Roadtest #15: Blog Giveaways

Who says you can't teach an old blog new tricks...

By running a blog giveaway in April, I learnt:

1. Giveaways are brilliant for advertising a blog and growing your readership, if run properly.
2. Squillions of tiny blogs are holding giveaways right now, hoping to attract your attention.
3. If blogs are too small or have lacklustre promotion, often only a handful of entrants bother participating.

Points 2 and 3 are great news if you're wanting to win blog giveaways. You just need to find these pint-sized blogs and start entering.

Trouble is, you have a good chance of winning because they're poorly promoted, but unlikely to find them for the same reason. Happily, there's so many blogs in this boat, you're likely to stumble across them while hopping from site to site. Here's some links to start you off: Etsy Giveaways, Blog Giveaways, and International Giveaways.

So, how do you enter? Common entry methods include: leaving a comment, following the blog, writing about the competition on Twitter or your blog, and becoming a Facebook fan. Be warned -- make sure the contest is open to international entrants or people from your country. It would terribly disappointing to win and then be disqualified because shipping would be too expensive.

To give you an idea of the types of prizes, today I entered to win:

• $25 to use in an online bead store (yep, I'm a jewellery-making freak)
• Handmade sterling silver ring valued at $80
• Fiorelli handbag
• Three American Apparel nail polishes
• Gift pack of bath bombs and cupcakes, jewellery and nail polishes

I know, these prizes are very girly, but there's a much wider variety available: books, CDs, free website design, gift cards, DVDs... The list goes on.

So go on, support the little guys of the blogosphere. You'll be all a-blog at what's out there!