I’ve started doing more giveaways lately, on Grechen’s Closet and of course, posting giveaways for fashion bloggers & boutiques at free!grechen. And I’ve noticed more and more giveaway posts all over the blogosphere…but what do they accomplish? why do we do them?
I started doing giveaways on Grechen’s Closet as kind of a “bonus” for my visitors – a thank you gift, if you will – and as a way to give boutiques and designers who may not have a lot of cash, an opportunity for exposure. And up until recently, I only promoted my giveaways on my site(s). But I kept hearing that giveaways are a great way to get traffic fast, and started posting them on a couple of sweepstakes sites (contestgirl and cash net sweeps).
The traffic came, for sure, but it didn’t stay. I mean, people came and left a basic comment, or subscribed to my newsletters to enter to win, and then never came back. My sites are so niche that most of the people these giveaway sites bring aren’t interested in the content, just the prize (and a lot of people just enter every giveaway they can find – and sell prizes on ebay). Of course you never know who you’re going to reach out to through these sites, but generally, the retention rate is very low. (Which is incidentally the main reason I started free!grechen – to provide a place where fashion bloggers and boutiques can promote their giveaways to women who ARE interested, and will probably WANT to subscribe or stick around to read more. That’s valuable traffic.)
The whole obsession with numbers (subscribers, visitors, followers…) is a discussion for another day, but I’ve decided that I’m not promoting my giveaways on any of the “big” giveaway sites anymore. If a fellow blogger wants to mention my giveaway and it fits into their message, that’s great, and of course, I will promote on free!grechen, but I’m not interested in empty traffic from mega-sites anymore just to get my numbers up.
I’m still going to do giveaways because I like them – I think they’re a fun way to interact with my visitors, and I LOVE to promote the work of independent designers and boutiques. But I’m not going to obsess over the number of entrants, or trying to get new subscribers.
Why do you do giveaways? how do you promote them? have you noticed any significant & sustained traffic increase when you do consistent giveaways? do tell!!
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
My site hasn't been up long enough to consider doing giveaways, although I can see the appeal in doing them. It's a nice thing to do for your current readers and does bring in a bit of traffic (from my end anyway; I tend to follow the blogs afterwards), but it largely seems like it gets wasted. Which is a shame! I'd love to see other people's comments.
i think it really depends on how/where you promote your giveaway how much quality traffic and repeat visitors you get from them. my sister (who runs a mommy blog) does tons of giveaways, and has great success promoting them on the mega-giveaway sites, but i think that's because her site/giveaways appeal to a much wider audience than mine – she definitely gets a steady increase in visitors as a result of her promotions.
i'm with you though, i do tend to follow a blog that i find through a giveaway posted on free!grechen, or among the independent fashion bloggers – i love to discover new blogs that way – but i know that there are tons of people out there who spend hours just entering giveaways….i don't think they're interested in blog content…they are who i consider to be "empty traffic" – and i really don't want to waste my time on them anymore,
I do post contests and giveaways on my blog, but I never really found any "big" sites to promote them on. I found a few, but really dont know how to market my giveaways besides a few blogs, Twitter and sometimes Facebook. I do giveaways because they are fun and give some exposure to my own retail website and to give a helping hand to other websites. I never expect most people to stick around, but some have and purchased from me or became regular readers. For me, I love entering contests and won quite a few prizes this way. I have also found new blogs that I subscribed to and new stores to shop at.
twitter and facebook are great ways to promote your giveaways though because you have a "captive" audience if you will, or people who are already interested in you/your content and would therefore be interested in your giveaways.
i also know that you never know who you're going to attract by doing "random" giveaway promotion… you might meet your biggest fan LOL
for me giveaways are a great way to promote businesses that you love, especially local or independant businesses like ones found on Etsy…Its a free way to promote your site, your fav business, and it can be recipricol (sp?)…meaning you promote them and they promote you and that promotion can lead to all sorts of great things happening for everyone involved.
i totally agree – i just think there's a lot of expectation lately that giveaways should result in significant traffic increases and attract more loyal visitors – now, it's more important imo to get beyond the expectations and start doing giveaways again just for the fun of doing them…
I do have giveaways, and it's something I love to do when the timing is right– typically as a marker for a special occasion (such as my 2 yr anniversary of blogging, the launch of my etsy shop, etc.). From a blogger standpoint, I like to do giveaways because it's nice to give something back– both to support a brand I love and to . It's nice to use it to reach out to new people, to get a boost in hits, but it's ultimately not the reason I choose to do it. I think when a product is exciting, as a contestant, I'm exhilarated to enter a giveaway. The anticipation is fun.
On the other hand, since I make hairpieces & have an etsy shop, I'm not opposed to doing a giveaway. It's a great way to introduce my products to others who may like them, to show support of bloggers I love– since I am so small, it's a matter of finding a good match, naturally.
i like doing giveaways because they are fun for my readers, but yeah, the traffic doesn't stay, and aside from a few of them, they don't really bring much traffic at all. and to tell the truth, i'm getting a little giveaway fatique…
I hate admit it but I have been on both sides of the fence by doing giveaways and being what I refer to as a giveaway whore. I think giveaways are fun but there are a lot of people who do as little as possible, move on and never come back. The hardest thing I found was to make them stick.
Here's the list I use to make more traffic stick.
1. Make my giveaways really fit my niche
If I'm promoting a blog about home networking then I would do a router or something that is very targeted
2. Never make the gift to expensive
Everyone wants to win a $300 gift but if it's only $20 only people that are interested in your niche are more likely to sign up
3. Make them commit
Here's where there's some debate but I find that I get more repeat visitors if they have to sign up for a newsletter or something since I can contact them later. Also an advantage is someone just trying to get entered into contests won't want to get emails so there less likely to enter because they see it as spam.
4. Nofollow tags if I require a comment
This is a must since a lot of people will leave a comment for the backlink and don't even care if they win or not.
I have found that by following these simple rules I have cut entries by about 50%. The upside is that I seem to have a lot higher retention rate and if they don't come back I still have one more chance to sell them since they signed up for a newsletter. I like the idea of getting a zillion people to your blog really quick but once they get there you need to focus that traffic for your niche. The next idea I'm working on is that once I focus to my niche then I have a lot of left over traffic that is worthless to me. The key is how to monetize that traffic to either trade it for more visitors or make cash for it. Anyhow that's just whats been rattling around in my head.
those are some really great ideas, thanks for sharing them. and although you tend to think that "big" giveaways are best, i agree that only interested people will sign up for $20…excellent point!!
As a jewelry designer, I have given away items to bloggers in hopes of getting more exposure. Even though I thought I had selected the right blogs to give items to, I did not see much increase in website traffic and no increase in sales. I've stopped donating items for giveaways as a result.
I would consider it again if a blogger has steps in place to make sure that the giveaway would provide me exposure to the right people and not just the folks who make it a career to enter giveaway contests.
@ann marie – the last point you made is very good – it was one i was trying to make in my post. and it's why i've stopped posting my giveaways on those big giveaway sites. the majority of traffic that comes through those is transitory, but you also never know who you're going to attract that way….and yes, it's very important to work with the blogger to make sure you're on the right page with regard to promotion and goals for the contest. and that their audience are your customers.
thank you! I really liked this post!
thank you! I really liked this post!
Just found yr blog through the link you did to me today (thank you!), and thought I'd chime in on giveaways. I've been offered a lot recently as my blog is growing exponentially. I'd noticed that The Pioneer Woman in her early days did a LOT of giveaways which she actually funded herself and they really helped to build reader loyalty, a sense of community & return visits. So that was my first incentive. 2nd it's pay back for readers and 3 it builds traffic. and frankly if I do four giveaways a mnth and get quadruple traffic for each then that makes a difference to that months traffic, even if it falls away afterwards. But re cost it doesn;t seem to make a difference, I think it;s the the product that matters. I gave away 3 x $80 bottles of luzury bath oil recently and had 110 entries over a week. Last week I gave away 5 x pairs of $30 glvoes & had 110 entries over a Fri afternoon & weekend (trad my lowest traffic days). So who knows? That giveaway also brought in a load of make readers who aren't so common on my blog and mamy have stayed. I only promote through Twitter – but I do have 4300 followers… oh and finally – i'm a one woman band and I aim for 3 x posts today so giveaways, frankly, are very easy no hassle quick posts. (And I'm pretty sure that's why The Pioneer Woman runs so many of them)