1. SweepsU.com does not support Internet Explorer 6.  The Sweeps and Contests section will likely look horrible and not function correctly.  There are no plans to support IE6 at this point as it is a very small portion of internet users, it's very old and outdated at this point,  and it takes a great deal of work above and beyond the other browsers.  We strongly recommend Firefox for your browser as there is a LOT of flexibility and tools that can make sweeping easier.  However, modern Chrome, Internet Explorer (versions 7 and 8), Safari, Opera, etc are all supported.  I'll post links at the bottom for these downloads.
2. In order for the SweepsU.com Enter Sweeps to work, you must set all pop-up blockers to allow SweepsU.com to open pop-ups.  Otherwise SweepsU.com will not be able to open the pages for you.
3. SweepsU.com was designed to use resolutions of 1024x768 and greater.  As I develop and test the system I have my browser sized to look as though that's the resolution I'm running on.  Anything lower than 1024x768 isn't supported.  The reason for this is that there is a lot of information and functionality I need to put in front of you to help you be productive.  At lower resolutions that becomes VERY difficult to do.   1024x768 is also the commonly accepted standard for web design currently.  Due to the nature of SweepsU.com's utility, phones and small screen netbooks probably will not give you a very good experience.  At some point in the future, if it's requested by enough folks, I'll create a "light" version that can be used on these devices.
4. SweepsU.com does not enter contests for you.  When you click the Enter button it will open the contest entry form (or as close as I can get to it) in another tab or window of your browser.  From there it's up to you to fill in the form, submit, and close that tab or window.  Therefore the information you used to register for SweepsU.com does not necessarily have to be the information you use to enter sweeps and contests.  Automated is a big and interesting subject that we will talk about more as time goes on.  However, it's typically very frowned upon by the folks running these promotions (and can disqualify you in some cases).  However. . .
5. There are a number of tools that are commonly used to help you fill out forms.  The two I am most familiar with are Roboform and Sxipper.  Roboform works on Internet Explorer and Sxipper works on Firefox.  There are a ton of these out there and I'm sure something for just about every flavor of browser.  If somebody has other form fillers that they like, please post a link in the comments below.  These tools are pretty much invaluable to a sweeper.
6. Don't burn out.  Sweepstaking is a marathon sport, not a sprint.  Successful sweepers are those that continue at a regular pace over a long period of time.  Don't start out trying to enter every sweepstakes and contest listed.  My personal advice (and this is MINE, I do not claim to be a great sweeper and haven't been doing it all that long.  Gwen will have other articles talking about this later):  Figure out how much time a day you want to spend, 30 minutes, 2 hours, 6 hours, whatever and search for sweeps that are offering prizes you really want that fill up that time to enter.  I try to do about 30 minutes a day and I can go through 30-50 sweeps following the above advice regarding browsers, tools, etc.  I'm seeing a lot of the new folks get on, spend 5-10 hours tracking and entering sweeps then not seeing them again.  Remember consistency is the key, and as Gwen tells me all the time, "Luck is spelled W O R K".

Ok, Sam's getting hungry so I have to go for now.  I hope this helps you folks and please do let us know if you have other comments or questions (can post comments in response to this blog post, or use the forums, etc).

Gerald

Browser Links:

Firefox 3.6 (All platforms) (SweepsU.com Recommended)

Internet Explorer 8 (Windows)

Chrome (All platforms)

Safari 4 (Windows, Mac OSX)

Form Fillers:

Roboform (Internet Explorer)

Sxipper (Firefox)

I am the non-techy half of the SweepsU.com team. I work full-time in the IT department at a major university so I do know a few things. But all my years at the IT Help Desk couldn't prepare me for the glitch the SweepsU.com team experienced last week. (Scroll down to see the photos)

The techy half of SweepsU.com is Gerald Anderson, a genius in my opinion. Gerald has written almost all of the programs on SweepsU.com from scratch which is why you will not find them on other sweepstakes websites. We are in our final month and a half of Beta Testing and anxious to add more users to really put Gerald's programs to the test. That's when it happened...the BIG glitch...let's call it Sam.

Several CBS affiliates across the country were scheduled to broadcast an interview with Robert and I. We knew it was coming, thought we were ready, but we didn't count on Sam. You see, Gerald and his wife, Erica, have been expecting a baby and last week everything happened at once.

Erica goes into labor...a few weeks early.

A CBS station airs SweepsU.com information a few days early.

Erica requires surgery to deliver the baby.

300 people sign up to be SweepsU.com Beta Testers.

Samuel Gerald Anderson (Sam) is born

Gwen has a problem & can't get the Beta Testers on - non-techy partner...remember!

Sam is moved to NICU

Other CBS affiliates air the interview.

Gerald splits his time between 3-year old Maddie (at home), Erica & Sam

1,000 more Beta Testers sign up

Gerald tries talking me through the problems

More CBS affiliates air the interview

Erica and Sam are released from the hospital

Over 2,000 beta testers have applied

Hallelujah!

It has been a mad house, but Erica and Sam are finally home and doing well. Gerald is trying his best to work SweepsU.com into a very busy schedule...2am feedings...changing diapers...playing with Maddie! This is definitely the biggest glitch we've experienced since we started Beta Testing at SweepsU.com. But what can I say, Sam just couldn't wait to join the team.

Now for the latest report on SweepsU.com from Gerald. He is almost ready to start sending out email invitations, but we need to do this cautiously. Therefore, when Gerald gives the word I will start sending out invitations in batches of 25. We will wait a few hours, possibly more, and if all goes well send out another batch. This will continue until everyone has received their invitations and logged on to SweepsU.com. The invitations will go out in the same order as the Beta Applications were received. No cutting in line allowed! It will take us several more days, but this is what Beta Testing is all about.

Please be patient and keep an eye out for an email from SweepsU.com. We should be sending one to each of you very soon! Now scroll on down to see some wonderful photos of Sam.

Gwen Beauchamp

Who is that masked man?

Sam in NICU.

Finally at home where he belongs!

Thanks!

Gerald

Next up are implementation of the last features we're getting ready for launch.  Should be an exciting couple weeks with new and useful functionality coming your way!

Afternoon folks!  Another update and this one is a big honking bag of bugfixes (and status on bugs I was unable to duplicate), among other things.  Without further ado, here's the skinny:

• In the sweeps list and the bookmarks list it was possible for the bookmark and notify buttons to be enabled when a contest was expired.  They should appropriately show as disabled from here on.
• When a contest is expired, or has not yet started the date in the listing will be highlighted in red to hopefully catch your attention if your current search is showing expired contests.
• Went over SweepsUnleashed with a fine-toothed comb, there were two reports.  First was that there are times when there would always be 1(or more) contests that would stay in the Unleashed batch.  This one threw me for a loop for a bit but it turns out that it's when there is a contest with unlimited entries it adds it back to unleashed every time it's started.  This is appropriate behavior.  The second issue was that Unleashed was freezing at the end of a run.  I ran it probably 100 times and was not able to duplicate this.
• The Next and End pager controls on all lists pages were starting off showing as disabled (though they actually worked).  This has been corrected and all paging controls seem to function correctly now.
• There was a bug when trying to remove a bookmark from your bookmark list.  This has been fixed and you can now remove bookmarks again.
• The Home option in the top navigation will no longer be highlighted when in the SMS
• The position of the status bar (where status messages are displayed in the SMS) was off when using different resolutions.  This has been corrected and the bar should always look as intended.
• The URL for the SMS has changed.  If you had any deep links directly to the SMS they will no long function.  FYI, it is NOT recommended to bookmark pages within the SMS as they may change at any time and you get bounced back to the main site to log in anyway.
• There was a report that in the notification emails the "Last Entered" information wasn't updated correctly and always said "Never".   I was unable to duplicate this and closed the ticket.
• Had a tickets regarding errors in beta applications.  I was unable to duplicate this but it may have very well been solved with some earlier changes to the system.
• I'd filed a ticket about an error when entering contests through bookmark notifications.  I believe this was corrected with the authentication rewrite.

If I said I couldn't duplicate something and you can, please do let us know so maybe you could help us out.  If I can't duplicate it, I can't fix it.

As always we appreciate your bug reports and feedback, please keep 'em coming and feel free to even ramp it up and nit-pick us (please).

Next up for 1.0b.005 release are some highly requested items.  It will begin storing preferences for sorting and searches among other things and bookmarks and notifications are getting a LOT of love.  Going to be barely recognizable when it's finished.

Thanks!

Gerald

• Can not remove bookmarks currently, generates an error.
• Home option of top menu stays highlighted when in the Sweeps and Contests area.
• and more.

Next update will have a bunch of minor bugfixes then will attack bookmarks, notifications, and entering contests with a VENGEANCE!

As always we value your feedback on problems you have and thinks you like and dislike.  Please keep the information flowing to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Gerald

Thanks!

Gerald