For most people, using a Rafflecopter form for entering give-aways is second nature. I’ve used the form so many times, and I think they are incredibly easy and preferable to the old “leave comment method”. But I remember a time, not so long ago, when I was new to using the Rafflecopter form, so I thought that I would post a quick run down on using the Rafflecopter form for newbies. I also know that I have some readers who are family and friends that are not avid blog readers but may want to enter a giveaway. I know the Rafflecopter form may be intimidating in these situations, as well. So read on for “How to Use a Rafflecopter Form”.
A Rafflecopter form is a handy way to enter giveaways. Many blogs utilize it because it is so much easier to manage giveaways where the entries came through Rafflecopter. The form is “hosted” by an external site, so this does make it susceptible to error. Occasionally, the Rafflecopter form may not load the first time that a user tries to view it on a page. I’ve also had times when I would go to visit a giveaway that I knew didn’t end for a few more days, but the Rafflecopter form had ended it early. However, once I refreshed the page it adjusted itself. The flukes with the form are rare, and most of the time it works exactly the way that it should.
Here is how a Rafflecopter form will look when the user first views it. It will ask the user to either log in through Facebook or by email. This doesn’t give your personal information to the world, it just gives the giveaway host the information to contact the user after the giveaway should they have won. The top of the form will let the user know how long until the giveaway ends, how many people have already entered, and how many entry chances that each person has.
Once the user has logged in, the various entry options will appear. The entry options are determined by the giveaway host. Each entry option will have a “+1” or other number beside of it to let the user know how many entries each option will give the user for completing it.
To view more about each option, click the “Do It!” button. This will display a box detailing what the user has to do in order to complete the entry. Do precisely what is detailed in the box, and then click the “Enter” button.
That’s it! The process is easy. I will say that the ease of use is based on the giveaway host. Some hosts make sure all the links are seamless, but sometimes not all the information is included in the entry details due to host oversight. Again, this is rare. Most hosts do a great job at setting up the Rafflecopter forms and making sure their readers can easily enter the give-away. As an entrant, be sure to do exactly what the entry option is ensure the entry validity. Deliberately not following through with the entry requirements and clicking the “Enter!” button anyway is not playing nice.
Hope this helps anyone new to Rafflecopter forms! Bloggers, if you would like to link to this post to help your readers, feel free.
Linking to these parties!
This is definitely a help! I’ve never used it before 🙂
What a great tutorial Melanie! Im tweeting this 🙂
Once I entered at a couple of blogs that were using Rafflecopter, I was hooked! It’s so much easier and faster to enter the awesome giveaways =)
Just pinned this …. great info! 😀
Gave your post a shout out!
http://4you-withlove.blogspot.com/2012/06/blogging-tips-8.html
Your info is so great….it needed to be shared!
Marilyn
Thanks! I am going to link to this soon. I just started using Rafflecopter and so far so good. I think I am going to share this on my FB page today. I have a lot of giveaways coming up. Thanks!
Thank you! I used Rafflecopter once and it’s very useful and makes the giveaway so much easier to manage. The only problem is that it’s not available in other languages. My blog is bilingingual in French and English and as my readers are worldwide, I like international giveaways. But French are not good in English…
http://sparkleandco.blogspot.com
Great explanation Melanie! I recently started using Rafflecopter for my giveaways and I love it!
Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a fabulous week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/