Why People Enter or Don't Enter Promotional Giveaways On Blogs

I hold giveaways on my blog. Some receive a lot of entries, while others don't. I've noticed a pattern with which ones receive high entries vs. those that don't. But there are still some that surprise me.

On my blog, I've noticed that my entries are higher if the main entry is simply to comment as to why they want to win. The ones that make you go to another site and come back tend to have less entries. If the main entry requires multiple things to be done, then the entries are really low.

There are exceptions to these observations. High dollar giveaway items seem to motivate people to work a little harder to enter. A $75 or higher value item seems to attract more people and they are more willing to go to another site and then come back and enter.

Sponsors want to draw attention to their brand and their website. The giveaway draws attention to the brand. The more giveaways the sponsor holds on blogs, the more attention the brand receives. This creates a buzz among consumers. If a sponsor is serious about wanting to generate traffic to their site, immediately, than a higher priced item should be offered as a giveaway prize.

It is my personal opinion that doing one giveaway, on one blog, is not enough to generate interest or website traffic. The average person may see something and think "interesting." Then next time that person sees the item or hears about a brand, "I remember." The third time, "I need to check that out."

Of course, that is just an opinion. I would like to know what you think. How many times do you need to see something, before you want to investigate more? Why do you enter giveaways, and what determines which ones you do or don't enter?

Autism Training Conference Gives Autism Education an Extreme Makeover

Autism Training Conference Gives Autism Education an Extreme Makeover

Autism Conference for teachers and parents gives traditional philosophy of handling children with Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders in the education setting an Extreme Makeover.

Grand Rapids, MI (PRWEB) June 23, 2010 -- Autism was added as a special education exceptionality in 1991 and is now the sixth most commonly classified disability in the United States. While it is evident that more children are getting special education services for autism than ever before, traditional treatment for autism has not changed in the past 30 years.


Teachers and other educators in the school system often seek solutions to the challenges they face daily with children in the Autism Spectrum. The team of clinicians and educators at Horizons Developmental Remediation Center created the Extreme Makeover Autism Education Conference in response to this need for answers. The autism training conference outlines that what needs to change for improved communication is not just the child, but how teachers and parents respond to and guide him or her through experiences.

Nicole Beurkens, founder and director of the Horizons Developmental Remediation Center, developed the conference to share the research-based discoveries she has made since experiencing frustration as a classroom teacher. "I was tired of other people telling me how wonderful it was that my students were talking, behaving in the cafeteria, and getting A's on their spelling tests. What I longed for were students who could think, communicate, flexibly adapt, and have true friendships."

The 2010 Extreme Makeover Autism Conference will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan on August 4-6, 2010 at the Hilton Grand Rapids Airport Hotel. This is a hands-on CEU applicable training that offers to save education professionals time, energy and money by addressing how to approach each day with their students, simplifying the writing of IEPs, involving parents in the course of action, reducing ineffective use of resources, and most importantly, minimizing frustrations and feelings of incompetence when it comes to working with these students.

While the workshop is geared toward serving students in educational settings, parents of children with autism are also welcome to attend. Professionals who have attended this workshop previously indicated that they benefited greatly from the perspective of the parents in attendance, and parents commented about the benefits of insights of the professionals.

Parent and teacher Donna Goyette said this about the Extreme Makeover Autism Conference, "I've been living with autism for 15 years and thought I was doing everything I could possibly be doing right - until I attended your seminar. The concrete examples you gave for every message you were trying to convey to us were awesome, including the videos so we could see it working in action. This information needs to be shouted from the mountaintops, and I would recommend this seminar to parents and educators."

To register for the Autism Conference, visit www.horizonsdrc.com or call (616) 698-0306. Group and early-bird discounts available.

About Horizons
The Horizons Developmental Remediation Center in greater Grand Rapids, Michigan provides family-focused treatment for developmental disabilities, including autism, Asperger's, communication issues, speech and language problems, feeding concerns, sensory-motor struggles, behavior problems, and learning difficulties. Using the RDI® Program, Horizons treats the core problems that impact functioning and involves parents in the treatment process. Through the use of web-based programs, Internet and phone conferencing, video reviews, and other communication formats, the treatment program is available to families wherever they are located in the world. For more information, visit www.horizonsdrc.com or call (616) 698-0306.

Blogger And PR Product Pitch Website Groups

There are more and more groups and websites popping up around the internet for bloggers and PR representatives to join. These groups are to allow bloggers to share product pitches for reviews and giveaways with other bloggers and for PR representatives to find bloggers to review their clients’ products. Some of these groups to not cost any money to join, and some do.


The Product Review Place - A ning group, free to join and get access to PR pitches. If you want access to the really good pitches, you have to join their elite list of bloggers at a cost of $5 a month.


MomDot VIP Forum - $6 a month, and you have access to pitches that are placed on the forum by a few PR representatives, but mostly other bloggers. I have been a member for a year and have benefited from it. However, I am taking a break from it because of money issues. I have found this to be one of the better sites that are on the internet.

Business2Blogger - Is a new site. I have been a member for a short period of time. It is free to join, but it is hard to get an opportunity from them.

TeamMom - I had to wait a long time to become a member of this group. It is free to join, but there is a waiting list. At least, there was a long waiting list when I applied. I’ve enjoyed being a member and have enjoyed the opportunities that they have given me.

MomSelect - This group was free to join. I have been on their list for about a year. I have received some good opportunities in the past, but lately they have not been so good. Mostly, they are asking you to attend Twitter parties or write a post about something in exchange for being entered into a contest.

The Cleverist - This is a new group. I just joined it and have no feedback to give you at this time. It was free to join.

AutismLearningFelt Forum - Yes, this is on my little forum. It’s a special VIP Blogger group. Very small. It’s free to join and specializes in product reviews and giveaways for those that have a special needs blog.


I’m sure there are more out there. These are the ones that I am familiar with. I strongly urge all bloggers to be careful which groups you join. Some are worth spending the $5 or $6 on. Others, are not. Free groups can be great, but may also be difficult to get opportunities from. Free groups tend to draw a lot of bloggers, thus more competition for opportunities that are listed in that group.

Also, be careful about groups that promise you something great if you join. There are new groups that are promising bloggers that join, and are accepted, free vacations. You sign up, fill out what type of products you would like to review, along with where you would like them mailed. They send out products to you, (some not even what you checked as interested in reviewing) and a note saying that they are sorry, but the company they bought the vouchers for went bankrupt.

Be smart, be careful, and be quick. When you see an opportunity that you like, don’t wait, respond. If you find a group that sounds too good to be true, it just may be. If you are just starting out in the product review and giveaway area, try working with groups that have been around for a while. MomDot and TeamMom are great. If you blog about special needs, join my small group. I don’t post a lot of opportunities in it, but the ones that I do are nice.

I'm Going to BlogHer '10

Yeah! I'm going to BlogHer '10. Thanks to Jones Dairy Farm and Pediatric Safety, I was able to purchase my event ticket and pay to reserve a hotel room for my stay. BlogHer '10 will be held at the Hilton New York, on August 6 and August 7, 2010. I have reserved a room for check in on the 5th and check out on the 8th. Since I will be flying in, I didn't want to miss one moment of the event. Check in is at 3:00PM, so arriving on the 5th was the best choice. I'll be checking out early on the 8th and flying home.

One night of my hotel stay is paid for. The room is reserved for the stay, but I will still need to raise the rest of my hotel stay via sponsors. I will also need to have cab fair from and to the airport. Then there is the food and drinks during my stay. I have some time to raise the money. I am thrilled that Jones Dairy Farm and Pediatric Safety made it possible for me to get a room at the same hotel as the event before they were all booked and an event ticket before they were sold out.

I am still looking for more sponsors and welcome any amount. I am happy to work out arrangements for promoting my sponsors here on my site and at the event. If you are looking for a blogger to sponsor for BlogHer '10, please consider me. You can contact me via email at tammy@learningfelt.com for more information. Thank you.

Please Send Me to BlogHer '10

Now that BlogHer ‘09 is over, the talk is starting to move on to BlogHer ‘10. Nest year, it will be held on Friday and Saturday, August 6 thru 7 in New York, NY. If you are not familiar with this annual conference, let me try to explain.

I have not been to one, but I hear that it is designed to allow bloggers to attend classes and listen to speakers in order to improve their blog. It is also a great opportunity to meet other bloggers and PR representatives for a lot of great companies. There will be opportunities to work and socialize.

I would love to go to BlogHer ‘10. My blog is less than a year old, and is already doing great. I would love to take it to the next level, and I feel that attending a conference like this will help me do that. The problem is, is costs money. There is the ticket ($198 if bought before Feb.), airfare, hotel room, and meals. There is no way I can go unless I have some help.

Here is what I am thinking. If you are a company or a PR rep. for a company, that is looking for someone to help promote your products, I am your gal. I will give you free advertising on my site (amount of time can be negotiated). I will wear clothing with your company logo on it while I am there. You can count on me to recount my experiences at BlogHer ‘10 on my blog, including mentions of your company and the reactions of other bloggers in regard to you. And of course, there will be the posts that I will be doing prior to the event telling everyone that I am going and who is sponsoring me.

No amount is too small or large. The money raised from sponsors will pay for the event ticket, hotel for two nights, a round trip airplane ticket, as well as clothing, meals, travel to and from the airport. If you would like to sponsor me, please contact me at tammy@learningfelt.com and we can work out an arrangement. Thank you.

PR

I love to do product reviews of al types of products that can be related to children with autism or moms. If you have a product that you would like me to review, please email me (tammy@learningfelt.com) with the following information:

Your Name:
Company Name:
Email address:
Do you wish me to share this opportunity with other bloggers?
Review and/or Giveaway?
Your Product Pitch:

I require a non- returnable product sent to me in order to review it. I also do giveaways. Giveaway items are to be held by the company sponsoring the giveaway and mailed directly to the winner. I do not have to review a product to hold a giveaway. However, I will not post my opinion of a product that I have not personally reviewed. I will only provide the product information, company it is manufactured by, and purchasing information. I provide a link to the sponsor's site for both giveaways and reviews. If I do not like an item that I am reviewing, I will contact the company that sent it and let them decide if they wish me to post my unfavorable review.



I am also available to plan campaigns that are geared towards the autism community, as well as other blog niches. I can put together bloggers from different niches to meet your promotional needs. I charge for this service based on the number of blogs you want involved in the campaign. I gear each campaign towards the needs of my clients. A basic giveaway campaign that involves 5 - 10 blogs is $250.



Some of my articles have been picked up and posted on online news sites. Here are some links to articles taken from my blog and posted on top PR ranked news sites:

Epson Artisan 810 Review

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store News Sun

Carcker Barrel Old Country Store Post-Tribune

Starting Back to School Soon

Bake Me a Wish!

Leverage on TNT



If you are interested in having your product reviewed, and/or sponsoring a giveaway, contact me at tammy@learningfelt.com or use
and we can make the arrangements. If you would like my site statistics (visitors,ranking,followers), I will be happy to provide them to you.

What I am working on trying to get in for review: camping equipment (I have a tent), home improvement items (especially organizational items for a child's bedroom), Christmas themed items.

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I also have advertising space available on my site. The prices depend on what size you want and the location.