Discussion Post - Advice For Bloggers : Part 3

PART 3 (3/4)

To see Part 1 of this discussion click here

To see part 2 of this discussion click here

Any advice for new bloggers out there on how to do giveaways.

Choosing between forms, rafflecopter or comenting

I have actually used all three of these for my giveaways. I tend to do giveaways with a few entries in forms but now rafflecopter is around I use rafflecopter. The only thing I find with rafflecopter is you can't make put in extra info therefore if you want to know their GFC name to check they are following you can't 'make' people put it in.

Rafflecopter is definitely the quickest out of them to find a winner.

Commenting on the post is also a good opinion for a small giveaway with one entry. I tend to find it doesn't work as well though and some people dislike this way of entering a giveaway.

Dannielle said - I prefer the giveaways that use forms instead of posting in the comments.  That way I don't have to worry about sharing my personal information with the world, even if it is just an email address.

Small Review said - I love Google Docs forms. They're very easy to use, from both the hosting and entrant side of things.

Entries

When doing giveaways try to remember what you like about giveaways. Do you like giveaways where you HAVE to do certain stuff or ones which have many extra entries? No? Then try not to do it in your giveaways!

Yiota said - The less entries you ask, more people will enter.

Jules said - Keep it simple and really limit the number of extra entries.

Birgit said - Don't force people to follow your blog. Make it an extra option if you want to. People often follow and unfollow because of this and personally I rather have a smaller number of followers who really enjoy my blog than a high number of folks who are only in for a freebie. BTW I still see my followers increase during blog hops even though following is not mandatory. If your blog is great, people will stick around, giveaway or not.

Make it easy and clear! 

This can apply to a number of things including making everything clear for everyone in the rules, making everything easy to find (e.g the GFC follower box), making the form easy to fill out, making the giveaway post easy on the eyes. 

Tiffany said - Make things easy to find. If you want us to be a follower, make it readily available. Please don't make us jump through hoops. We really want to follow your blog, but not when it requires us to spend fifteen minutes looking for the GFC follow form or links to your facebook and twitter. 

Eva said - If you want me to follow you don't make me search for the link. State clearly if it is international or not and an end date is useful too.

Carol said -  Make sure you are clear if it is International, USA only or UK only.

Lieder said - Make it quick and simple, it will be easier for people to enter and easier for you to keep track of.

Birgit said - Don't forget to write the rules as clearly as possible. There will always be people who don't read the rules though, so don't stress over those. 

Open to...

It's well known there is so many USA/Canada giveaways out there and that is just because postage is so much. Try to do SOME international giveaways for your INT followers. Postage can be just as much as a book of Book Depository. 

Yiota said - People like International giveaways!

Donna said - Ideally, to run an international giveaway to bring in a wider selection of followers.

Other advice -

Kate said - Make it simple for yourself. So, you want blog followers, twitter followers and goodreads friends but remember that every time you add something as an extra entry, you have to be able to keep track of it and organise things so that the right person wins your giveaway if/when you go to use the random number generator. 

Donna said - Try and have more than one choice of book to win. 

Carol said - Make sure you have a giveaway policy page and alert entrants to it.

At the end of the day...

Do it how you want ..

When your paying for a book to be given to the winners it's important you do it how you want. All of this is just advice and ways to get as many entries as possible so if you aren't fussed then do it how you want!

Theresa said - Some people will tell you not to require people to follow your blog, but it's your blog!  Do it how you want to and don't stress about it.

Thank you!

Thanks so much to these people for fill out the form :

Yiota - Splash Of Our Worlds

Birgit - The Book Garden

Karina - Nocturnal Book Reviews

Jules - The Great, The Good and The Bad

Theresa - Fade Into Fantasy

Kate - That Book Blog

Small Review - Small Review

Laura - All of Everything

Arielle - Chimneys and Magic

Donna - Book Passion for Life

Carol - Dizzy C's Little Book Blog

Lieder  Madchen - Songs and Stories

Tiffany, Mary, Vivien, Eva, Nat, Dannielle 

Come back next week for the next part!!