News

Interview with Carl from SweepsAtlas

- by Maria Spanadoris

We have so many people in our community who love sweeps, we decided to interview one of our biggest supports, Carl Fyffe from SweepsAtlas.  We love our contest friends and I felt like any insight into our contest community could be of interest to our readers.  So, here’s a chance to learn a bit more about contests from our friend Carl.

They’re recently coming up on their one year anniversary so it’s certainly worth checking out!

MS) What made you start Sweeps Atlas?

CF) A friend suggested I look into it. They were using a site whose owner was always missing, and payments to that site had started to fail. I saw that there was an opening in the market. I talked to a couple of potential customers and they encouraged me to build a site. There was a point where I considered walking away, but I had developed a close relationship with 6 people in the community who encouraged me to continue. The community is filled with some of the most lovely people I have ever met. It is the community that keeps everything interesting.

MS) How many hours do you spend day to day on Sweeps Atlas?

CF) Sweeps Atlas is my second job. My day job dictates the amount of time I can spend on Sweeps Atlas. I had a pretty relaxed job when I started Sweeps Atlas. I was putting 4-6 hours a day during that time frame. I lost that job at the beginning of the pandemic. My new job is much more stressful and requires me to work more hours. I’m only able to spend 1-2 hours a day now.

MS) I’ve read that so many sweeps can be considered “questionable”. How do you trust a sweep?

CF) This is a good question. When I am visiting a site for the first time, I have a checklist of things to look for. If one of those items on the checklist isn’t met, then I don’t trust it. Is the branding there is the first thing because it is so obvious. If there aren’t any brands present then it is a no brainer to skip it. The next thing I look for are rules. If there aren’t any rules, or if there are discrepancies in the rules (like the name of the business is wrong), then we skip it. If the site meets those two requirements then you look at the prizes and the entry form. If anything seems off, then we skip it.

MS) What’s your biggest win to date that you’ve had?

CF) I’m not a sweeper, I’m a software developer, I write code for fun. The only thing that I wanted to win was a Coca-Cola polar bear. When I won that I was done sweeping. The polar bear sits on the shelf behind me, watching me take care of the community and write code. I much prefer to give things away. Last year, we gave away 40% of the site’s profits to the community. I gave some to the mods, and some to the people that submit sweeps, some to the forums, and some to our followers on Twitter. I get more joy out of giving than receiving. We will do that again this year at the end of June.

Our Diamond level membership includes a giveaway sponsored by the member. That means for each Diamond member we giveaway an annual subscription to someone else. It is great fun for everyone. That is one of the best things about this community. The people are so nice. They often share their wins, which is just fantastic.

MS) How many people work at Sweeps Atlas?

CF) We don’t have any employees. We have a couple of members that volunteer, and they really keep the site alive. There’s only one volunteer moderator right now, and she keeps the sweep submissions straight. It is a ton of work, but she is very good at it, and loves to do it. We make a great team.

There are a couple of members that help out in the forums. One is always researching who won each sweep, and that is one of the most visited topics in the forums. We have a couple of members that post other types of giveaways. And then we have a couple of members that frequently post to specific topics that really brings flavor to the forums. Everyone does their own thing, which is what makes it a community.

maria
Maria Spanadoris

Maria Spanadoris an experienced online writer with a passion for general entertainment stories. As a Greek mom, Maria brings her unique perspective to her writing, infusing her work with warmth and humor. She has been writing online for over 20 years, starting her career at thecelebritycafe.com. Since then, Maria has honed her skills as a writer, developing a talent for crafting engaging and informative content that keeps her readers coming back for more. Whether she's covering the latest celebrity gossip or writing about her own experiences as a mom, Maria's writing is always relatable and engaging.