Thanks for looking at this and thanks for helping with this website.
Please note that if you are a website owner and are asking me to list your giveaway, I am happy to do so but I
have to insist that you fill in the form correctly and that your description conforms with these guidelines. I get between 50
and 80 requests a day from people asking me to list their giveaways and many of them don't even take the time to write
it out as a proper English sentance. If it takes me one minute to correct each description, that's an hour a day of my time. I
just can't do it anymore so now I simply delete any request that is carelessly written.
I don't mean to sound grumpy but if you're asking me to help you out, I don't think it's too much to ask that you
take a moment to describe your giveaway in a way that can go into my listings without me having to make corrections.
Having said that, I really do appreciate it when people help me with this website and if you're telling me about a
good sweepstakes that I don't already have listed, I obviously won't be so strict with the application of these guidelines.
There are lots of people who
contribute through the comments or through this Add-a-Sweepstakes page and it's the thing that keeps me going with
Contestgirl - if it hadn't become such a community, I would have quit a long time ago.
Here are some guidelines I follow when describing a sweepstakes:
The most important thing you can do first is to search the site to see if the sweepstakes you are
about to tell me about already exists. The best way to search is go to the home page of this website and type one or two
key words into the search box. For example, if the prize is a trip to Italy, simply type the work "italy"
in the search box.
I would appreciate it if you would try to conform to the format of the other
items listed on this site. I try to be consistent and I think that's one of things that people like about this site. Here are
some pointers:
1 - For the name of the sweepstakes, I like to use the sponsor's name or the website name, followed by two dashes
followed by the name of the promotion. Here's an example: TV Guide--Primetime Sweepstakes
2 - The description should always start with the phrase "Enter for a chance to win". Keep it brief but include anything you think
is important. If you have to share a photo, for example, it would be worth mentioning that in the description. If there's a lot
of secondary or runner-up prizes, you could just mention the grand prize and say something like "There are lots of secondary
prizes as well".
Also, please don't capitalize words that don't need to be capitalized. People will often write "win A Visa Gift Card" when
it should be "win a Visa gift card".
3 - Not all contests have restrictions but if there are age or location rules you should put them into the restrictions field.
I use 2 letter identifiers for states and provinces that are
excluded from a contest. For example, I would say "no RI or QC" to identify that Rhode Island and Quebec are excluded. I separate
each restriction with two dashes. Here's an example: 18 or older--no RI--One entry per household.
Once again, thanks for helping and thanks for sharing. Let's try to make this the best contest and sweepstakes site on the
Internet
Linda