Hypothermia. . Far Beyond Being Cool!!!!

Every now and then, people ask me. . . "Steve, how in the hell can you give away all these prizes??" and the honest answer is this:

I bust my ass going out and ASKING for this stuff, I have a few really cool sponsors for the Killer Gaming Rig Contest, and regular contributors, but I got them the same way. . . pounding my fingers square on the keyboard asking for stuff.

I'll let you know now, I have been turned down more times for free goods than I can count. . . I have had companies be flat out rude to me and tell me to "Pound sand up my ass". But for every twenty that do, ONE company is willing to donate a product to me to be given away on my site.

I am proud of my site, for MANY reasons. . . . mostly for the cool stuff I get for you guys. Sometimes it's the simple things that are so cool, like Asia Carrera answering questions and posing in clothes I sent her or with products sent to me. . . that rules. Other times, it's the great games I get from my interview subjects to give away. Maybe it's the Killer Gaming Rig that people like, or getting some goods from some kick-ass companies to hand out to you guys.

So the answer, as boring as it may seem, is plain old fashioned leg work. . . . getting out there and proving yourself, buying MANY products yourself ( consider it an advertising budget for your site ) and give it away. Get peoples attention, generate the traffic needed to get some attention and then go to work. And it is work, begging for product to give away is a full-time DIFFICULT job. If you get discouraged easily, please do not even attempt this. I have even had other webmasters ask me how the hell I manage to get what I get..:^) Remember it's a fine line between being persistent and being a stalker. Persistence and Dedication are admirable.... Stalking is 1-5 in the bighouse.

If you are a new website looking to get some goods, the best thing you can do is this. . . . sit down and write a nice letter, knowledgeable and well thought out. Express the strong points of your site, your target audience, how many hits your site has received, where they come from etc. KNOW about yourself. And when you finally have a letter together, send it to a friend or webmaster friend you may have and use them as a sounding board. . bounce some ideas off of someone besides yourself. They can look at your letter objectively.

When your armed with this letter, please make sure you avoid mistakes like CC'ing it to everyone on the planet, it makes you look retarded ( I actually did that on accident once, I mailed a stupid announcement to everyone on my mailing list by hitting "reply to all"... ouch. Blue at BluesNews was the one to point out the bcc option... how embarrassing ;^) Also refrain from "begging" or "demanding" product.

Even on a good day, with the letters you wrote being all right, your site even has the "right stuff"....you still face the very real fact that 90% of the companies will still say NO. So don't get discouraged. . . cause there are still that 10% of the fantastic companies that do donate or send products. There are some companies that believe in the "community" enough to sponsor even something small.

One of the nice things to include in your letter is a small list of CURRENT donors or sponsors. It can sometimes help sway a company that was 50-50 until they learn that maybe AMD or Microsoft has sponsored you in the past. Always list a phone number to be reached at, but I advise against "cold calling" any PR department.

Be knowledgeable of the company you are wanting items from. You will really sound like a moron if they ask ( and they ALMOST ALWAYS do ) "Thank you for your interest, what brought you to **insert company**" and you answer "Dude, your product r0X !!".
Know something about the company, treat this as a job interview, but you are interviewing for product.

Know what to say when the company asks "How does my company benefit from this". . . are you guaranteeing them good exposure?? Are you guaranteeing them more sales?? New potential customers? Or simply the opportunity to help out the small guy, which... in turn achieves many of the companies goals that I just outlined.

These companies listed have donated products to Hypothermia, and ultimately. . . to you, because they support you and the community, and realize that a small donation goes a long way in the community. All these people deserve so much credit for being as cool as they come.... you would not believe how far they go out on a limb for you guys to make sure their KILLER products get into your hands for free. . .

All that the companies above get from this whole deal is the great publicity that a company gets from supporting the community with a few of their products. . . . everyone loves a company that can "show the love" or "spread the wealth", because when you really think about it, the products they give me to giveaway are going right back to the people who made them who they are today. . . YOU, their customers.

So if you have the time, check out the people on that short list, you'll be surprised at just which companies support giveaways on crazy sites like mine.

If you are a company and or individual that would like to be a part of this whole giveaway shindig, please feel free to contact me. I expect the numbers of companies on this list to DOUBLE in the next 60-90 days, which can only mean good things for you guys. If you don't see your favorite KICK-ASS company on this list. . . . shoot them an e-mail and let them know they SHOULD be on my list ;^)

Well, that's it in a nutshell. . . . . any questions...shoot me a line. Wanna send me a truckload of products, contact me... we'll talk ;^)