From The Contest Queen

Where does the time go? How can it be Wednesday already?! I thought before a whole week went by, I had better finish blogging about our adventures in Rimouski QC.

Saturday was wonderful.  As a mom, I don’t get to sleep in very often.  And when I say sleep in, I mean 8am. I awoke to find my husband, Craig, up and working away on his computer.  So, I got ready and when I emerged from the bathroom, he had gone back to bed and was fast asleep.  (I didn’t think I was really that high maintenance!)

So I got myself a tea, sat down at my computer and finished my newsletter.  (One of the best things about owning your own business is you can work when ever you wish.  One of the worst things about owning your own business is you can work whenever you wish.)  Since I was already three days behind in getting it to my webmaster, I thought I had better finish up.

At 11:30am we headed out to the “Ceremonie de Remise des Trophees Individuals“.  We had been given tickets to the VIP cocktail reception and tickets to the ceremony itself. I had packed for the weather, cool and damp, so upon arriving in jeans and sneakers, I felt very under dressed.  I said to Craig, “Why didn’t I think VIP meant VIP dress?”

The award ceremony was very well done.  They had two presenters: one French and one English, and they even had comic relief, in the form of Miss Memorial Cut, to provide some laughter to a potentially very dry ceremony.

The Brian Kilrea CHL Coach of the Year Award was sponsored by Old Dutch. It was won by Bob Boughner of the Windsor Spitfires for the second year in a row.

We then when out for a very late brunch at Chez Oeufs followed by a carb coma (aka afternoon nap).  We woke up in time to have a swim in the hotel pool followed by dinner in the hotel restaurant.

It was the perfect day.  Relaxing and indulgent with a fun mixed in.  Exactly why I enter contests to win trips and adventures.  What would be a perfect day on a trip win for you?

It is amazing how quickly a winning weekend passes!

My husband Craig and I left home at noon on Friday to catch our afternoon flight from Toronto to Montreal.  We changed planes to fly to Mont Joli. We then caught a shuttle bus to our hotel; Hotel Rimouski. We got our room, dumped our bags and headed to the semi-final game of the 2009 Memorial Cup hockey game between the Windsor Spitfires and the Drummondville Voltigeurs.  We arrived halfway through the first period.

What an exciting game!  Both teams played hard.  At one point the score was tied 2-2.  During the third period we got to have a VIP tour of the Rogers HDTV broadcast truck.  It’s was amazing to see an entire TV broadcast room squeezed into an expandable 18-wheeler.  As we watched the clock countdown I knew the game was going to go into overtime.  On our way back to our seats we got to stand behind the goal and get another view of the game along with spotting the winners of the Right Guard Extreme Fan Memorial Cup Contest.  We sat down to watch the Spitfires score the winning goal 5 minutes into overtime.

This trip is one reason why I enter many contests.  I get to have adventures and experiences I would never have in my everyday life. Make sure you are entering contests that could add adventures into your everyday life!

Sharon Elaine and I are kindred spirits.  We both love entering and winning sweepstakes.  We both believe in the Law of Attraction and we both enjoy sharing our fun and excitement with others.  Sharon has shared her winning secrets in Ready, Click, Win! How to Find and WIN Legitimate Online Sweepstakes and her Law of Attraction secrets in The Book of Affirmations.

As a college computer teacher, Sharon has used her teaching skills to make Ready, Click, WIN! a wonderfully easy book to read and understand.  Sharon only talks about online sweepstakes.  She begins by introducing readers to the hobby, for the “newbie”, through; how to find sweepstakes, how to enter, how to win, and how to stay safe online.

Chapter 2 is titled Rules of Thumb. Here are the tips that every sweeper should follow:

1. Don’t check the odds!
2. YOU go looking for the sweepstakes, don’t let them come looking for you.
3. Once you enter it, LET IT GO.
4. Get your mind right!
5. Be patient.
6. HAVE FUN!!

Sharon’s #1 tip is to expect to win.  When she goes off to enter her daily sweepstakes she says, “I am off to WIN!”, not “I am off to enter.”  No wonder Sharon wins so many online instant win prizes!

Sharon is an active member of Sweepstakes Advantage.  You can find her in the forum, ready to help others win, or on her website Unleashed Minds. Sharon was also a guest on my online radio show With The Contest Queen on Monday May 18th. Listen here.

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN!!

Helene spoke with Stephan Jacob on LITR.

Listen to interview here.

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

FIND HELENE’S BOOK HERE: Contesting: The Name It & Claim It Game.

What is viral, or exponential, marketing? Do you remember the old Breck shampoo commercials? (I know, I am dating myself here!) A beautiful blonde model stating she loved the shampoo so much, “I told two friends. And they told two friends. And so on. And so on. And so on.” As the screen kept adding in split screen images showing how many women now loved Breck shampoo. The same thing is happening to sweepstakes. Viral marketing is mainly occurring on blog-based sweepstakes.

Blogs usually run a sweepstakes to increase their readership, so the more people that know about the sweepstakes the better. The standard format for the sweepstakes usually goes like this:

1. the blogger will ask you to post a comment on the sweepstakes page.

You can garner extra entries by doing some or all of the following:

2. sign-up for their RSS feed.
3. follow them on Twitter.
4. tweet the sweepstakes.
5. be friends with them on Facebook or a fan of their group/page.
6. tell your Facebook friends about the sweepstakes.
7. blog about them on your blog.
8. add the bloggers blog widget on your blog or website.
9. viral the sweepstakes in various other ways such as posting to Digg, StumbleUpon, etc…

You usually get those extra entries by going back to the original sweepstakes page and adding another comment for each extra action you took.

Here are some viral marketing blog-based sweepstakes you can enter today:

Metropolitan Mama Mother’s Day Giveaway Extravaganza You can win a laptop.

Look What Mom Found Kolobags Laptop Bag Giveaway.

Look What Mom Found New Balance Giveaway You can win running shoes.

Natural Mommie G Kissr You can win natural lipbalms.

Canadian Contests & Giveaways Our 2nd Giveaway You can win a Webkinz.

Any Lucky Day has a new contest everyday! Today’s Contest

Most prizes given away on blogs, Twitter, and Facebook tend to be smaller prizes as the marketing budgets for individuals and small companies do not compare to Fortune 500 firms.  However, the odds of winning are far greater as fewer people are entering these types of sweepstakes.

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

In April I hosted a contest called 25 Words or Less. The website stated that the winners would be announced on May 1st. That was incorrect. I am utilizing Strutta’s sweepstakes engine, so it posts a standard announcement since their software offers five different types of contests that can be run. The winners were selected by May 1st, however, each potential winner has 10 days to get the release forms and affidavits back to me. Only then can I announce the official winners.

Thankfully, all the winners got their forms back in a very timely manner. Had the first place winner not sent the forms back, then the second place winner would become the first and the third place would have become the second. That would have continued until I received all the required forms back. Had people not responded, I may not have been able to post the winners until the end of May.

So, without any further adieu, here are the winners:

First Place
Persistence
by Naomi Torpey

I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
Entries by snail mail, texting and instants,
To win big money, I practice PURSEistence.

Second Place
Another Late Night of Contesting
by Natalie Gentile

I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
A bike or a ticket, a trip or a cap,
Too bad I cannot win a nap!

Christine McBride won a copy of You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter in the random draw.

We narrowed it down to ten potential winners and then selected, what we felt, were the best two. Here are the other eight finalists, in no particular order:

Kudos to Naomi and Cara as they both had two entries in the top 10!

Anticipation
by Naomi Torpey
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
Eyes out for UPS, FedEx and letters bi-coastal,
Using so many stamps, some think I’ve gone postal!

Home-grown
by Cara Kirkland
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
I have won almost everything I own,
except for the kids – they were all home-grown!!!

Time Well Spent
by Cara Kirkland
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
Some say my hobby is a big waste of time
But guess who’s going to Hawaii without spending a dime?

Freak!
by H. Cowley
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
FedEx and UPS guys know me by name,
But all of the neighbors think I’m insane!

Always a Thrill
by Deanna Jeffries
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
One thing that’s always a thrill,
A page that accepts my autofill!

Happy Dance
by Elaine Seymour
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
All it takes is one lucky chance,
And when I win, I do the HAPPY DANCE!

Lucky Ducky
by Wendy Phillips
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
Some think I’m plain crazy, I just call it “plucky”,

Which Way Today?
by Gail Wright
I enter contests, one-by-one.
I am so lucky. Winning is FUN!
Blog, mail, Twitter or text,
Where will a win come from next?

CONGRATULATIONS to all our winners!

Make sure you enter our May promotion: The Mom & Me Photo Contest.

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

After receiving a raft of emails regarding entering and winning on Twitter, I thought I should give you a brief  overview.

There are two types of contests and sweepstakes to be found on Twitter:

1) direct links to online contests and sweepstakes posted by websites that already list promotions such as: About.com, Sweepsgoat and Sweepstakes Magazine.

2) or contests run directly on Twitter itself hosted by companies such as: Week in Rewind, Tweet-a-Prize or Twit 2 Win.

If the tweet is just announcing a sweepstakes, there will be a direct link to the promotion itself in the tweet.  You only need to click on the link to be taken to the sweepstakes site.  Enter away!

If the tweet is announcing a contest directly on twitter you need to follow the instructions in the tweet.  You may need to click on the link, be taken to the blog or website of the contest host/sponsor and read the entry instructions.  You may need to follow the host/sponsor.  You may have to retweet (RT) a specific phrase to gain an entry.  Or you may have to participate in trivia or quizzes replying to the host/sponsor (e.g. @ContestQueen) so they can receive your entry.

Remember, like all new entry methods there is a learning curve, so you must be patient. The wins will come.

Learning to “tweet”?  Check out these free resources:

eHow: How To Tweet

cNet: A Newbie’s Guide To Twitter

Lost Art Of Blogging: A Guide To Twitter

My favourite free Twitter tool: Tweet Deck

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

Have you started entering contests and sweepstakes in Twitter or Facebook?  If not you should!  There are thousands of prizes to be won every day.

Follow me on Twitter

Some of my tweets are contests and sweepstakes I find for you to enter. Also, check out who I am following and follow them too since they either run Twitter-based contests or link to online sweepstakes.  Once in awhile, for good measure, I throw in a tweet about what I am doing.

Be my friend on Facebook

My tweets are also posted to my Facebook account.

This Social Media Blues video was just too funny not to share.

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!

On March 30 I wrote a post called Goal Setting & Winning.  Since several of those goals ended on April 30th I thought I should post an update on my progress.

GOAL 1) I now choose to complete writing the 2nd Edition of the Canadian Edition of You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter by April 30, 2009.

Sadly, I did not work on my book everyday as I had planned.  I did however, make significant progress.  I believe I can have it completed by May 31st.

GOAL 2) I now choose to complete writing Sweepstakes for Mommies by May 31, 2009.

I have made no progress on this goal.  I will need to increase my efforts to meet this goal this month.

GOAL 3) I now choose to launch my new Contest ROI Maximizer services package by April 30, 2009.

I have made no progress on this goal. I will have to reset my completion date.

GOAL 4) I now choose to write, send out and have the results of the survey to determine the future of the CCA and the 2nd ANCC by May 31, 2009.

After the first draft of the letter was completed, it became apparent that the four directors of the CCA needed to meet.  This goal is on hold until after the meeting, as the meeting may occur after May 31st.

GOAL 5) I now choose to launch the WINuvers for WISHcraft course by July 31, 2009.

I have made no progress on this goal.

I’ll keep you posted.

How are you doing on your goals?

ENJOY, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN