1) I'm not the only one who has problems recruiting participants for contests! ;) This last holiday season, I set up a fun "design your holiday shirt" contest where the winner got a FREE shirt - and I had a whopping 2 participants. Before that, I had a "refer-a-friend" Starbucks giveaway, and had no participants. Now that I'm becoming a little more well known, I would probably have a better turnout... I think. lol.
However, the whole point is that there are others out there that hold regular contests but have a hard time getting anyone to participate. For example, one blog that I follow is http://hippiescreations.blogspot.com/. She is doing a giveaway to someone who correctly answers her trivia question. I didn't even know the answer, but I guessed anyway just because she deserves to have someone participate! If you get a chance, you should stop by and participate - you might win something!!
2) You can find new freebies by visiting other blogs. I myself have found two great sites (that I have blogged about previously) where you can get FREE blog backgrounds and other blog goodies just by visiting other peoples' blogs!
There's a great freebie listed on one of the blogs I follow today: http://mommysdreamcreations.blogspot.com/ . It's a cool flash widget thingy that lets you show off some Etsy items in your shop!
3) Etsians like to promote other Etsians. By the way, an "Etsian" is simply someone who buys and/or sells on the site http://www.etsy.com . It's the best crafting site in the world in my opinion! I could easily go broke there...
Anyway, so a lot of times when you check out someone else's blog, you will be introduced to another great artist in the process! There's an interview right now from one Etsian to another on a blog that I follow: http://lizswares.blogspot.com .
4) There are some incredibly cool, unique and gifted artisans out there! I can't believe some of the awesome items I have found - I've been making up a list of shops that I will "need" to buy from as I slowly start accruing my holiday gifts for this upcoming year!
One of those shops has a great fact blog: http://wrightmade.blogspot.com/ . Aren't the handmade kaleidoscopes amazing?!
5) Bloggers are human. That means human things happen to them, and they sometimes share their feelings about them. When I went through my foot surgery, I shared a brief note here and was so surprised and touched that some readers went out of their way to send me personal emails wishing me well!
A recent blog by http://decembergirll.blogspot.com/ had me cringing in sympathy as she discussed her fear of spiders - ick! I'm so not a spider person.
I've learned many other things, but I really should get to work and stop procrastinating by posting things to my blog. ;) I hope you enjoyed learning more about what I have learned!
I held a giveaway a little while ago too and I agree, it isn't easy, especially the first time. I too beleive it helps if you're better known and you will know what to do the next time that you didn't do right the first time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you writing about my blog in yours. No one really has done so before, I appreciate it :)
My spiders aren't to be feared & I hope they don't chase you off, they are quite friendly and I've found the majority of people warm up to them quickly. That said I myself have not tried a contest yet in this media but previous contests in other fields did not fair so well either. I think a portion of it is becuase we've become so used to there being a catch, e.g. you win this but only after you purchase X. The past two weeks I've been graced by winning something twice! once for being a lucky # fan on FB and the second was searching a website for their mission statement and emailing them, funny thing is I so thought I wouldn't even be in the running... my email wouldn't open, I sent the wrong entry the first time an hour later when my email was up but they were such a good sport when I sent the correct one on the second try they announced me as a winner. I'll be blogging about both companies later and made sure to already post about both on FB. I think we just need to let people know that right or wrong we love the game and even give "most creative wrong answer awards" or something too! It can completely make someone's day. Best of luck to you both and Arty I'll make sure I'm following you as well.
ReplyDeleteKris
Thanks for mentioning my blog and contest :) It is challenging and as it was mentioned people anticipate a catch (which is not what I want). And umm if you can't use a bath/body product I don't mind giving something else from my store. Just because that is how I am!
ReplyDeletePetra