09 Nov
10,000 Comment Thank You Giveaway Week
A few weeks ago I started thinking about giving something away, as a thank you to all those who read and comment on a regular basis. Mrs. Lovebug on Weddingbee once labeled comments as “crack cocaine” for bloggers and I couldn’t agree more. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning? Check for new comments. When I get home after a long day out and about? Check my comments. I don’t do the best job at replying to all that I would like to but I hope you know that doesn’t mean I don’t sincerely appreciate each and every one.
As I mentioned last week That Wife is approaching 10,000 comments made by you. At the time I’m writing this post I have 10,615 comments and with the handy comment feature that WordPress has I can see that I’ve commented a total of 715 times, meaning you all only have 101 comments to go before the total reader comment count is officially at 10,000+! It would probably make more sense if I waited one week longer to do this 10,000 Comment Thank You Giveaway, but I’ll count your contest entries as comments and call it good when we reach 10,000 by the end of the week (or maybe even by the end of the day, who knows!).
To show my appreciation I dreamed up 10,000 Comment Thank You Giveaway Week. Each day this week, starting today, I’ll be featuring an item* from an Etsy shop that I’ve giving away. There is a catch however: Each item will only be available to those who have commented a certain number of times. Monday’s giveaway is or those who have commented 3 times, Tuesday’s for those who have commented 5 times, with comment requirements moving up until only those who have commented 75 times (!) are eligible for Saturday’s prize.
I realize that none of you know how many times you have commented, and so you are free to comment on every post you believe you are eligible for (although I would ask that you don’t waste my time if you know you haven’t commented enough to win a specific item). WordPress allows me to see how many times a specific person has commented based on the email address they have used, and that is what I will be using to determine eligibility. If you don’t meet the quota, your comment will be deleted to make it easier for me to choose the winner at the end.
For those of you unfamiliar with WordPress, here’s a screenshot of the system I will be using. I’ve commented using my gmail thatwife account 618 times in the past year.
Giveaway posts will be eligible for 72 hours after they go live, after that time comments will be closed and I’ll use Random.org to choose a winner. All winners will be announced on That Wife sometime next week.
Check back at noon today (CST) to find out all about the first item and comment to enter!
*Note: All products provided for this giveaway were given gratis with the understanding that I would promote the sellers on my blog and write nice things about their products. That’s not hard for me to do since I approached them and asked them to participate because I love their products and secretly wish to own them myself!
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
Very kind of you Jenna for doing this, sounds like it’s going to be a fun week!
1How fun!!
2You’re amazing! One day I hope to reach your blogger status. I love reading your blog and getting great ideas and learning about cool stuff. Like Mint.com and I think I learned about wishpot.com from you as well. I was wondering how you find all this stuff. Including the etsy sellers. You always find cute stuff and I’m never sure where to start.
3Great idea, Jenna! So fun!
4Sounds fun. Unfortunately when I got married in June I changed my email and thus have been commenting with two different emails (and blogs).
Cristin Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 2:20 am
I’m in Rachel’s boat - I’ve definately commented with my Gmail & my .edu addresses. I have no idea which one I’ve even used more… And I think I’ve commented from at least three ip addresses.
How fun! I’m excited to see what the prizes will be (though I think I can only enter the first and second day, if you count my comments on your baby blog also).
6How cool!! I now wish that I weren’t so shy in posting comments. I’ve been following you sine you were blogging on Wedding Bee but I tend to not comment. You’re so full of awesome ideas!
7PS - I’m on my honeymoon and probably shouldn’t be checking up on blogs while enjoying the holiday with my hubby, but you’ve now got me so interested in all of the items you’ve put together so I’ll just have to keep sneaking peeks on my iPhone all week.
8What a great contest!
Also, I didn’t realize there were so many useful WordPress features (i.e. the keeping track of comments feature) - makes me want to switch over my blogging platform asap!
Cécy Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 7:35 am
I have to agree with that one. I never knew you could track your top posters. What a fun feature. Maybe I’ll swith to wordpress someday. Can you transfer your old posts easily or do you have to start over?
I do have to agree about it being crack cockaine for bloggers. I only get a few comments a day (mind you my blog is in French too) but I’m always checking my emails for them. Well at least I get the time to comment back.
Lovely picture by the way.
katiebug Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I’ve only ever moved from one WordPress blog to another, but it shouldn’t be too difficult.
You’re probably able to download a backup zip file of your blog. You could do this and then start a WordPress blog and see if you can upload the file.
Linda Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Sadly, I think I’ve comment from more than one e-mail, also. Oh well, guess we’ll all just have to wait and see, maybe we’ve all commented more than we realize under one of our e-mail addresses.
This is so fun!!! As others have said, you’ve introduced me to so many neat sites, recipes, products, and ideas through your blog(s). I can’t wait to see who you would approach from etsy. I love the site but think it takes ages to sift through!
I hope this give away doesn’t take up *too much* of your time! WordPress looks to have some cool features that will hopefully help you quickly sort for eligibility. So excited!
10You are amazing! I love the way you are approaching this - even if I don’t comment enough to qualify for all of them!
11lolol - “comments are like crack cocaine.” so very true. getting new comments is so exciting & i’m not even anywhere near 10,000. congrats though!
it’s really nice of you to do something so special for your friends/commenters!
12This is a great idea! Can’t wait to see what’s in store!
13This should be fun! Everytime you talk about WordPress features, I wish I had known about the difference between WordPress and Blogger when we started our blog. I assumed all blogging platforms were created equal, but now I find myself craving a wider format and more customizable features…
14What a great idea - and it get’s lazy feed readers like me to click on over and comment!
15Ugh, I agree! When I don’t get comments on my entries I feel like no one is out there! Then people comment via Facebook or in person, and I want to be like, “NO. ON THE BLOG! So I don’t look like a loser.” Ha!
16How fun! Also, I had no idea wordpress had such great features. Not that I really need them, but they’re still awesome.
17Yay! So excited! (And I know I have a chance to any of them…hahaha)
18Dumb question: Say you have 10 comments under your belt, are you allowed to comment on the first and the second days or do you have to wait until you do a shout out for the folks who’ve commented 10 times?
And congrats on this milestone!
19Such a fun idea to have a giveaway week!! I am totally inspired by your blog, and hope to get 10,000 comments some day!
20How fun! Great idea, Jenna!!
21What a great way to run a contest!
22What a fun idea!
23Loooove Etsy-loooove this giveaway!
24Congrats on reaching this awesome milestone!
25Great idea, Jenna. Hopefully one day I’ll get 10k comments! Very excited to see all the great etsy finds.
26What a neat way to approach a giveaway!
27Ooh wordpress is so fun! I wish blogger did that! What a neat giveaway
28I totally agree about comments being addictive! Or, as I used to say, “they’re what keep the blog warm at night.”
29Woo-hoo!! Can’t wait to see the giveaways! What a great way to reward your readers…hmm…now I just need to get my “real” blog up and running and get some readers for myself!
30Awesome giveaway idea! I can’t wait to see more.
31I will be curious to see if I qualify for the 75+ comment giveaway…
And then if I do, I’ll wonder if I spend a little _too_ much time reading this blog.
Great idea!
32Woo hoo! This is a creative way to do a giveaway. I like to read what you’re writing about your preparations for your little one. I can’t remember if you’ve ever said, are you going to find out the sex?
Jenna Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Nope! I’m going to keep it a surprise from myself (and everyone else) so it will be like a big surprise present when he/she makes their grand entrance.
I’ve commented with two e-mail addresses, too (both gmail).
Overall, I really like this unique method of holding a contest, though.
Sounds like fun.
34See, I knew that I wasn’t “procrastinating” all of those times I was composing comments for thatwife! Looking forward to seeing the Etsy sellers you chose
35This is a wonderful idea!
36Wow! That’s a lot of comments! Great idea!
37heh, I hope I’ve used the same email address on a regular basis commenting, but I know I’ve commented from several different IPs. I’m pretty sure I’ve kept this same handle each time. Looking forward to seeing all the fun things you’ll have up… except I know it will open up a whole new world of “pretty things I can’t justify spending money on”!
38For those of us small time bloggers, you are one of those bigger time bloggers that we can look up to! Thanks for all the fun and exciting news and stories.
39I love this idea. I hope I am not too late!
40