How to Have A Giveaway On Your Blog

Have you ever entered giveaways on blogs? Do you wonder where they get those prizes to give away? Do you want to host a giveaway on your blog?

Here are some tips to get you started:

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Blog
• Creativity
• Time
• Plan

1. 
   Your Blog Is A Business

   The easiest way to find something to give away on your blog, is to purchase the prize yourself. If you have a profitable blog, then you have the capital to sponsor the giveaway and it is a good investment in your blog as well.
   
   If you are just starting out and not making any money yet on your blog, then you will have to decide whether or not you want to spend the money on a giveaway or not. Personally, running a monetized blog, is just like running a business, so I think it is a good investment to make.

2. 
   Gift Cards Are Popular Giveaway Prizes

   What should you give away?
   
   Gift cards are always popular. But another good idea for a giveaway is to target it to your main audience. Do you have a Food Blog? Then give away kitchen supplies. A Car Blog? How about a gift card to a car part store? A Mommy Blog? Try a toy, or pampering items for Mom.

3. 
   Sell Yourself

   Don't want to spend your own money on a giveaway? You still have options.
   
   Try asking business owners that you know if they would like to sponsor a giveaway on your blog. You will have to pitch your blog, so make sure you tell them how many subscribers that you have and how many visitors you get. Tell them who you readers are and what sort of products that they would be interested in. And tell them how you will promote your giveaway (tips on that below). You can also offer them a free ad on your blog for a month or longer. The possibilities are endless. Do make sure to tell them that they will be responsible for shipping the prize to the winner though. It is so much easier than having them ship it to you and then you shipping it to the winner.
   
   Just make sure to sell yourself, your blog and your readers in the best possible light and you should come out with a positive result.

4. 
   Share Ideas & Network

   Another way to find sponsors for your blog giveaways is to ask your contacts on Twitter and Facebook. You are on Twitter and Facebook, aren't you? If not, it's really time. I can't even begin to tell you all of the things I have learned from all of the friends that I have met via Twitter and Facebook. Again, your blog is your business and you need to be networking...only good things will happen when you start sharing ideas with other like-minded bloggers.

5. 
   Etsy Rocks!

   Another great way to find sponsors is in the Etsy forums. Etsy is a website that artisans sell their handmade goods on. Just post that you are looking for sponsors for a giveaway on your blog, what type of blog you have and your contact information.

6. 
   Product Reviews Are A Wonderful Tool

   Probably the easiest way to attract sponsors to your blog is to start writing reviews on your blog. Do you love a cleaning product? An appliance? Toys? Food? You name it, you can review anything. When you write reviews, people will take notice, especially businesses.
   
   When a business contacts you to sponsor a giveaway, they will more than likely offer you a free product for you to review. Then they will offer one or more of that same product for you to have a giveaway on your blog with, how cool is that?
   
   On my blog I have given away many sponsored giveaways, anything from BBQ Sauce, to Personalized My Fruit Roll-Ups and even a canvas photo picture worth $100! These are the special perks on hosting a blog. It's so much fun to receive FREE products and even more fun to give them away to your Readers!

7. 
   Tell Your Readers About Your Giveaway

   Okay, now you have your giveaway prize. So how do you promote your giveaway?
   
   Start dropping hints to your Readers in your blog posts that you will be having a giveaway soon. This peaks their interest and keeps them reading your blog and they may even subscribe to your blog so that they do not miss the announcement.
   
   Once you are ready to post your giveaway, make sure to make it a fun post. Ask your readers to leave a comment about the product, what they like about it, something like that. Then offer extra giveaway entries. For instance if they blog about your giveaway on their blog, they get an extra entry. If they tweet about it on twitter, another entry. Use your imagination, but make sure it all leads back to more views for your blog.

8. 
   Promote Your Giveaway

   Now it's time to promote your giveaway on other venues. Tweet about it Twitter. Post it to your Facebook and MySpace profiles. Email it to your friends and family. And also post it on Online-Sweepstakes.com (OLS) (See link below). OLS is the biggest and best website listing for online giveaways and you will get alot of traffic (and new readers) from OLS.

9. 
   The Bloggy Carnival Is a Not-To-Miss Quarterly Event

   Another great promotion tool for your blog's giveaway is to hold a giveaway during the Bloggy Carnival (see link below). The Carnival is held 4 times a year: January, April, July & October. Participating in the Bloggy Carnival will bring hundreds of people to your blog to enter. You can also enter other bloggers' giveaways, too. It's really a fun event!

10. 
    Randomizer.Org is a Great Tool

    Your giveaway is now over, and you have closed the comments on your giveaway post. It's time to pick the lucky winner! The best way to choose one is to use an online Randomizer, like Randomizer.org (link below). It will generate a number for you and then you find that post and that is your winner! Hooray!

11. 
    Send Your Prize To Your Winner

    Contact your winner via email and get their mailing address. Ship their prize promptly, and include a nice card thanking them for reading your blog and entering your giveaway.
    
    Now, give yourself a pat on the back...you just held your first giveaway! Wasn't that fun???

Tips & Warnings

• If shipping a prize to the winner is a hassle for you, consider giving away an online gift card code, such as Amazon.com
• Make sure to have your contact information on your blog. If no one can contact you, you will not get any offers from sponsors.
• Specify residency requirements for your giveaway.
• Never charge the winner shipping and handling charges on a prize. It is your responsibility.

Resources

• Online Sweepstakes
• Bloggy Giveaways
• Randomizer
• Etsy
• Twitter
• Facebook
• MySpace
• How To Drive Traffic To Your Blog
• Bella Casa - Decorating on a Budget (Darnit!)
• bella casa news (Blogging & Savings Tips)
• Book: ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

[BuddhasMom]

on 11/4/2009 That is a great article! I just started a blog and was thinking a giveaway would be a great way to get more bloggees to my site - thank you!

[stefanieenza]

on 10/14/2009 Thanks for this article. These are valuable tips. I'm getting ready to launch my first-ever giveaway on my blog, What's in My Shopping Bag?
http://shopperdiva.blogspot.com

[FranticMommy]

on 9/5/2009 I've been holding off doing give-aways, but you have given the info I need. Good article on how to have a give-away on your blog!

[Viol]

on 6/28/2009 Oh this is a wonderful idea.. thanks..

[BellaCasa]

on 5/27/2009 That's an excellent question, pinkgreenchick. I don't know enough on the legalities to give an answer, but I do know that big corporations definitely have their legal teams involved with their giveaway and contest rules. From all that I have heard in the blogging world, we are not held up to these same standards, at least not yet.