You know it was recently brought to my attention, that maybe many people who enter blog giveaways don’t realize how a winner is chosen. I wanted to take a moment to explain how I choose a giveaway winner and how most other bloggers do as well.
When a giveaway submission comes through to me first I find out if I am going to charge my giveaway fee for hosting it or receive the same or similar product package in exchange for hosting said giveaway. I then wait to receive whatever form of compensation I will be receiving and if a product is submitted I must take time to fully review the product so that I can share my opinion based on the family experience with said product.
Once I am ready to write up the giveaway I get online and log into my dashboard for my blog. I then write up the giveaway based on my normal practices and requests the sponsor has asked of me to include. From there the giveaway will run about 7-14 days depending upon the request of the sponsor or my personal feeling of how long I think the giveaway needs to run to fully be promoted.
The giveaway date and end time come along, I try to close the comments and if I didn’t then I delete any comments received after the end date/time. The next steps are easier written in bullet points so here goes:
- I review all comments to ensure everyone followed the rules.
- For those comments who did not enter correctly based on that particular giveaway rules I delete them without notice (as is usually written in all my giveaway posts).
- After I get a total number of comments aka entries I open a new tab in my browser to go to Random.org.
- Random.org has a true random number generator on their site on the right hand side that I place the number 1 and then the last number of entries into the number fields.
- I then click “generate” one time to have it choose a number.
- The number chosen is the winner so I go back to the other tab where my giveaway post is open and look at the numbered comments.
- Once I get to the correct number I then know who the winner is.
- After the process is complete I try to take screen captures but do not always do this to ensure I can include a photo so that there are no questions on who the winner is.
- If I did take screen shots I will upload them to my site and include them in the winning post and schedule the post to go live at my next set posting date/time.
After the winner has been announced live, and sometimes beforehand, I contact the winner and let them know they won. I ask the winner to leave a comment on the winner announcement post and reply to my email with the information I need for that particular giveaway. So there you have it, in a nutshell “how giveaway winners are chosen” in a blog giveaway or at least a Happily Blended Blog giveaway.
Any questions? Any tips on what you do as a blogger for giveaway winner selections?
New Blog Post How Giveaway Winners Are Chosen http://bit.ly/90H1Wf
RT @brandyellen How Giveaway Winners Are Chosen | Happily Blended http://bit.ly/9tHt9s
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brandy, Kim Delatorre. Kim Delatorre said: RT @brandyellen How Giveaway Winners Are Chosen | Happily Blended http://bit.ly/9tHt9s [...]
RT @shopwithmemama: RT @brandyellen How Giveaway Winners Are Chosen | Happily Blended http://bit.ly/9tHt9s
Curious how bloggers choose giveaway winners? Check this out —-> http://ow.ly/2rTuF
Curious how bloggers choose giveaway winners? Check this out —-> http://ow.ly/2rTvZ
I have cut back on my giveaway listings but when I do run one, I post on twitter for a number (1-whatever the last one is) and the first person to send in a number actually chooses my winner. It is so random.
I do screen shots, email the winner and also post it on the blog.
RT @brandyellen How Giveaway Winners Are Chosen | Happily Blended http://bit.ly/9tHt9s
RT @brandyellen How Giveaway Winners Are Chosen | Happily Blended http://bit.ly/9tHt9s
Twitter: sbshortie
(55 comments) says:
Interesting…that is a bit different from my process. I used to delete all of the “incorrect” comments as they came in, but then I realized how much work it is. Now I just pick a winner, check if they followed the rules, and go from there.
Becca, the only reason I don’t do it the way you do it is because if that person didn’t enter correctly then the number of “entries” is not correct. Let’s say you have 48 entries and of those 4 are incorrect, then the number you should be using for “entries” to make it a valid number would be 44 total, not 48. To me this would cause complaints if someone where to take the time to review the giveaway entries {and I have had ppl do this}. So let’s say it draws the number 43 and that person didn’t follow the rules so you go and draw another number, it’s not really fair because if that number 43 comment was deleted then the winner would be that next or person prior to win. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you do exactly though.
Twitter: sbshortie
(55 comments) says:
You understood me perfectly. I can’t believe people have checked your entries…that’s crazy!
.-= Becca´s last blog ..Movie Mania! =-.
Twitter: erinjeany
(39 comments) says:
What a great idea to do this post! I should probably do one on my blog too explaining the whole process since I recently changed entry requirements.
.-= Erin Pyle´s last blog ..This Labor Day Remember- Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving =-.
How giveaway winners are chosen: http://ow.ly/2CYwq
[...] Must complete the required entry as per the request of Sunset Key Chains. All other entries can be completed after first required entry has been done. How Giveaway Winners Are Chosen [...]