Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Just thinking

I was thinking about doing a giveaway here on this blog. I don't know much about how these things work except that shipping can be expensive and the post office doesn't allow some things to be shipped. O' there might be other things I know but lets assume I don't :) 

I have made it to my 100th post. This is something of a surprise to me because I started this blog in 2008 and promptly forgot about it. For TWO whole years!
I know that something must have been going on but for the life of me I cannot remember exactly what. Lots of bad and good things have happened between those years and I am sure I remembered a few times during that time but it is awful hard to get started again after stopping so completely.

Also I am about to see 1000 page views! Yay me! Considering that it's mostly you guys from the Year of Projects the giveaway will be featuring Knitting/Crochet I should think. Maybe some books? eh? Any advice you could give me about this would be welcome And thanks in advance for the support.

4 comments:

supertinks said...

I've not done a giveaway on my blog yet (but plan to in the next few months), so you can take or leave my advice as you wish!

It's up to you how much you want to spend on it. So if international shipping is going to make it too expensive, only open up your giveaway to people in your country. Just be clear in your giveaway post that it is restricted.

I'd suggest giving away a prize that fits in with the theme of your blog, or at the very least would appeal to your readers. You say its mostly Year of Projects folks popping in, so yarn-related prizes would be fine, I'd have thought. Especially if you have something local which is hard to get hold of anywhere else. Again, value of prize is totally down to you.

Make a big song and dance of it in your giveaway post. Nice photos of the prize on offer, full description of the prize on offer.

Keep entry requirements simple. "Comment on this post to enter" is enough, saying that entries will only be valid if the comment includes a method of getting in touch such as email or Ravelry name. If you want to restrict to your regular readers, include the caveat that in order to enter you must "be a follower of this blog". But I wouldn't overcomplicate by letting people have more than one entry. I see giveaways where you can have up to 5 or 6 entries by "like me on facebook" or "follow me on twitter" or "tweet my giveaway" etc. That puts me off entering!

Include all the terms of the giveaway (such as no international shipping) on that post. Give a clear deadline. "All comments received by X time on X day" and if you're covering multiple time zones, be specific about which time zone you are referring to. Also specify "I Will draw the winner on X day at X time and post about it here", and when you do the winning draw, use Random.org and post the screenshot of the selection so noone can accuse you of unfairness.

Post a link to your giveaway blog post everywhere you can. Ask your readers to promote it. Use the Blog Hub group on Ravelry, they have a giveaway thread there. Ask your readers to spread the word as well (unless you've decided to restrict the giveaway to followers only).

That's all I can think of off the top of my head!

Emma (GirlAnachronismE) said...

What she said ^

=P But seriously, please mention if you're willing to ship internationally or not, because if people don't specify, I never know whether to enter. That not saying you have to ship internationally, which can be expensive, but just tell people whether you are or not. And I would include a description of what it is, so say it's yarn you might say, it's soft and squishy sock wool. Anything to "sell" what you're giving away

Sandy said...

I don't like beanies either. The point of a hat is warmth, and if one's ears are cold...what's the point. lol Turned out cute though on the doll. You could donate to babies at a hospital?

karen said...

totally agree let people know where your willing to ship to.