Saturday, May 12, 2007

StampWith Diane Blog GiftRAK

WOW -- I looked at the sidebar today and guess what? The blog reached 143 on the Stamping Top 50 chart. I can't believe it! LOL -- All I ever wanted was not to fall out of the top 200! But thanks to you the blog has continued to climb, which hopefully means that you find something interesting here to come back for every once in a while or maybe even every day?

Most bloggers tend to offer blog candy when they hit certain milestones, and I guess I also did that with my last referral and subscription contest. But here's the thing -- as much as I want to attract new readers to the blog in the hopes that they will like what they see here, I really believe that loyal readership should be rewarded over a random blog candy pit stop. So I want to let you know that I will be trying something a little different, and I hope you'll agree that this will be unusual but fun. On this blog we will have a GiftRAK.

For those who are not familiar with the term, RAK means a Random Act of Kindness. So on occasion I will simply select someone to receive a gift. There will be no advance announcement of the gift -- hence the randomness. You won't know what you're "playing" for or that there is even a game. Every once in a while I will simply pop-up here and let everyone know the prize and the winner. Weird, but kind of cool, right?

Of course, the winner will always be able to decline the gift, in which case I'll merely select another winner and so on down the line until I find someone who will enjoy the prize.

If I'm doing this randomly, who will be in the pool of players, you ask? Well, I want the GiftRAK to reward my loyal readers, and there really are only three way for me to know you are reading my blog: 1) you subscribe to e-mail updates by name (not anonymously, since I can't tell one anonymous subscriber from the next); 2) you leave me a comment on the blog with your name (again, if it's an anonymous comment I have no way of knowing who you are); and 3) you e-mail me a comment on a blog article to stampwithdiante@comcast.net. The subscription thing is easiest, but I know that some people prefer to use google reader or other similar service to check in on various blogs, so they have a chance to participate by leaving a comment on the blog or via e-mail.

On the day I decide to do a GiftRAK, I will randomly select a recipient from the list of subscribers and anyone who's left me a comment in the 30 days prior to the day of the GiftRAK. So if you're not a subscriber and you want to make sure you don't miss out on a possibility of receiving a GiftRAK, just leave me a comment every once in a while, and no less than once every 30 days.

Clear as mud? I hope so. Of course, I'm telling you this now because the time is ripe for someone to receive a GiftRAK but I don't want non-subscribing readers to be left out just because they didn't know the rules of my bizarre non-game. So now you know. The GiftRAK is open for business. Random gift announcements can appear at any time starting next weekend (thought I'd give the non-subscribers a week to find something to comment on if they so desire)! Keep in mind, that's not to say that there will be an announcement next weekend -- it's all random, baby! Good luck and thanks again for being such wonderful blog readers and putting up with all my crazy antics!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Diane can I possibly be THE first to respond to your latest blog entry? Your creative thoughts to offer gift-raks in this new way I think are really good. It is so easy to subscribe to your blog and have an email link sent so we're updated each time you make a new entry. Thanks for sharing....

doverdi said...

Congrats on your achievement. I'm not surprised as your blog is great! What a creative way to attract new readers. Having a GiftRak will be fun since one never will know until they win it. Since I'm already a subscriber (have been for awhile) it will be fun. Thanks for sharing your time, creativity & talent with us. Another Diane who hopes to be a winner sometime soon.

Anonymous said...

This is a really neat idea Diane. I do subscribe using google reader as I find it less time consuming and since I have a one year old angel to play with that is good. I check your blog regularly and love all of your creativity!

Anonymous said...

I do subscribe Diane and love you blog. The popcorn slider tutorial was great and I am sure I will be CASEing it at one of my workshops.
We are 'almost' neighbors as I live in the SW suburbs of Chicago.
Happy Stampin'
Lynda

MarieK said...

Great Idea!

Diane said...

Hi Diane! I'm already subscribed to your blog which is a great one by the way!
And your idea of this giftrak is so cool! Dianes do come up with great ideas don't they,hehe.(I'm a Diane also)Have a wonderful day!