About Giveaways

Are you puzzled by the idea of "Giveaways"? As in, "but what's the catch?"?

Well, in most cases, there isn't one. It's just a blog community thing. If you like to understand what people are getting out of it, most bloggers would like to have more readers and giveaways tend to draw people to their site. In the case of sponsored giveaways, the sponsor is getting advertising for their site or product for the cost of giving something away. And, it's fun. So, it's a win-win - especially for the giveaway winner!

Having giveaways is a very common practice for blogs. Here are a few previous examples from wise craft, of something she makes and sells; from House on Hill Road, of a book by an interviewed author, from soulemama, from a sponsor; from rainylakechick designs, of something she made for fun. For very popular sites, giveaways will accrue a thousand and more comments.

Some sites will ask you to send the shipping fees. My site does not do that, because it isn't nearly as fun to send money to get your prize as it is to just get your prize!

Sometimes you are asked to comment on a specific subject (see the Wise Craft example above). There are times when you are asked to go to the sponsor's site them come back and comment on something that interested you there. Sometimes you are asked just to leave a comment- in that case it can be anything from "enter me" to "that's pretty" to "I hope I win". If you are commenting using "Comment as: Anonymous", then put your first name and last initial in your comment.

If there is a way in your comment that I can reach you, I'll email you or find your blog and leave you a comment that you've won. If there isn't, just check back after the winner is announced and we'll get together to get you your prize!

If I don't have a way to reach you and you don't reach me after a week, I'll draw a new winner. But that would be a bummer. So come on back and see if you've won!

Making an account

My site allows you to comment without a Blogger account, but some don't. If you'd like to have an account, it's free and easy to set one up!

Click here to see Blogger's account setup instructions.

Making a Comment

Comments are wonderful - they make this blogging thing a community. I'd love for you to leave comments, but if you're having trouble you aren't alone!

Blogger has a help page on this very topic - click here to see it. Also, here are some instructions from me:

1. If you have an account, log in. If you don't, you can still comment!

2. Look down at the bottom of the post on which you'd like to comment. See where it says a number and then "COMMENTS"? Click there. Here's a picture of what it looks like on my site:
3. You will then see a page with the original post, all the previous comments, and a box for you to enter a comment. Here is a picture of what it looks like on my site:

If you click on the dropdown arrow (that's the downward pointing triangle) after "Comment as:", you'll get a list of options. Your Blogger profile (if you have one and are logged in) will be listed, as will some other accounts if you have them. At the bottom is a choice for "Anonymous". If you don't have any accounts, select Anonymous.

4. Now in that box below "POST A COMMENT", you can type your comment. When you are finished click on the gray button labeled "Post Comment". Voila!

Questions? Let me know, I'll help you out!