If online sponsors could tell you one thing, what would it be? We asked several online sponsors to complete the question: "If you could tell people who enter your sweepstakes one thing about entering, what would it be?" Almost unanimously, almost all of them said to double-check your e-mail address before submitting your online entry.

Some of them said that many people submit an incomplete e-mail address. Most people send in their complete e-mail address, but there are still a lot of people who just send in the first portion, the username, but not the second portion, the "@whatever." When you enter an online sweepstakes, be sure to give them your complete e-mail address: yourname@whatever.com. If you don't submit a complete e-mail address, sponsors aren't going to guess your ISP. They will choose a new winner.

Also, if you get a new e-mail account, most sponsors suggested that you contact them and let them know that you changed your e-mail address. You can always submit a new entry using your new e-mail address, but if they choose your old one -- then what? The sponsor receives an error message, and then chooses a new winner. They aren't going to spend a lot of time trying to find out where you are. If you send them a notice stating that you entered their sweepstakes but now you have a new e-mail address, then they will delete your old entries using your old e-mail address. For your notice to them, send a message to webmaster@whatever.com or go to the Web site and find out if they provide an e-mail address so you can contact them.