As I'm sure many of you who frequently enter blog giveaways are aware of by now, there's been a drastic change in the contest blog community.  Several of us giveaway bloggers have started using a great new program called Rafflecopter, which has many benefits for both the contest hosts and the entrants.

Many of you who have begun entering these Rafflecopter-hosted contests have screamed out your enthusiasm for how much quicker and easier it is to enter blog giveaways than before.  I have to admit that I really like Rafflecopter too because validating entries and drawing winners is much more streamlined and efficient.  However, some of you have expressed that Rafflecopter is a tad confusing or is just not working as it should, so I wanted to create a step-by-step tutorial for how to use Rafflecopter and so that you can start entering this type of giveaway as quick and easy as possible.

Rafflecopter is still in a testing stage and so it is not perfect...yet.  Several of us contest bloggers are working closely with those folks and they are ironing out bugs and making improvements to the program all the time, so don't be surprised if you see a few changes now and then.  I also have become aware of a growing population of folks who love Rafflecopter so much that they will only enter those type of giveaways now!  In order to accommodate those of you who fall into that category, I've created a special Rafflecopter tag (located on my navigation bar) which will help you quickly and easily find all the Rafflecopter giveaways hosted here.

At any time, if you ever have any questions regarding Rafflecopter or its use, please don't hesitate to email me at [email protected] so that I can help you right away!

So without further ado...here's my tutorial for using Rafflecopter:

Step 1: Mandatory entries must always be completed first!

This is one of the great things about Rafflecopter, for it will not allow you to complete any entries before the mandatory ones.  The contests on my blog always have two mandatory entries and both of these must be completed before any optional entries will count.  An upside of this is that everyone who enters any of my giveaways will automatically get two entries.  Here's how to complete the mandatory entries:

The first thing you will see is two entries highlighted with a green "I Did This!" button.  These are the two mandatory entries.  In order to complete them, start with the first one and click the "Do It: Click for Instructions" link.  This gives the specifics needed for how to complete each entry.

After visiting the Dove link mentioned in the above example and following this blog via Google Friend Connect (located on the left sidebar), you next want to click the "I Did This!" button so that you can register your contest entry.  Immediately, a box will pop up asking for three pieces of information: name, email address (always hidden to the general public) and an extra info box.  Look at the picture below for an example of how to complete the first mandatory entry:

After you click "Enter the Giveaway" your entry is automatically added to the list of entries at the very bottom of the Rafflecopter program.  Next, it's time to enter the final mandatory entry to the contest:

Step 2: Complete as many of the optional entries as you'd like.

Once you've successfully completed both mandatory entries, you will see the "I Did This!" buttons on all of the optional entries immediately light up.  This signifies that you can now pick and choose and complete as many optional entries as you'd like.  Don't feel like you have to go in order here, for these are all available to you once the mandatory entries are completed.  In the same manner as before, complete the optional entries to the giveaway and watch how these too are added to the bottom of the Rafflecopter program.

Step 3: Come back again to complete as many of the daily entries as you'd like.

Below the optional entries, you will also see a section listing the daily entries allowed.  As you might guess, these can be completed once per day, everyday, and are a great way to rack up a lot of entries to a giveaway you really want to win!

Some final thoughts...

For those of you who have been faithfully entering the giveaways hosted on my blog for quite some time (THANK YOU!), you will notice that with Rafflecopter, some of the optional entries I used to award are no longer there, such as being able to tweet a giveaway THREE times per day, instead of just once, and earning an extra entry for entering an altogether separate giveaway I was hosting.  I apologize that these aren't available, but I am working closely with Rafflecopter to get these entries integrated into their program.  The response from Rafflecopter has been very positive too, I may add.  So don't be surprised if one day out of the blue you notice these entries have been added to the Rafflecopter program.

I hope this has been a helpful tutorial for those of you new to Rafflecopter.  Again, please don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected] if you have ANY questions whatsoever.  I am so honored to have you all stopping by and entering the contests I'm hosting and I definitely want to make sure that your visit here is always a pleasant one!  Have a wonderful day and GOOD LUCK!  :-)

More Great Contest and Sweepstakes Related Resources: