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November 30, 2016 By Becky Mansfield 25 Comments

How to find free things to give away on my blog – 5 tips to help!

Today I am sharing my tips on how to find free things to give away on my blog.
When I first started blogging, I decided to host a few giveaways to help readers find my page.  It worked, but I was paying for my own items… until I realized that I didn’t need to do this because there were businesses that WANTED me to give away THEIR items at no cost to me!

free-things

Here are a few tips to find items to give away for free. 

1– Contact someone that sells something (Origami Owl, Thirty-One, Tupperware, Mary Kay, etc…) and ask them if they will give away an item and you will share a link back to their page.  Most of them will be happy to have the extra exposure.   I find that most of them will give away a gift card for around $100 (at no cost to me.)   I also ask them if they want to offer a 10% discount to my readers.  This will bring them extra business, as well.

2- Contact a company.  
Example:  I recently contacted a company to see if they could provide a product that I’ve been wanting for our son for Christmas (worth $400).   I told them how I wanted to include it in a post and I asked if they would provide a second one to giveaway on my blog.   They asked for my stats and I was quick to respond.
They sent me an answer of YES & YES!   The worst that they could have said was no, so it is worth it to ask.

3- Contact other bloggers. 
I was recently in a giveaway where 18 bloggers joined together and we each gave $10.   We were able to purchase a brand new Kitchen-aid mixer for one lucky winner!    Plus, I got a bunch of new readers from this giveaway (yay!).

Or- you could ask a fellow blogger for a book to give away, or one of their products or courses.  Most will say yes. 🙂

4- Sponsored Posts
A LOT of my sponsored posts will come with giveaways.   I would say that 60% of them include a giveaway of the product that I am reviewing.   This is really the best because you are being PAID to give away one of their products!

5- Go to a local store or place of business.   
When I was a teacher, I would often go to local businesses (movie theaters, pizza places, coffee houses, etc…) and ask them if they had anything that I could give to certain people that helped out a lot in our classroom.    When I was the Room Mom for our son’s preschool classes and in charge of gifts for all of the teachers at the preschool, I did the same thing.  I went to local stores and asked if they had anything that I could offer the teachers for the preschool.   Again, I was rarely given a “No”.  Most people want to help out and they want to promote their business.

I have done this in the blogging world, too.  I have called local companies and asked for a product or gift card to giveaway to my readers.   I am sure to give credit where credit is due (“thank you to ____ for giving us this great product to give to you!”).

In the end, hosting a giveaway is a great way to give back to your readers and most companies are glad to help!    Don’t get too carried away though.  Too many giveaways and it loses its “spark”.   I do more during the holidays and I highlight them with a “ps- check out this giveaway this week” when I send out my newsletter.

 

Your turn- share your best tips or recourses for your giveaway prizes. 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tips, Monetization Tagged With: free, gifts

Reader Interactions

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Comments

  1. Kizzy says

    December 17, 2013 at 12:39 am

    Some really great ideas here, a couple I hadn’t thought of, thanks

    Reply
  2. Christina @ Juggling Real Food and Real Life says

    December 17, 2013 at 11:21 am

    I would like to do more give-aways. I appreciate your advice on this one. I’ve got some work to do now.

    Reply
  3. Jordan Hansen says

    December 18, 2013 at 5:44 pm

    What great tips. I’m looking for new ways to grow my blog and I think this will really help. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Becky says

      December 19, 2013 at 3:27 pm

      Sure! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Alison Wood says

    December 20, 2013 at 3:52 am

    Great tips!

    Reply
  5. Sarah @ Licorice & Olives says

    December 20, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    These are some great ideas, i definitely agree with the “just ask” philosophy!

    Reply
  6. Emily @ My Love for Words says

    January 14, 2014 at 9:13 am

    I would love to do this, but I feel self conscious about my blog and stats (possibly?) not being impressive enough for a company to want to give something to me for free in exchange for promotion. Do you have any recommendations regarding stats to achieve before approaching companies?

    Reply
    • Becky says

      January 14, 2014 at 10:00 am

      I wouldn’t feel the need to share your stats with them. I would just say something like
      “Hi,
      I’m Emily at My Love for Words and I love your _____. I know that my readers would be crazy over it, as well, and I wondered if you would be willing to let me review one and give one away to my readers. I have a great following of loyal readers and they trust what I give them to be my honest opinion, which is why I can’t wait to share this with them. I know that they will love your product as much as I do, so if you would allow me the chance to introduce it to them through this giveaway, I would be so grateful!
      Thanks so much! I look forward to hearing your response.
      Emily

      Reply
      • Cassie says

        October 16, 2015 at 8:04 pm

        Awesome tip. I always wondered about this and figured they would want to know your stats before they sent you something to review. Thanks for sharing!

        Reply
  7. Destinee says

    January 15, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    I’m working on launching my blog here in the next month or so. Is there any way to get free items from companies to use for a website launch give away? I obviously would be new and wouldn’t really have stats or loyal followers yet. Any tips for this? Thanks! 🙂

    Reply
    • Becky says

      January 15, 2014 at 6:01 pm

      Definitely. I would just tell them just what you told me: you are starting up a new website and want to give away their awesome product as a giveaway. You will talk about why you love their product and how they will be so excited to win the giveaway!

      🙂 Good luck- let us know when it is & we would love to support you!

      Reply
  8. Jill @ Busy Bites says

    February 16, 2014 at 2:20 pm

    This was a very helpful post. Exactly what I was looking for!

    Reply
  9. rads says

    March 8, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    Hi, so I have a very established blog. Good number of followers etc and Ive been writing awhile, mainly personal stuff. Recently started Interviewing remarkable women around my area and it’s going well. Now the thing is I am wondering if I should separate the two.
    That way, things are cleaner and also I can start to build equity there in the new space and also use to do giveaways and try and get some income going. I will cross-post at my main blog till that takes off.
    Guess am just thinking aloud and hoping you will have some ideas and feedback for me?

    Thanks so much. 🙂
    Rads

    Reply
    • Becky says

      March 10, 2014 at 9:52 pm

      I think thats a good idea. Thats what we did with this blog. 🙂 (separated blogging content from our normal content)

      Reply
  10. Juan San Roman says

    June 16, 2014 at 6:51 pm

    Becky-
    This is a great post. Thanks for writing! I just started my own interior design firm and actually am looking to give away some interior design services online. Basically, all of the design is done through cyberspace and then the client puts it together. It’s fun and affordable. If you, or any other blogger commenting here for that matter, is interested I’s love to give away a free room design in exchange for a blog post about the product. Please let me know if this is something you’re interested in. Thanks!~

    Reply
  11. Lisa says

    July 31, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    Very helpful! Thank you so much for being so willing to help the rest of us out!

    Reply
  12. Monique Goodwin says

    August 2, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    Great Info…Will be putting these ideas to use soon!

    Reply
  13. mike says

    October 18, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    great idea

    Reply
  14. Alexandra says

    November 10, 2014 at 8:06 pm

    Thank you for sharing this valuable information!

    Reply
  15. Tawra Kellam says

    December 5, 2014 at 11:50 am

    I was just wondering you said you got a free vacation can you tell me from who? We have had 1 three day family vacation in 20 yrs. and it would be such a great post or series to blog about our vacation. (of course then would it be a vacation. LOL)

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Becky says

      December 5, 2014 at 3:03 pm

      I just call hotels/companies that I want to stay at anyway 🙂

      Reply
  16. Emily says

    January 30, 2015 at 2:34 am

    I love this! I tend to be the one that gets told no though.

    Reply
  17. Elizabeth Brooks says

    June 11, 2016 at 10:47 am

    Great advice thanks

    Reply
  18. Monique Strickland says

    August 19, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    These are some really great ideas! I especially like the ones about contacting other small business owners such as Mary Kay Representatives. This sort of collaboration, allows everyone’s business to grow.

    Reply
  19. Manda says

    September 28, 2016 at 7:18 am

    Thanks for the tips! I can’t wait to try one out!

    Reply

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