A Few Tips for Online Sweepstakes Entrants

Nowadays more and more companies and business use sweepstakes to promote themselves and attract customers. Also, more and more people receive sweepstakes offer every day. However, some cheaters also want to take the opportunity to make money by disguising themselves as sweepstakes.

It is important for you to tell the difference between real sweepstakes and scams. The biggest difference is that real sweepstakes are free. They won’t ask you to buy products in order to get higher odds of winning. So if you're asked to pay, the sweepstakes is a scam.

Ask yourself these questions before entering to sweepstakes to prevent being scammed: Does the promoter ask you for bank account information or other personal account information? Do they ask you to wire money or make a payment in an urgent manner? Does the activity clearly state that no purchase is necessary to win and a purchase will not increase your chances of winning?

Real sweepstakes won't ask for your personal account information and you don’t have to pay or buy products to be eligible to attend the sweepstakes. Usually, real sweepstakes will have a "No purchase is necessary" statement.

The best and legitimate sweepstakes are the free ones. But since there are too many people sign up with them, you have to envisage realities that your chances of winning are very low.

Differences between Contests and Sweepstakes

Many people are confused about the difference between contests and sweepstakes, and often use the term ‘contest’ and ‘sweepstakes’ interchangeably. In fact, there exist many differences between the two.

The basic difference is that contests are games of skill, while sweepstakes are games of chance. In contests, skill is needed, and people can increase the chances to win by becoming more skillful or by practicing. In sweepstakes, winners are determined only by luck. You won’t have ways to improve chances of winning.

As for the odds, the chance of winning a sweepstake is much smaller than winning a contest. Sweepstakes are free and simple, and they are games of chance, so sometimes the odds can be less than 1 in 100,000,000. However, in contests, skills are need so there will be less entries, and the winning odds also will be much bigger.

With regard to entry fees, sweepstakes are completely free without a purchase of any kind because they are only games of chance. Unlike sweepstakes, contests can charge entry fees or use your delivered product to help promoting their products.
Besides, People can improve themselves in contests. Anything that allows you to display your special skill can become the subject of a contest, such as essay writing, photography, etc. Whether you win or not, the feedback from the visitors can help you improve, so that you can do better next time.

How to Create Good Contests-2 of 2

Third, implement, promote and monitor your contest. After the above steps, now you have to take action. Carry out your great ideas and let everyone know about your contest. Try to use various ways to promote your contest, for example, you can buy advertises, advertise on forums, notify your affiliates, email your list, exchange links with other sites or add your contest to the contest directories. Then you have to monitor the progress of your contest. Many people will leave comments or ask questions before entering contests they found, so track your contest frequently and answer asked questions.

Fourth, announce winners and award prizes. Choose the winners according to the rules you have set, announce their names on your website and email all the participants, thanking then for participating. Then give away prizes. If you didn’t find any sponsors at first, don’t feel distressed about the worth of the big prizes; just treat them as a part of advertising. They will worth the cost.

Last but not least, analyze results. When all has been done, try to figure out whether you achieve your goals or if the contest is a successful one. No matter you success or fail, it will be an important experience for next time.

How to Create Good Contests-1 of 2

Nowadays more and more people attend contests, which include writing contests, photo contests, sales contests, etc. Contests are often used to increase brand awareness and attract potential clients. But once you decide to run a certain contest, do you know how to make it effective? Here are some steps you can follow:

First, set your specific goals and establish the rules. Make sure what kind of contest do you want to create and what do you want to achieve. Then accordingly establish your rules. The rules must be clear and visible to every potential participant. State every part of the guideline in detail even if they seem common sense. It is a good idea to let the audience to vote for the winner. This is a way of encouraging audience participation, and will generate buzz for the contests.

Second, set a schedule and a budget. You have to make a time frame about your contest. Keep the contest condensed to a short period of time, and a time frame of 1-2 weeks works best. If you make your time frame too short, your contest idea won’t gain enough traction and won’t attract enough entrants, while if you make it too long, people will tend to forget about it. Then you have to set a reasonable budget accordingly, by doing that, you can try to search for sponsors. This is a win-win method. You can get free prizes from them and they can get free advertising through your contest.