Guest Post - Win More Contests With These 5 Simple Steps

GUEST POST

Today's guest post is brought to you from Audrey over at Audrey's Spot and Today's Parent. Audrey originally had this article published over on EzineArticles.com

This article is very informative and really hits the nail on the head when it comes to giveaway/contest rules. I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow the rules. Why bother entering if you're not going to follow the rules? Your entries are disqualified...therefore increasing the chances for someone else. Like me!

Be sure to stop by Audrey's blogs and show some love.

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Win More Contests with These 5 Simple Steps

Are you someone who loves to enter contests? Do you often wish you could win more often?

I love to enter contests and I’m finding many entries are disqualified for a wide variety of reasons.

Since I’m guessing you want to win if you enter, here are some tips to help you not get disqualified:

1. Read the instructions and rules. If it takes 2 minutes to read them but you’ve now entered correctly, you just might win. If you read the first sentence of the rules, don’t enter correctly and get disqualified, you’ve only invested 30 seconds, but you have zero chance of winning.


2. Make sure you have provided a way to reach you. I know you want to protect your email address, but if you don’t tell me how to reach you, you can’t win. If you are worried that your email address might be abused, consider creating an email address just for entering contests.


3. Don’t say yes to things you don’t really want. For example, if a contest form says “do you want more information?” don’t say yes if you don’t want the information. I just read a set of rules yesterday that said “if you say yes, thinking it will help you win, but then you don’t answer my phone calls or emails, I’ll disqualify you.” Again, why take the time to enter if you’re going to do things that get you disqualified?


4. Back to the rules. If the rules say “one entry per household”, don’t send in 3 entries six seconds apart that have all come from the household. When I see 3 entries come in janedoe@hotmail.com followed by johndoe@hotmail.com followed by doefamily@hotmail.com I disqualify all 3. While you think you’ve increased your chances of winning, really all 3 were disqualified.


5. Sorry folks, I can’t say enough about rules. I enter a lot of contests on blogs. The rules say “you most post a relevant comment, comments that say ‘enter me’ will be disqualified” yet as I scan the entries, I’ll see 50% of them that say “cool prize” or “enter me”. For me, I know my chances of winning have just increased quite a bit as many of those entries are going to be disqualified.

By following the rules and instructions and providing a way to contact you, you will increase your odds of winning random contests.

Audrey Okaneko is mom to two girls and has been entering contests for many years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.recipe-barn.com

http://ezinearticles.com/?Win-More-Contests-With-These-5-Simple-Steps&id=1151187

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Muchas gracias to Audrey for allowing me to publish her article.