Blog entries

Hunger Game Sweepstakes

Gwen Beauchamp — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:06:18 +0100

It is a common marketing practice to use a sweepstakes to generate interest in a movie premiere, but I have never seen so many sweepstakes revolving around one premiere. Hunger Game Sweepstakes are being promoted by a huge number of sponsors. We currently have 23 Hunger Game Sweepstakes listed on SweepsU.com with more being added as we find them. If you are interested in attending the Los Angeles premiere of the Hunger Games on March 12 get your entries in quickly. Most of these promotions enRead More...

Valentine's Day Sweepstakes & Contests

Gwen Beauchamp — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:55:07 +0100

LOVE is in the air! It can also be found in grocery stores, newspapers, Facebook, websites and over the airwaves (radio & TV)! Sweepstakes and contests promoting the season of love are all around us at this time of year. Diligent sweepers should be monitoring all of the above sources for the next week or so. Short running, local promotions will be popping up everywhere and you'll have to pay attention to participate in as many as possible. Remember that radio station call-in to win promotRead More...

John Carter Super Bowl Sweepstakes

Gwen Beauchamp — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:18:31 +0100

The John Carter Super Bowl Sweepstakes doesn't start until 6:30pm on Sunday, February 5th, but you will need to get a code shown in the John Carter Super Bowl commercial to enter. Watch for the 30 second promo during the first quarter of this year's Super Bowl game, then go to the website to enter to win a trip to next year's Super Bowl game in New Orleans, LA. You can enter once a day until March 9th, but you must have a code.

Be sure to place this promotion on your SweepsU.com trackRead More...

Today's update

Gerald — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:44:03 +0100

Ok, so now that it's (mostly) done it's time for me to give you guys a little head's up on what the update today was.

First, though, an apology: There was no blog posting announcing the downtime associated with this scheduled update. Or, rather, there was but I got caught not paying attention. I have a couple staging sites where I have other copies of SweepsU.com up and running so I can test various things before I deploy them on the production site. I'd posted Read More...

Stay On Top with SweepsU.com tools!

Gwen Beauchamp — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:25:37 +0100

Paramount Pictures Centennial Sweepstakes and the Higher One Deposit Sweepstakes have something in common. You can only enter them once each month. The Paramount Picures Sweepstakes is giving away a trip for two every month in 2012 and the Higher One Deposit Sweepstakes is giving $100 cash to 100 people each month through the end of February.

Both are definitely worth your time to get those once a month entries in, but how do you remember to do it each and every month for the next yearRead More...

URGENT: Problems with billing provider causing errors

Gerald — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:40:37 +0100

Update: Problem resolved. Things should be operating normally.

Our billing provider is having some sort of maintenance issue that is causing the SweepsU.com dashboard to have problems. Unfortunately, I can't do a quickfix to make it go away.

You can see their status here: http://spreedly.com/

I don't expect that the problem will persist for long at all.

Also, in reference to our billing provider: Frankly, we haven't been that happy with SpreRead More...

Christmas Reflections of a Sweepstaker

Gwen Beauchamp — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:35:17 +0100

In the Beauchamp family, one of the biggest benefits of sweepstaking is seen at Christmas each year. Throughout the year as prizes are won, many are hidden away to be used as gifts. This year was no different. I spent a grand total of $25 on Christmas presents. That is no easy feat when you consider that Robert and I have five children, four children-in-law and eight grandchildren (with one more on the way). Having such a large family almost always insures that someone will appreciate each itRead More...

Sweepstakes Holiday Crunch Time!

Gwen Beauchamp — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:09:57 +0100

Shopping...wrapping...baking...decorating...partying...who has time to enter sweepstakes! But this is the best time to be entering steadily. While other sweepers are too busy, your odds of winning increase drastically. So do your best to allow time for at least a few entries each day. It could add up to some big wins in the New Year!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Gwen Beauchamp

Back up

Gerald — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:24:41 +0100

Ok, everything's back up. This was a MAJOR change in the network and systems so please keep your eyes out for any problems: performance, look and feel, errors, etc. There could be a problem with anything (though I haven't found anything in testing so far). If you do find a problem please do let us know at support@sweepsu.com.

Thanks!

Gerald

Scheduled downtime tomorrow (11/02/2011) 8a-noon

Gerald — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:37:33 +0100

Sorry for the late notice but have been waiting for the right pieces to fall in the right places. Everything's looking good at this point so I'm going to pull the site off-line tomorrow morning around 8 and expect to have it back up before noon. It very likely won't take nearly that long, but safe than sorry.

This downtime is to do some network and systems work to help eliminate some intermittent outages.

Any questions or comments, please do let me know!

GeralRead More...

Wendy's® Two's the Reason & other Holiday Sweepstakes

Gwen Beauchamp — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:41:22 +0100

Wendy's® Two's the Reason Sweepstakes is offering some excellent gift cards for Southwest Airlines and Best Buy. The promotion starts today (Monday, November 28), but you need a code to enter. Read all the details on how to get them on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list. Be sure to add it to your SweepsU.com daily email notifications so you won't miss a single day of entering!

PetSmart Holiday Gift Grab Instant Win Game and Sweepstakes also starts today and has a grand prizeRead More...

Scheduled Downtime 11/16/2011 7a-9a

Gerald — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:17:04 +0100

I'm going to do an upgrade tomorrow morning to bring some of the system internals up to current versions. There won't be any new features to be seen, but it does set the stage for things down the road.

I don't anticipate any problems but the one thing to keep an eye on is that this dramatically changes the way the web pages are put together and has potential to cause browser compatibility issues. So, if you see anything that looks broken, especially if you're an InterRead More...

Black Friday Sweepstakes

Gwen Beauchamp — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:34:00 +0100

Black Friday is not just the major shopping event of the year. It is an incredible opportunity to enter (and hopefully win) sweepstakes and contests designed to get you to the stores, malls and websites offering them. Marketers know that one of the best ways to get a shopper's attention is to offer prizes on top of some great deals. We have already found dozens of national giveaways (see partial list below) and there will be more popping up daily. All of these can be found on the SweepsU.com Read More...

Sweepstakes Newbie? Pace Yourself!

Gwen Beauchamp — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:36:07 +0100

As more and more people learn about the sweepstakes hobby we see a pattern developing. Unfortunately, it is not a good one. Here is what we've noticed the majority of new sweepstakes enthusiasts doing.

Discover the world of sweepstakes and contests.

Enter everything they can find with no plan of action.

ExpRead More...

Halloween Sweepstakes & Contests

Gwen Beauchamp — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:56:58 +0100

Halloween Sweepstakes & Contests are in full swing with all kinds of prizes being offered. The Scaredy-Cat (and Canine!) Halloween Photo Sweepstakes is giving away $500 cash, but many may not enter because it does require a photo. Don't let that detail "scare" you away. Photos will not be judged! The winner will be selected via a random drawing. So pull out that 2 year old picture of Fido in a tutu and submit your entry. Ryan Seacrest's Party City Halloween Sweepstakes is offering a $1,00Read More...

SweepsU.com QuickStart - reboot

Gerald — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:41:29 +0100

Most of you have probably seen the SweepsU.com Quick Start document. I've been giving that document a little thought and have started refreshing it. . .with a twist.

Now, instead of a long document to read we're actually doing narrated demonstrations of the system in action. Commonly known as screencasts. I've just finished uploading the 4th episode (have 9 planned initially) and am ready to start hearing what the world thinks of them. Here are the links:

Back online!

Gerald — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:57:56 +0100

Whew! I usually pad any downtime by about 4x. So in reality I expected this morning's downtime to be around an hour. However, today didn't quite go as planned and am righting this right at 11:00a so exactly 4 hours. Ended up being a little larger job than anticipated.

Anyway, we're back up and the new hardware has more than twice the processing power and over 4 times the memory (the important part). So severe performance issues should be a thing of the pasRead More...

Downtime Sat 10/8/2011 7a

Gerald — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:56:10 +0100

Good morning folks!

In order to address some performance issues I'm going to be migrating the SweepsU.com systems to a significantly better hardware platform. I'll be taking everything down around 7:00a (CDT) and expect the downtime to be less than 4 hours.

After the upgrade system performance should be noticeably improved.

If there are any questions or comments, please do let me know.

Thanks!

Gerald

Sweepstakes - Enter With Caution!

Gwen Beauchamp — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:33:21 +0100

The Kellogg’s™ 2012 Cheer on Team USA Sweepstakes is offering the prize of my dreams...but I won't be entering! The trip for two to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England comes with a hefty $22,000 price tag. OUCH! As much as I would love to be there, I just can't see paying the taxes on that amount of money. You have to think ahead when entering sweepstakes. If you can't afford to give Uncle Sam his due, don't enter or you may end up turning down a really good prize or worse. Always read Read More...

NFL & College Football Sweepstakes

Gwen Beauchamp — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:42:50 +0100

Football is back! The contracts are signed, the season has begun and the sweepstakes are popping up everywhere. Whether you are a College or NFL football fan, there are prizes to get you more excited than the games themselves. The Bud Light 1st and Win Sweepstakes is giving away MADDEN NFL 12 video games, PlayStation3 gaming systems and 60" HDTVs every week right up until the Super Bowl. And you could win a Super Bowl trip for you and 10 of your best buds from the Visa Super Bowl XLVI SweepstRead More...