Wendy's® Two's the Reason Sweepstakes is offering some excellent gift cards for Southwest Airlines and Best Buy. The promotion starts today (Monday, November 28), but you need a code to enter. Read all the details on how to get them on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list. Be sure to add it to your SweepsU.com daily email notifications so you won't miss a single day of entering!

PetSmart Holiday Gift Grab Instant Win Game and Sweepstakes also starts today and has a grand prize of $10,000 cash as well as some great Instant Win Prizes for your furry friends.

The Eastbay "Win Your Order" Sweepstakes starts and ends today (Monday, November 28) and is giving away up to $1,000 to 100 winners. Be sure to get your entry in before midnight.

Full details and links for all of the above sweepstakes can be found on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list. Click on "Starts" at the top of the list to pull all three of them up or you can do a Custom Search by typing one of the following words in the Contest Name field: reason, holiday, eastbay. To learn more about using the SweepsU.com Sweeps Management System (SMS) be sure to watch our video tutorials (see links below). Only SweepsU.com provides you with these incredible features to organize and speed up your sweepstakes and contest entries.

Episode 1:  Welcome and Introduction

Episode 2: Your SweepsU.com Dashboard

Episode 3: The Sweeps & Contest List

Episode 4: Searching

Gwen Beauchamp

Luck is spelled W-O-R-K!

I'm going to do an upgrade tomorrow morning to bring some of the system internals up to current versions.   There won't be any new features to be seen, but it does set the stage for things down the road.

I don't anticipate any problems but the one thing to keep an eye on is that this dramatically changes the way the web pages are put together and has potential to cause browser compatibility issues.  So, if you see anything that looks broken, especially if you're an Internet Explorer user, please do let us know.  That said, I've checked IE7, IE8, IE9, Chrome (which should also cover Safari), and Firefox and everything seems to be working fine.

Thanks!

Gerald

Black Friday is not just the major shopping event of the year. It is an incredible opportunity to enter (and hopefully win) sweepstakes and contests designed to get you to the stores, malls and websites offering them. Marketers know that one of the best ways to get a shopper's attention is to offer prizes on top of some great deals. We have already found dozens of national giveaways (see partial list below) and there will be more popping up daily. All of these can be found on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list by doing a Custom Search (type friday in the Contest name field). If you have never used the Custom Search feature in the SweepsU.com Sweeps Management System (SMS) here is a link to one of our tutorial videos showing you exactly how it is done: Episode 4: Searching.

For those of you living in or near large metropolitan areas and even in the less populated areas, now is the time to be on the lookout for those fabulous local promotions. Radio stations will be teaming up with malls and many will be awarding prizes as early as midnight on Thanksgiving Day. There will be radio remotes at malls and strip shopping centers throughout the holiday weekend and continuing through Christmas Eve. Know where they are, what type prizes they are offering (you may or may not be interested) and which ones can be worked into your schedule. To do this you must listen to a variety of radio and TV stations and read your local newspaper daily, especially the sales ads. In this day and age, radio and TV websites are also an invaluable source of information. On top of checking out the promotions/contest/sweepstakes page you should look for an "Events" page that tells you where that station is holding live remotes. Chances are they will be awarding prizes from the store where it is being held.

In years past, these tips have paid off well for the Beauchamp household. One year in particular, I remember receiving a phone call from my daughter, saying she had just heard that a local radio station was having a live remote at the mall near my office that evening with some great prizes. I called my husband and we agreed it was worth going to. So we decided to have dinner at the food court and try to win some much needed Christmas presents. At the time, we still had 3 children at home and 2 in college. It was a Friday evening just over a week before Christmas and the mall was packed. It took us forever to find the location for the radio station remote and we were shocked that no one else was even paying attention to them. The Grand Prize was a $1,000 American Express Gift Card and the announcers were doing their best to get people to sign up, but everyone was in a rush to get their holiday shopping done. Robert and I each filled out an entry form, put it in the almost empty box and crossed our fingers. We went to have dinner while we waited for the time when the drawing would take place. You did not have to be present to win, but we wanted to know right away so we did a little shopping and came back to the remote at the designated time. We were both holding our breath as they reached in to pull out the name of the winner and it was...BILL TEMPLE!

Did I mention earlier that the radio personnel were so desperate for more names in the box that they had allowed me to enter for my Mom and Dad also. As soon as we got back in the car, I called Dad and told him what he had won. The radio station also called him the following Monday morning and he picked up his prize that same day. Being a good father, he took me shopping to buy gifts for all of my children, leaving just enough to pay the taxes on his prize. It was a wonderful Christmas!

To read more about my Dad and how he came to be a sweepstaker read my 2011 Father's Day Blog, A Sweepstaking Dad

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Gwen Beauchamp

Micro Center Black Friday Gift Card Giveaway Sweepstakes
Lowe's Black Friday Throwdown Sweepstakes
Black Friday Travel Sale Sneak Peek Alerts
Black Friday Travel Sale Daily QR Code Contest
2011 Black-Friday.net Sweepstakes
The Enquirer’s $2,000 Black Friday Visa Gift Card Sweepstakes
Win Big with BlackFriday.info!
IHG’s #GottaGet100 (Black Friday) Twitter Sweepstakes

As more and more people learn about the sweepstakes hobby we see a pattern developing. Unfortunately, it is not a good one. Here is what we've noticed the majority of new sweepstakes enthusiasts doing.

     Discover the world of sweepstakes and contests.

          Enter everything they can find with no plan of action.

               Experience burn out within the first week or month.

                    Blast all sweepstakes and contests as being scams!

To prevent this from happening to you, set some goals with realistic timelines and educate yourself. Very few sweepstakers win a prize within the first month of entering. It usually takes several months before you start to see results. Allow yourself at least six months before throwing in the towel. There are several strategies to help you narrow the odds of winning. Read the articles you will find in the SweepsU.com Sweeps University Library to get the knowledge you need to make good choices about the sweeps you enter.

Next step, SLOW DOWN! You heard me right! While it is true that the more you enter the better your odds of winning, it is also true that anything done in excess will eventually have a negative effect. I would be willing to bet that 90-95% of the sweepstakes newbies burn themselves out within the first month if not sooner. They will then spend the rest of their lives talking about what a waste of time it was. So set a specific amount of time that you will invest in entering sweepstakes and contests each day...then stick to that schedule! Consistency over a period of months is what pays off for most sweepers. Be sure to allow plenty of time for other things in your life. Prioritize...entering sweepstakes should be a hobby, not a lifestyle.

SweepsU.com can be a great help to you when you use our unique programing to organize and expedite the sweepstakes process. There are no other sweepstakes websites offering the Sweeps Management System (SMS) found on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list. This program was written exclusively for SweepsU.com by our Senior Software Engineer, Gerald Anderson. Once you learn to use it correctly it will enable you to enter more sweepstakes in a shorter amount of time. To learn to use this program which can only be found on SweepsU.com, read Gerald's latest blog, SweepsU.com QuickStart - reboot and be sure to click on all four of the video tutorial links.

Gwen Beauchamp

Luck is spelled W-O-R-K!

Halloween Sweepstakes & Contests are in full swing with all kinds of prizes being offered. The Scaredy-Cat (and Canine!) Halloween Photo Sweepstakes is giving away $500 cash, but many may not enter because it does require a photo. Don't let that detail "scare" you away. Photos will not be judged! The winner will be selected via a random drawing. So pull out that 2 year old picture of Fido in a tutu and submit your entry. Ryan Seacrest's Party City Halloween Sweepstakes is offering a $1,000 gift card and MyCokeRewards Halloween Horror Nights Sweepstakes is giving away two trips for 4, one to Orlando, FL and one to Hollywood, CA for the Universal Studios "Halloween Horror Nights".

If you DO like skill contests, then start snapping photos of your Halloween decorations and costumes and get them submitted into the many photo contests that mysteriously appear at this time each year. The Krispy Kreme Halloween Family Photo Contest is a good one and you really want to listen to your local radio and TV stations for their Halloween promotions. Remember, locals ALWAYS offer your best opportunities to win.

I recently entered the Walgreens Halloween Ton of Fun Contest which required both an essay and a before & after photo of my Halloween decorations. I made it to the top 3, but Becky from Illinois beat me in the final round which was a voting competition. The Prize? ONE TON of Hershey's Halloween candy will be distributed to the non-profit organizations of her choice. Even though I did not win the candy for my community, I had a blast spending the $300 gift card Walgreens sent me on Halloween decorations. The decorating turned into a great family get-together as my children and grandchildren came over to help. So in the end I was a winner, as I now have all of these great decorations from my local Walgreens and some wonderful family memories. You can view my before and after photos on the Walgreen's Facebook page.

To find all of the Halloween Sweepstakes and Contests mentioned above on the SweepsU.com Sweeps and Contest list, do a Custom Search by typing the word halloween in the Contest Name field. To learn how to use the unique searching features in the SweepsU.com Sweeps Management System (SMS) read Gerald's latest blog, SweepsU.com QuickStart - reboot, with links to the new SweepsU.com tutorial videos on UTube. Pay special attention to Episode 4: Searching for some great ways to find the sweeps you want, quickly & easily every time.

Gwen Beauchamp

Luck is spelled W-O-R-K!

Most of you have probably seen the SweepsU.com Quick Start document.  I've been giving that document a little thought and have started refreshing it. . .with a twist.

Now, instead of a long document to read we're actually doing narrated demonstrations of the system in action.  Commonly known as screencasts.  I've just finished uploading the 4th episode (have 9 planned initially) and am ready to start hearing what the world thinks of them.  Here are the links:

Episode 1:  Welcome and Introduction

Episode 2: Your SweepsU.com Dashboard

Episode 3: The Sweeps & Contest List

and

Episode 4: Searching

They're pretty brief, most only 2 or 3 minutes long and even some of you long-time SweepsU.com users may want to take a look.  It covers everything quickly, but touches on a lot of detail that you may not have seen before.

Go ahead and take a look, and by all means leave a comment here with any feedback you have on them or any suggestions you have for future episodes.  What do you wish you would have known when you first started using SweepsU.com?  What are you curious to know more about now?

If you are a newer user, what do you find most confusing?  What would you like to know more about starting out?

We also have a snazzy new YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/sweepsu.  Please subscribe and like the videos and you'll be kept up to date as we add new content.

Thanks!

Gerald

Whew!  I usually pad any downtime by about 4x.  So in reality I expected this morning's downtime to be around an hour.  However, today didn't quite go as planned and am righting this right at 11:00a so exactly 4 hours.  Ended up being a little larger job than anticipated.

Anyway, we're back up and the new hardware has more than twice the processing power and over 4 times the memory (the important part).  So severe performance issues should be a thing of the past.

I would very much like to hear what your experience is. . .do you notice a difference?  Worse?  Little better? Dramatically better?  Giving me some feedback would help a lot in future planning.

Thanks!

Gerald

Good morning folks!

In order to address some performance issues I'm going to be migrating the SweepsU.com systems to a significantly better hardware platform.  I'll be taking everything down around 7:00a (CDT) and expect the downtime to be less than 4 hours. 

After the upgrade system performance should be noticeably improved.

If there are any questions or comments, please do let me know.

Thanks!

Gerald

The Kellogg’s™ 2012 Cheer on Team USA Sweepstakes is offering the prize of my dreams...but I won't be entering! The trip for two to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England comes with a hefty $22,000 price tag. OUCH! As much as I would love to be there, I just can't see paying the taxes on that amount of money. You have to think ahead when entering sweepstakes. If you can't afford to give Uncle Sam his due, don't enter or you may end up turning down a really good prize or worse. Always read the rules carefully and see what each prize is valued at.

You should also do a double check on things like trips that must be taken on specific dates and ones that do not include everything.  A trip to the Bahamas sounds great, but what if airfare is not included? Are you a good enough swimmer! Each sweepstakes is totally different, so always read the rules carefully. If the prize of your dreams turns out to be a dud, move on to something that is a better fit for your budget and schedule. Spend your time and entries on something you can really enjoy if you win.

Gwen Beauchamp

Luck is spelled W-O-R-K!

Football is back! The contracts are signed, the season has begun and the sweepstakes are popping up everywhere. Whether you are a College or NFL football fan, there are prizes to get you more excited than the games themselves. The Bud Light 1st and Win Sweepstakes is giving away MADDEN NFL 12 video games, PlayStation3 gaming systems and 60" HDTVs every week right up until the Super Bowl. And you could win a Super Bowl trip for you and 10 of your best buds from the Visa Super Bowl XLVI Sweepstakes. So get busy entering to make this your best sweepstakes football season ever.

To find the Bud Light 1st and Win Sweepstakes on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list do a Custom Search by typing "bud" in the Contest Name field. To find the Visa Super Bowl XLVI Sweepstakes type "visa" in the Contest Name field. If you are interested in finding football related prizes of all kinds, do a Custom Search by typing "football" in the Prize Description field. To find sweepstakes offering trips to College Bowl, Pro Bowl or Super Bowl games type "bowl" in the Prize Description field.

Gwen Beauchamp

Luck is spelled W-O-R-K!