How to Find Giveaways That You Actually Want to Enter

I recently got a great question from a reader that I wanted to feature here. Bonnie writes:

“I would like to see an article on how to find giveaways. I see the same names in the comments on many different giveaways and I wonder-how do they find these giveaways so quickly. I saw some of your suggestions, as google blog search, and linkys. Is there somewhere that I don’t have to wade through giveaways for babies and children, to find giveaways for general items. I spend tons of time everyday searching for giveaways I want, and really very little time entering them.”

I think a lot of people interested in entering giveaways wonder the same thing. How do you find giveaways that are relevant to your interests? In fact, one of the common misconceptions about sweepers is that we spend hours entering contests just to win useless items. Well, as you read in my post, “How Blog Giveaways Work”, that is definitely not the case! So how do you find contests for the items you really want to win without having to sift through dozens of giveaways for things that you don’t need? Here are my tips:

• Narrow down your search.

One of my favorite places to look for giveaways is Online-Sweepstakes.com. On their front page, you’ll see that they have the option to view contests by categories, from electronics to food. Once you select a category, you’ll be able to further refine your search by contest type (Blog giveaway or other) and sort by expiration date. Another site that allows you to browse giveaway listings by category is Prizey.net. By using sites like these, you can immediately filter down contests to your category of interest. Both the sites I’ve mentioned list hundreds of giveaways, so you should have plenty of contests to choose from at any given time!

• Find a giveaway you like? Bookmark the site.

If you enter a lot of blog giveaways, you might want to consider bookmarking the sites with giveaways you really like. For example, if you want to win food prizes and you discover a recipe blog that is giving away a tin of cookies, add that site to your bookmarks or RSS feed. If a blog caters to your interests, they’re more likely to have giveaways in the future that you’d like to enter; and you may run across niche websites that fit your situation. For example, if you want to win products for your cat, then you should make a note of any pet-related blogs that you find. And that brings me to my next point:

• Use social networks to learn about new giveaways.

My personal favorite way of keeping up with blogs that I like is through Twitter and Facebook. At this point, I follow way too many blogs to practically keep up with each of them in my Google reader or email inbox. So when I find a blog that has a great giveaway, I often end up following them on Twitter or “Liking” them on Facebook. I’ve added countless blogs, giveaway directories, and fellow sweepers to my social networks, so every time I open my Facebook or Twitter accounts, I’m pretty much guaranteed to see at least one or two giveaways in my stream at any given moment. I have found and entered many giveaways this way that I may have otherwise missed. So use social networks to your advantage, and build a list of blogs that cater to your interests.

BONUS: Is there a brand that you really love? Look up their website and add them to your social networks. Companies often hold giveaways or other promotions through their social channels, so adding them to your networks is a good way to keep up with these offers.

• Keep an eye on linky lists.

When I’m in a giveaway-entering mood, I usually do a quick scan through the low entry giveaway lists and see what’s on offer. Not all of the prizes listed will pique your interest, but it doesn’t take much time to glance at what’s there, and you’ll have better odds of winning the giveaways you do enter!

Readers: How do you find giveaways that interest you?