Giveaway Update…And Some Thoughts

If you haven’t already entered my giveaway, you’ve only got a few more hours to do so!  I’ll be announcing the winner sometime tomorrow afternoon my time (middle of Friday night, US time) so quick sticks people!

Also, apart from checking my spam filter to make sure I wasn’t screening out legit entries, I have not moderated the comments/entries since Tuesday.  I’ll be doing that later tonight (you’ll still have a few hours to put your entry in after that though).  By moderation, I mean that I’ll be double checking all the entries are up to scratch - and there may be the odd deletion.

Regarding entries to giveaway posts in general - what’s the consensus on asking folks to do a ‘little extra’ to enter?  I’ve been thinking about this ever since the last Bloggy Giveaway at the end of January.  Barb over at A Chelsea Morning touched on the idea back then but for the life of me I can’t find the exact post on her site to link to.  Anyhow, the gist was, because Bloggy Giveaways is such a big deal now, with nearly 900 participants each quarter, there was often a huge push to join as many giveaways as humanly possible, as quickly as possible, just because you could.  It’s sad to say that many of those entrants, in their mad rush to get to the next giveaway on the list, only write something like ‘please enter me’ and that’s it.  To be fair, hosting blogs have the right to put whatever rules they like on their giveaways, but I do understand what Barb said.  Out of the 170 or so entries I’ve had this time around, a small (but significant) portion still didn’t pay attention to the requirements for entry - and they weren’t hard!  But it goes beyond that.  It’s the whole ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’ attitude.  Last time around I entered twenty giveaways.  Caught up in the hysteria, I worked my way down the list from No. 1 until I finally exhausted myself and came to my senses (being that I’m Australian, 75% of the blogs I visited weren’t opening their giveaways to me anyway, so that’s plenty more than 20 blogs visited).  I didn’t even get to look at the last half of the list.  And honestly, it didn’t matter in the end (I did manage to win something though, which was wonderful!).  I always made a point of adding an actual comment instead of just my email when I entered.  It’s just good manners.  This time around, I only entered 7 giveaways.  I think a self-imposed limit of 10 per giveaway is a good thing to aim for, but then, that’s just me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not getting down anyone who didn’t write a novel to enter my own giveaway, LOL - I’m just saying it all becomes very impersonal after a while, almost like the only reason we’ve bothered to visit a new blog is to get some free stuff.  Which is probably true to some degree.  But sad nontheless.  Am I the only one who feels like this?

Of course, the flip side to the coin is twofold.  Many bloggers I’ve spoken to have hosted giveaways to increase traffic and to ‘advertise’ their blog in an arena which is highly popular, such as the Bloggy Giveaways site.  I’m kind of guilty of that one myself.  One hopes that at least a few of the entrants stick around long enough to subscribe, or to browse your archives.  And it’s just plain NICE to extend your boundaries a little.  Then there’s that nice little ‘kick’ to seeing your comments skyrocket - even if the totals are a little skewed.  But joining in, moderating comments, joining in others’ competitions - it all takes so much time and energy.  Some people thrive on that, and that’s okay.  I was stoked to get my pink t-shirt last time, LOL.  But I still seriously considered giving the whole idea the boot this quarter.  In the end I decided to sign up because there is still that wonderful buzz you get from giving something away that really can’t be beat.  I do love that first email to winners, LOL.

Which brings me back to my original question.  Would you feel as though it is far too much trouble to go the ‘extra mile’ to enter a giveaway?  I’m not saying writing a three page essay is on the cards, but perhaps something along the lines of ‘tell me your favourite childhood memory’ or somesuch.  It’s likely some are going to think that’s too much hassle and entries will drop, but do you think it makes the whole experience a bit more authentic and not so much ‘what can I get out of this?’

Suggestions welcome.

Cheers,
Lizzie