Guest Author - Jennifer L. Thompson

Finding a variety of sweepstakes is obviously a priority for those who enjoy a contesting hobby. There are an abundance available, and it doesn't have to be hard to find them if one knows where to look. Allowing your personal preferences and interests to set the direction will get you started quickly and with very little effort, and will keep your researching activities interesting and enjoyable.

If you have limited amounts of time for doing research, you may wish to refer to the related article at the bottom of this page for time-saving tips. For those with more time to devote, the following hints will offer some good places to start.

In doing online research, search engines are obviously a valuable tool. Entering key words and phrases such as "sweepstakes + cars", "contest + cash", or "free + prizes" will bring up many results. Adding the plus sign in your search will be sure to call up only those results with all of the search terms entered. There are no hard and fast rules for which words to use in searching this way, so be creative and see what you can come up with!

For offline sweepstakes, remember to look in local newspapers and your favorite magazines for cook-offs and mail-in entry forms. Local TV and radio programs will usually run creative contests, especially around the holidays. These will often bring in some treasured prizes, as many times they will offer different types of prizes than are more commonly found, and will very likely be easier to win than some of the national sweeps as there will be less entrants.

For other offline contests, a favorite form of entry can be another factor to take into consideration when doing your research. These may consist of mail-in entries on 3 x 5 index cards, toll-free telephone entries, text by cell phone, post-card entries, in-store entries and others. These are easy to find in postal sweepstakes newsletters. "Best Sweepstakes Newsletter" and "Rags to Riches" are two that you might like to try if you are looking for a reliable resource. Most online sweepstakes also have an alternate form of entry stated in the rules, so you can still find mail-in entries with an online search if you prefer the snail-mail method.

Finally, forums at contests and sweepstakes sites, sweespstakes clubs, and word-of-mouth from friends and family are most always sure to keep you busy with new sweeps to enter.

As always, remember to keep your search relaxing and fun, and enjoy the journey.