name a pattern that you like, etc.
After visiting the sponsor’s site via the link provided you would leave a comment containing your answer. eg. “I really like the Ham n Eggs pattern”, or “My favourite item is the ToyRobot2000”.

6. Follow @sponsorname on Twitter.
If you’re not already following the sponsor, click on the link, head to Twitter, and click on the box below thier profile that says “+ follow”.
After doing this you would leave a comment saying something like “I follow sponsor name on Twitter” followed by your Twitter handle. eg. “@mapleleafmommy” or “@mynameis”.

7. Like SponsorName on Facebook.
To “like” the Sponsor on Facebook just click on the link and head directly to Facebook where you can choose to “like” them on their  fan page. (In one of my actual giveaways the line “SponsorName on Facebook” will be a link.)
Once you’ve done that just leave a comment saying something along the lines of “I like SponsorName on Facebook.” followed by the name you use on your facebook account.  If you don’t want to give out your full name just put the First Initial and your Last Name (eg M. Leafmommy).

MOST IMPORTANTLY…
I need to be able to contact you if you win! Make sure you have your email address visible in your Google Friend Connect profile. If you are not signed and posting linked to an email address, PLEASE leave your email address in your comment.  If you are concerned about spammers harvesting your address write it in the format yourname (at) gmail (dot) com or something similar.

ALSO PLEASE NOTE…
With any of the above, you don’t have to be a new follower.  If you are already following myself or the sponsor, you can just go ahead and leave a comment.

AND THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT…
Each entry needs to be in a separate comment.  One big comment listing off all the ways you entered will only count as one entry.  You need to leave a separate comment for each and every entry.  Each comment counts as one entry.  The comment IS your entry. When I go to pick a winner I head to Random.Org and I enter in how many comments I received in total, and tell it to pick a random number.   The corresponding comment number is the winner.  For example if I had 158 comments total I would tell the widget on random.org to pick me a number between 1and 158, if number 62 came up then comment #62 would be the winner (provided they actually did what they said, and left me a way to contact them).

That’s it!  If anything I said didn’t make perfect sense, or you have any further questions on how to enter my giveaway please do let me know.

Now GO ENTER, and Good luck!