Thanks for sharing your valuable tips!  Much appreciated.

I think 2 weeks is ideal, but I let mine run for a whole month for three reasons: 1) It allows enough time for Google to pick it up, so I get search engine traffic, 2) it allows time for random stragglers - toward the end of the promotion I still get another 2-3 subscribers per day, and 3) it gives me time to get all of the entry points together - if I only put the promo up for a week, that would be one crazy week!

Good points Derek. I will keep these in mind when I host my own giveaway.

Can someone list the sites we need to list these giveaways. It will be good for all of us to refer to that list. A google docs may be...

I did a ton of research on giveaways before I ever did my first one, just to see how to structure it etc..I think I need to change up my format a little bit from where Im at right now, but in the end it's where you advertise that matters.

1.) Online Sweepstakes (by far the best place, and I know for a fact I have retained some loyal readers from here)

2.) Bloggiveaway.com (not bad, but nothing overly significant in regards to traffic, and you have to give this site a link back)

3.) Sweepstakes Universe (This will get you a few hits as well)

I have used about 10 other sites...and these 3 were about the only ones I ever received traffic from... and that's after 4 giveaways, so Ive had time to shake out the ones that are a waste of time.

If you want a good site to partner with, give J$ a shout at GiveawaysAreSexy.com

Didn't think of that. Thanks Eric.

Where do you primarily advertise the giveaway?  Online Sweepstakes is by far the best I have found in generating traffic.