Here are a few tips for getting the most out of giveaway hosting. We'll be adding to this page over time to include a wide variety of tips and resources. Here are a few general tips to get us started.

Hosting great giveaways

Build a reputation for fun giveaways. Readers often appreciate a second or third entry method, especially if it's easy to accomplish. But there is a law of diminishing returns here. Offering seven different ways of entering or weighing entries heavily in favor of those offering you own blog short-term gain (blog links, for example) can discourage visitors from returning the next time you publicize a giveaway. A successful giveaway doesn't just garner a lot of entries or generate a lot of buzz - it introduces or reinforces your blog's voice and makes readers want to come back, both for your giveaways and your other content.

Treat giveaways are an extension of your brand. In one sense, giveaways are no different from other content on your blog - the best way to gain a dedicated following of return visitors is to specialize. If you enjoy writing about home cleaning tips, specialize in cleaning supplies, tapping into rounds of green cleaning supply giveaways and seeking out unique giveaway opportunities with new companies or more expensive products; if technology's your thing, a steady stream of gadget giveaways, even as few as once a month, are likely to impress readers more than will accepting every giveaway offer that comes along. Allow giveaways to do for your "brand" what promotions do for the brands donating the products: create associations in readers' minds that they'll remember the next time they hear your blog mentioned or see it on PRIZEY.

Behave predictably. If you're launching a giveaway with a detailed review, create a predictably organized section readers can skim to to find your giveaway. State entry methods clearly, keep their number down, and keep entry actions simple to perform - a large number of giveaway methods can inflate a giveaway's entry count but limit its audience and create the perception of unfair or chaotic giveaway management, something no one wants associated with their blog's brand! Establish your rules at the opening of your giveaway and do not change them unless a serious problem has emerged - changing rules or deadlines arbitrarily can open your blog up to potential legal problems. Provide a fair timeframe for readers to claim prizes, and announce them in a predictable manner through all available, convenient channels - on your blog, through email, and from PRIZEY's Member Center - to ensure that readers can find you again.

Getting the most from your PRIZEY listing

Use prize images. Blog badges promote your blog, but they don't promote your giveaway. Take advantage of PRIZEY's randomly displayed prize image thumbnails, which can bring a lot of curious readers to your listing, by using an actual image of your prize.

Promoting your giveaway: Standard PRIZEY listings

If your giveaway has been posted as a standard listing, your listing has been sent out to notify over 1,000 subscribers to our daily RSS feed, and will appear in the "Recent Listings" widget in the righthand sidebar of PRIZEY until it expires (listings appear in their order of submission). Your listing will also appear with all published PRIZEY listings in the "Ending Soon" queue, and will move towards the front of that section as its deadline approaches. PRIZEY's "Ending Soon" page is among the most popular and highly-trafficked pages on PRIZEY.

PRIZEY regularly upgrades standard listings to Editors' Pick status based on traffic, click-throughs, and member votes using PRIZEY's "Vote Up" feature. You can boost traffic to your listing and encourage votes using the following methods.

Encouraging votes: Copy one of the badges below and add it to your giveaway post, encouraging readers to "give your giveaway a boost" on PRIZEY.









Boosting traffic: Promote all the giveaways you list using your My Giveaways page on PRIZEY. Your readers will appreciate seeing all your giveaways listed on one page that automatically filters out expired giveaways, and PRIZEY detail pages offer a full range of social sharing options you could easily present as an entry method (followed by a comment on your post confirming the sharing option had been used). If you host giveaways on multiple blogs, your My Giveaways page can easily cross-promote your blog giveaways from one central location.

If your listing is an Editors' Pick

If your giveaway has been selected as an Editors' Pick, spread the word! Download the badge at left, add it to your post, and link it to your giveaway listing. (Linking to your post ensures that this badge is used only in cases when a giveaway has actually been awarded Editors' Pick status.) We'll have more badges in different styles soon!

Your giveaway sponsor will also appreciate hearing that your giveaway was awarded Editors' Pick status, perhaps when you wrap up your giveaway and follow up with the sponsor. Tell them if your giveaway was picked from the outset (a sign of significant interest in their prize as well as your skill in setting up a clear, effective, and engaging giveaway) or if it was awarded this status later, which shows that there was high reader interest in the form of traffic on PRIZEY or reader votes.

Announcing winners
Most blogging platforms collect, and even enable bloggers to require, email addresses for posting comments, and the same can easily be collected through an entry form. Giveaway entrants are accustomed to this requirement and few are likely to balk at it. But because they are required to provide it so frequently, some readers may use a special email address to post comments or enter giveaways that is not the one they regularly check. They may use this even for a highly desired giveaway without thinking about the fact that they do not check this address for email very frequently, explaining much of the "disappearing winner" behavior bloggers can find so frustrating.

One way of addressing this issue is to clearly state when and how winners will be announced, and to share this information with readers through multiple channels. PRIZEY recommends a combination of blog posting and/or a static page of instruction for winners linked prominently from your blog with an alert published on PRIZEY.

Giveaway hosts can now easily announce winners through their Member Center control panel, but must provide claim instructions on their own blogs. You can do this either by announcing winners on your blog itself, in special winner announcement posts or as updates to your giveaway posts themselves, or by hosting a page of generalized claim instructions for winners of all your giveaways (where to contact you, within what time frame, and what to expect from you following that contact).

You can still use a PRIZEY badge to show off the fact that you announce winners here:







Displaying a Fetch badge is no longer a requirement for participating in our winner announcement system, which has been integrated into our Member Center. If you do use one, please link it directly to www.prizey.net.