How should I manage my contest entries? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

keeping things simple is hard ;-)

 

but as for the entries, here's how I go:

- 1 entry per comments (usually by answering a question such as "what do you like about my blog" or "what do you want to read on my blog"

- 5 entries for registering to my newsletter (you can track the entry via aweber)

- 5 entries for the RSS readers

 

I track the entries with an excel spreadsheet… contest is a lot of work! however, each time I do it, I get more subscribers and a tons of ideas for new topics ;-)

I usually ask them to send me an email telling me they registered ;-)….it's a pain!

Invest It Wisely said:

The Financial Blogger said:

I usually ask them to send me an email telling me they registered ;-)….it's a pain!

For RSS what I've done is add a 4-digit code to the bottom and ask them to put that in the Google form…

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Code at the bottom of … ?

Well, I of course came to you for some tips last year, before I did my Thanksgiving Giveaway

 

That said, I can tell you that your Google Forms idea worked pretty well for me. It's great in that it organizes everything for you up front. Probably best to think through the points system, and design the form in a way to make it easier to analyze when it's time to select the winners. Getting as much information as possible on that one form is best.

 

For example – maybe you could have them get an entry for filling out required fields on the entry form (name/email), another entry (or more) for subscribing via email or reader, and another entry (or more) for a twitter follow. Have them enter the reader code and twitter handle in the form to get credit. You can double check later.

 

The whole thing worked well for me with a similar system, and there were over 900 forms filled out, so total entries counting all methods was well over 1,000 of course. A big driver here was making it clear and simple for people to follow. Now, I did offer the option to get credit for comments, but that confused people. I'd recommend against it, as it's too hard to track. Also, some people tried to give 3 or 4 word comments with the hope that it would be an entry, which defeated the purpose. So aside from the comments aspect, the whole thing worked well by using forms and keeping most of the points options simple.

 

Anyway, email me if you have any more questions. Best of luck, I hope it's a great giveaway that's easy to manage and more fun than work.  Congrats on the 1 year – my blog is turning 1 next month as well.

Squirrelers said:

Well, I of course came to you for some tips last year, before I did my Thanksgiving Giveaway

 

That said, I can tell you that your Google Forms idea worked pretty well for me. It's great in that it organizes everything for you up front. Probably best to think through the points system, and design the form in a way to make it easier to analyze when it's time to select the winners. Getting as much information as possible on that one form is best.

 

For example – maybe you could have them get an entry for filling out required fields on the entry form (name/email), another entry (or more) for subscribing via email or reader, and another entry (or more) for a twitter follow. Have them enter the reader code and twitter handle in the form to get credit. You can double check later.

 

The whole thing worked well for me with a similar system, and there were over 900 forms filled out, so total entries counting all methods was well over 1,000 of course. A big driver here was making it clear and simple for people to follow. Now, I did offer the option to get credit for comments, but that confused people. I'd recommend against it, as it's too hard to track. Also, some people tried to give 3 or 4 word comments with the hope that it would be an entry, which defeated the purpose. So aside from the comments aspect, the whole thing worked well by using forms and keeping most of the points options simple.

 

Anyway, email me if you have any more questions. Best of luck, I hope it's a great giveaway that's easy to manage and more fun than work.  Congrats on the 1 year – my blog is turning 1 next month as well.

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Thanks for the very comprehensive post, Squirrelers. I'm glad to hear that everything worked out well for you; I was afraid that maybe I was making things too complicated but it looks like you were able to manage things very well. I agree with you about comments. If you don't mind I might be emulating your giveaway to an extent when it comes time to do mine, and if you throw a giveaway, too, I'll be there to sponsor. ;)

Contests are a whole lot of work!! I spent days tabulating the information.