How to Get Started Entering Sweepstakes

Are you new to the hobby of sweeping (entering sweepstakes)?

You probably don’t know where to start first. Here are the top 3 things you should do first to get started.

FIRST:

Sign up for a free email address to use just for entering sweepstakes. You don’t want your personal email Inbox to be filled up with extra emails. For the most part you won’t get junk mail but just newsletters from the companies sponsoring the sweepstakes and confirmation emails once you enter some instant win games and sweepstakes.

You will also get notified when you win a prize and you don’t want your notification email to get lost among you personal emails.

I use Gmail for all of my free email addresses. They have a great spam filter and you can actually hook all of your email addresses together under one account so you don’t have to log in and out to check email if you have multiple Gmail accounts. To setup a free email address with Gmail just visit www.gmail.com and follow the instructions.

SECOND:

Download and install a form filler program like Roboform. Roboform is a program that will help you fill out the entry forms so you don’t have to type the information each time. It is free to download and install and use on your computer. You can get the here www.roboform.com. With the free version you can set up information for 3 people in your family. You will need to pay for the full version to setup more people.

If you are using a Macintosh computer you can download and install 1Password. It is free as well.

There are lots of other free form filler programs too such as the one built into the Google toolbar. That will work just as well.

THIRD:

Start by entering the most winnable sweepstakes and instant win games. I post what I consider winnable, or Sweeties Picks, on the Sweeties Picks list.

What is a “Winnable” Sweepstakes? A winnable sweepstakes is one that gives you better odds for winning a prize. It might be a sweepstakes that offers more prizes (1,000, 2,000, 10,000, etc.) so more people have a chance of winning. It might be a sweepstakes that is being held for a day or 1 week or maybe 1 month. The less time the sweepstakes is available for entering the less people will find out about it. Or, maybe it is restricted in some way. It might only be open to entrant of a certain age group, or teachers, military members, or maybe just open to residents of a particular state. By focusing on the winnables you have better odds of winning a prize.

After you enter all of the winnables then enter everything else that you are eligible for and are interested in as you have time. If your time is limited then just focus on the Winnables.

FOURTH:

Follow me as I teach you how to win and give you sweepstakes to enter.

You can follow what I write by:

• Visiting the site, www.sweetiessweeps.com, daily. New posts show up on the homepage.
• Becoming a Sweeties Facebook fan. I post more sweepstakes there everyday than I post on this site. And, I also let you know what I have posted on this site so you can come back here if you like.
• Signing up for my site by Email
• Reading what I write on the site through an RSS Reader

I post new sweepstakes everyday. There are lots of sweepstakes sites out there but they post so many sweepstakes that you don’t have time to enter them all and also don’t know which ones are winnable. I try to post winnable sweepstakes and also will put tips in some that I post to help you find out better ways to enter, to help you win more or to provide you with codes if needed.

FIFTH:

Learn how to watch out for scams and sweepstakes that sell your information. You will also want to watch out for scams. Some sweepstakes, like the ones on the Eversave website, have been known to thrown in offers for you to take advantage of. You can skip the offers to enter the sweepstakes but you will need to make sure you look carefully at the offers so that you aren’t getting yourself into something you don’t want to pay for. Sometimes a checkmark may already be in an offer box so you will have to click to deselect it.

If you read carefully what you are entering there is no reason you should be taken by a scam.

Here are some articles I wrote that so more into the subject of scams and how to watch out for them.

• 8 Ways to Tell If a Sweepstakes is Legit
• Protect Yourself from Scams

Want to learn even more?

I write informative sweepstakes articles from time to time to help you learn the hobby in a more indepth way. You should check my Article Index if you have specific questions because most of the answers will be found in those articles.

That’s it for now. Thanks for visiting and let’s hope you win big!

More questions? Email Wendy at [email protected]