What Am I Doing Wrong?

toni_

oh ok, thank you, ill carry on using autofill then, makes entering competitions so much easier
soapyjoe, ive only been comping since aug but every win thats in my signiture has been from a link from here

judy2357

soapyjoe wrote: »

I'm concerned now about using the links, I've been doing loads a day by this method and wins are few and far between. I'd like to know if those of us winning lots like kisto are using the links?

I have to say I hadnt given this a thought, maybe it would make a difference with some websites although in the 18 months I have been comping I have won quite a lot of small/medium things but never a biggie. What does everyone else think, could this make a difference?

ChelseaGirl

I always use the links from this site, and have won lots of smaller prizes and two biggies (Family holiday to LA, and VIP Tickets to Wimbledon 2010, including all day hospitality), so I really don't think that using links is detrimental with most comps. x

Cezzy

I was discussing with my friend the fact that when I first started comping I was receiving wins most weeks. The wins were brilliant as well including a netbook/laptop etc. Then last month it stopped and I received only one win and this month only a dvd and some crunchies. I was wondering if the famous Martin e-mail to millions has kicked in as I have seen more newbies (newer than me anyway) than ever.

But, for me, I enjoy comping and actually enjoy looking at the websites and their content. I shall continue using the links from here and roboform.

kisto

soapyjoe wrote: »

I'm concerned now about using the links, I've been doing loads a day by this method and wins are few and far between. I'd like to know if those of us winning lots like kisto are using the links?

This is an issue that came up recently and I'm in two minds about it. It's hard to tell and I guess there is no right or wrong as it varies from site to site. Last year I just clicked straight on the links posted on here and didn't give it a second thought. I did win a fair amount last year (over £2000 worth of stuff in 7 months). This year I have adopted a different approach and the wins are still coming!

There will be some site owners who will discriminate against people that arrive to their website from MSE, but there will also be plenty of website owners who will be glad of the traffic (and knowing where their traffic comes from). Running a competition is a marketing tool.
I have run an online business and I set up competitions to get more traffic to my website. I fully understood that the majority of the visitors would simply visit to enter the competition - but a few visitors would go on to make a purchase. You need the traffic to your website to make the sales and increase the profile of your website.

In the last few months I have noticed a few website owners have become disgruntled about visitors arriving at their website from MSE so I have started to enter competitions by hiding where I have come from. There are a few simple ways to do this. Using Firefox there is an add on called ref control - you can choose what referral information you give to the website you are visiting. A much, much simpler and quicker way is to simply drag the link into the end of your Firefox tabs (this then opens the link in a new tab). This will then send no referral info.

And for those of you who didn't realise that you sent information to website when you click on a link - here is a screenshot of the referrer stats for my personal wordpress blog:


I can see that I have had 425 visits from one stumbleupon link, 54 from google and 18 visits from a link on MSE!

When you visit a website they can usually see your IP address, the browser you are using, where you came from (i.e. what link you clicked on to get to their site), what country you are in and what ISP you are using. This link will show you what information you are sending.

The_3rd_Zebu

I'm not suggesting that ALL promototers would discriminate against comping site entries - possibly it is just a small minority.

Most times I guess promoters couldn't give two hoots who wins their DVD's, cinema tickets, t-shirts etc.

It is just worth bearing in mind when you are entering a specialist type comp such as a hiking trip in Nepal or a makeover for your horse stables.

Maybe when they launch these sort of comps they see only a trickle of entries come in for a day or two from their usual members. Then all of a sudden they see a great avalanche of entries arrive. That's when they realise someone has just posted a link up on a competition site.

Another thing to consider is that the promoters know just exactly how long each visitor has spent on site. That is recorded if you were asked to log on. With that in mind try to spend more than a few seconds on site when making your entry if it requires answering in depth questions on for example the mountains of Nepal -
even though you already knew the answers from this forum before you went to enter.

angelbreeze

mmmm sum interesting things there i didn't know cheers

glowgirl_2

Yes, very interesting, especially if you like to enter specialist competitions, I always uses mse links and have won quite a bit in the year I've been comping so no complaints but I see the point about the smaller sites, would anyone be able to advise me how to hide where I come from in IE8? using vista:)

Paulos77

I maybe wrong but I think the only way promoters would be able to see where entries for their competitions have come from is by using a traffic stats program. The likes of statcounter etc. And these only show ip addresses

If they are getting hundreds, possibly thousands of entries for a competition I dont think they are likely to trawl through all their traffic stats and eliminate those that have came to the competition page through mse forums. Unless when they pick a winnner they somehow check the winners ip address and match it to the ip address on there traffic counter and if they find they clicked through mse then decide to pick another winner. I would think its too much of a hassle for promoters to monitor where all there entries have come from. Unless they ask on the entry form where you heard about the competition, I always say through a friend

bethesda

Paulos77 wrote: »

Unless they ask on the entry form where you heard about the competition, I always say through a friend

me too!
i dont know so much about there being so many new people on here i know i came on here long before i registered so dont have many posts.