There are a lot of rumors floating around about people who enter sweepstakes on a regular basis and (OMG) win lots of prizes!  Some people say that all sweepstakes are scams and the winning stories they hear are put out by the scammers to lure new people in. Others say you have to be really “lucky” to win and don’t even try. And then there are those who tell me, “I entered one once, didn’t win, and knew it was a rip off!”

Well, I am living proof that all of these statements are incorrect! Sure there are scammers out there and you do want to be cautious about what you enter, but there are thousands of legitimate sweepstakes as well. Do you honestly believe that major companies would scam you? Come on, they are pedaling as fast as they can to get consumers to use their products. The last thing they want is bad PR. They will do everything possible to draw your attention to those products and that includes giving away some fantastic prizes. What may seem like unbelievable jackpots to you are just peanuts in the marketing budgets of major corporations. Marketing firms know that the way to get the public’s attention is to give them something to dream about and associate with the product they are trying to sell. Federal Law makes it very clear that once that promotion is advertised it must be completed right up to the distribution of the prizes listed in the rules.

As for being “lucky” in order to win, I spell luck…W-O-R-K! The old saying is very true; if you don’t enter you cannot win. I only win prizes from approximately 10-15% of the sweepstakes and contests I enter and the majority of those are lower level prizes (t-shirts, ball caps, CDs, etc.). The trick is to keep entering and don’t get discouraged. If you continue to enter consistently you are bound to win something along the way. There are methods to up your odds, just read some of my articles in the Sweeps University section of SweepsU.com to learn more about them.

So what about the people who say they gave it a shot and didn’t win anything? If a man goes fishing and doesn’t get a nibble the first time he puts his line and hook in the water, does he have the right to say no one really catches fish. Others couldn’t possibly have caught anything just because he didn’t.  That’s ridiculous, as are people who say they entered a sweepstakes once and didn’t win therefore all sweepstakes are just scams. Anything worthwhile requires a bit of time and persistence. You are not going to win everything you enter, but if you stick with it and enter consistently for several months there is a good chance that you will win something.

One thing that will help you in getting started is a good source of sweepstakes to enter and a system to keep track of them. That is where SweepsU.com comes in. We plan to launch the website by the end of June 2010 with a Community area that allows you to really get to know your fellow sweepers through Blogs, Forums and My Community, an up to date list of current sweepstakes, an absolutely one-of-a-kind Sweepstakes Management System (SMS) created by my partner, Gerald Anderson, and a Sweeps University section where you can read articles that will help to educate you on the “how to’s” of sweepstaking and contesting.

We are currently accepting applications for Beta Testers on SweepsU.com, but there is a waiting list. It will be several days before you receive an email invitation after you fill out and submit the Beta Tester application.  Once you are invited to log in you will have full access to all of the programs on SweepsU.com for just over a month before we launch the website. This includes well over 1,000 current sweepstakes on the Sweeps List that should help to get your sweepstaking off to an excellent start.

I can't wait to hear about all the wonderful prizes you win!

Gwen Beauchamp

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

So, let's talk about what's changed. Yeah yeah, aside from everything.  Let's get specific on some important points.

Look and feel:   Updated our color scheme and graphics.  Hopefully provides both a more professional and pleasing aesthetic.  This should be a lot better especially for the forums and blog.

Navigation:  Has been re-thought-out from the ground up.  We looked at how we could categorize certain types of information that really didn't belong on the top level and add other important topics.  Now it's not just a bunch of junk crammed on one line.  The top navigation works in concert with a left-side navigation site-wide with the top being general and the left-side navigation offering specific options.

Sweeps Management System:  Completely overhauled with new look and feel.  Migrating towards a more icon based approach to interacting with the system with hopefully very intuitive and attractive icons.  We are not and will never be satisfied with the speed of the SMS and continue to find ways of optimizing the system and the interface where possible.  I think you'll find some nice surprises in this regard as you get back into the system.  There are many more optimizations coming.

So there's a touch on the biggies.  Of course, as you find problems or have questions and comments, please do let us know.  We are always interested.

Speaking of feedback, we did get feedback on some aspects of the new site from some folks earlier on.  Some of you may not see your changes implemented yet.  Honestly, I just ran out of time trying to get everything put together and there are plenty more (minor) changes coming over the next few weeks.  We haven't ignored you, I promise.

So here we are, looking better and living large.  One has to ask, "What's next?".

We are looking at late June for launch at the moment.  Here's a quick list of items we are wanting to complete by then:

• Implement saved preferences for interface items and list sorting.
• Implement geographical eligibility requirements that allow for filtering lists based on content eligibility locations. 
• Quick Ending calendars for picking a date on a graphical calendar and seeing contests that end on that day.
• Have the ability to print or email a PDF newsletter (like old-school paper newsletters) based on current search criteria (and in the future saved search criteria)
• Implement billing and subscription system. . .hey, we all gotta eat.

There are tons more things in the pipe but that's the goals we have to wrap up beta and move into production.

As always we appreciate you guys helping us out and continuing to provide us feedback and bug reports.  If you have any comments or questions please comment on this blog post or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

On Friday, April 2, 2010, at approximately 7:00am EST, SweepsU.com will be CLOSED to all testers while some major improvements to our website are being loaded. We do not expect to re-open until Saturday morning or whenever Gerald feels that everything has been properly tested and passed his critique. This shutdown will include the daily email notifications which many of you receive. The links in your email notifications will not work until he has restored SweepsU.com to full functionality.

When you are able to log in to SweepsU.com again on Saturday, April 3, 2010, you will notice many changes. Some will be cosmetic and several will go much deeper. For example: many of the functions on the website will be noticeably faster than before. Menus will be changed, especially in the Sweeps Management System. Scrolling within the Sweeps List as well as your personal Bookmarks list will be slightly different, but much more efficient. The wording under listed sweepstakes will change to icons. You will find that Gerald has incorporated many of the suggestions we have received from our testers such as the default when you view the Sweeps List will be those expiring soonest. He has also simplified the SweepsUFound submission form, making it quick and easy to send in new sweeps. These are just a few of the changes happening this week, there are even more planned for the future.

Once the changes have been implemented and SweepsU.com is up and running again, we NEED to hear from our Alpha & Beta Testers. You have been given free use of the website for a reason. Your input is invaluable to us, especially now with all the upgraded features. We need to know what works and what does not work from the people using these programs daily. We want to know what you like and what you dislike and we need DETAIL! If you experience a problem with anything on the website we want to know about it, but we want more than a simple “this doesn’t work”. Please include specifics such as where you were (on the website) when the problem occurred. What sweepstakes were you viewing? Were you in the Sweeps List or your Bookmarks? The more details you provide, the better our chances of isolating a problem and correcting it.

While Gerald is busy updating the website, I will be rewriting the Quick Start instructions to assist you with all of SweepsU.com’s features, old and new. It would probably make the adjustment much easier for each of you if you were to read or print this document out the first time you log in after the website upgrade. To get to it on the SweepsU.com website just click on Sweeps University – SweepsU.com Basics – QUICK START.

We hope that all of you will take the time to visit SweepsU.com on Saturday, April 3^rd or shortly thereafter to view the changes and improvements, many of which were inspired by your own comments! We appreciate all of our testers who have stuck with us and assisted in improving SweepsU.com. We will be giving each of you an additional three months of free usage on SweepsU.com until we launch the website around the end of June 2010. Please continue to invite your friends to sign up as Beta Testers during this time period and if they sign up through an invitation you sent them, you will receive credit in our SweepsU.com Sweepstakes/Contest which does not end until we launch the website.

Gwen Beauchamp

My youngest daughter, Joy, has started sweeping! Hallelujah!!! It only took a lifetime of watching Mom & Dad consistently enter and win prizes to get her going. In her defense I will say that she has won more than her share of trips, experiences and luxury items without doing a thing. Let's face it, if you can win without entering...why not? Relatives of sweepers are the luckiest people you will ever meet. Unfortunately for the rest of us, if you want to win something you have got to get busy. But where do you start? Which sweeps will bring you the fastest payback?

LOCALS! I repeat...L-O-C-A-L-S! Any sweepstakes that is open to only a small geographic area ups your odds significantly. How do you find them? TV, radio, newspapers, open your eyes and ears, they are all around you just waiting to be entered. If you live in or near a large city you have tons of them. The best way to find the most is to join a sweepstakes club where the members keep each other informed. If there is not one in your area, try starting one. Two people searching doubles your chances of finding!

Be willing to learn new skills! The internet has changed the world of sweepstaking forever. There are more sweepstakes than we ever thought possible popping up daily on the world wide web. Years ago I told people that there were more than 400 sweeps to enter on any given day. That number is now closer to 4,000...probably more! Internet websites offer sweepstakes, contests and instant win games, but even those are becoming harder to win because there are so many people sweeping and these are fast and simple to enter. Look for the promotions that are more difficult to enter. Twitter is full of giveaways and it is still new enough that many people have not learned to use it. If you master it before the majority of the people, you have a big advantage. To learn to use Twitter, do a Google search (or other search engine) for "Twitter how to". You'll find dozens of articles to help you learn everything you need to know.

The internet now hosts thousands of Blogs on every subject imaginable. Almost all of them offer a prize or two now and then and many have giveaways on a regular basis. The prizes are usually smaller, but they get fewer entries than the big sweeps do and you have a much better chance of winning. I won a KitchenAid food processor last year from a cooking blog with one entry. It may not be a big prize, butit is one of my favorites!

Skill contests require fewer entries, but more time and thought. Most people want to do what's quick and easy. So go against the crowd and start looking at skill contests. You don't have to be a great writer, cook or photographer to have a good idea. Read the articles in the Contests Tips & Tricks section of SweepsUniversity on SweepsU.com to help you get started. Joy's first prize that she won herself was from the Qittle Live The Dream Contest. She submitted her one and only entry on a Wednesday and received a phone call on Friday. She has not yet done anything other than fill out an online entry form. But this promotion is awarding a weekly prize via a random drawing. 100 entries will be drawn at the end of the sweepstakes and those people will be asked to submit a video telling why they want to win. Because a video is involved and maybe the Grand Prize doesn't appeal to many (a year in Colorado) they will not receive many entries. Also, they did not say what the weekly prizes would be, just that they would be valued between $50-$500. Joy won a fabulous LoveSac by CitySac valued at $500.

A few other quick tips:

• enter sweeps offering a large number of prizes
• look for short running sweeps, the shorter it is the fewer entries
• get your entries in at the beginning for sweeps having daily or weekly drawings

As always, remember that sweepstaking comes with no guarantees, but  22 years of winning have taught me that you can tip the balance in your favor.

Gwen Beauchamp

Have you ever wished you could get in on one of those reality TV shows? They get to do some really cool stuff! Of course you have to sing exceptionally good…or bad, to get on American Idol, but what about the others. Survivor, Big Brother, Real Housewives of Atlanta and more are all signing up regular every day people like you and me. It’s pretty darn hard to get in on those competitions now that they are so popular, but what if you could have signed up before anyone else knew about them? What if you could compete in Season One of a new reality show? Think of all the "only in sweepstaking" experiences your family would have, not to mention the prizes you could win.

Well, here is your chance! Reveille Studios in California is looking for families with at least two teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 to compete at some of our nation’s most beautiful national parks. If you think your family would be interested, read the details below and send your information in for a chance to be on the newest reality competition for families! If you are selected to compete, be sure to let your friends at SweepsU.com know when and where to tune in on TV so that we can enjoy your adventure as well!

NOW CASTING OUTGOING FAMILIES!

Looking for the ultimate family adventure? Eager to

ditch the typical family vacation and experience a

truly unique and exciting bonding experience? Wish

you could bring your family even closer together?

The producers of "The Amazing Race," "The Biggest

Loser," and "The Office" are currently searching for

America’s most outgoing families to compete in

exciting outdoor challenges in the nation's

most beautiful national parks.

To be considered, please submit the following to

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it :

1. Name and Ages of all family members

2. City/state where you live (please include this in

subject line)

3. Contact Information (including cell #)

4. Current Pictures

5. A brief description of your family dynamic

Families should have at least two children living

in the home between the ages of 13-18

Family Compensation: $5,000.00

It looks like Reality TV is here to stay, so SweepsU.com is going to start a new category of sweeps for you to enter. We have added Reality TV as a new type of Sweepstakes on the SMS list. If you come across any shows having casting calls whether new or old, local or national, please let us know so that we can keep you informed of any opportunities that you may be interested in.

Along with all the great Sweeps already listed on SweepsU.com we're starting a good one of our own. Gerald has removed the wait time for new Beta Testers, which means everyone gets on as soon as they are approved. SO BRING 'EM ON! Send invitations to your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, bowling team, carpool, Sunday School class, PTA members...you get the idea!

Everyone who signs up using the link you sent them earns you an entry towards winning some great prizes. At the same time, you will be giving your friends the advantage of using SweepsU.com at no charge during Beta Testing. So what are you waiting for? Read the rules below and start sending your invitations out now.

Gwen

SweepsU.com Beta Tester Sign-Up Sweepstakes & Contest

Eligibility: Open only to registered SweepsU.com Alpha and Beta Testers. Previous winners are eligible to win again.

Promotion Start Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Promotion End Date: Will be the same as the Beta Testing end date currently scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2010.

Promotion Drawing Date: Within five (5) business days of the end of the promotion period.

Entry Limit: There is No limit to the number of entries submitted by any one person.

How to Enter: Login to SweepsU.com and click on "Sweeps Management System" (SMS). Once you are in the SMS you will see a new heading, "Invite Friend." Click on it and type in the first and last name and email address of a friend you think would like to be a Beta Tester at SweepsU.com. You can also include a personal message to your friend if you would like. Click on "Send Invitation" and you are done.

You will receive one (1) entry into the Sweepstakes and one (1) entry into the Contest for each new Beta Tester who signs up as the result of your invitation.

Each new person who signs up to be a Beta Tester for SweepsU.com will be eligible to enter the Contest and Sweepstakes by inviting their own set of friends.

There will be two (2) Grand Prize winners. The person who has the most people sign up as Beta Testers for SweepsU.com will be awarded the Contest Grand Prize. The Sweepstakes Grand Prize will be awarded to the person who is randomly drawn from all the entries received throughout the Promotion Period. The Sweepstakes winners will be selected in a random drawing using www.random.org. If there is a tie for the Contest Grand Prize, the winner will be determined by a random drawing of the tied entries. The Contest Grand Prize winner is not eligible for the Sweepstakes Grand Prize. There is a limit of one (1) prize per person.

PRIZES:

One (1) Contest Grand Prize: An Acer Netbook (ARV $300) and a Life-time subscription to SweepsU.com (ARV: Priceless!)

One (1) Sweepstakes Grand Prize: An Acer Netbook (ARV $300) and a Life-time subscription to SweepsU.com (ARV: Priceless!)

Two (2) Sweepstakes Runner Up Prizes: Five (5) large bars of Scharffen Berger Premium Milk Chocolate (courtesy of TuttiFoodie.com)
(ARV $20)