So you want to offer a free contest on your website but you don’t know where to start?

First of all, you need to determine the type of contest that you want to offer. There are many kinds of contests that you can offer on your website and you can even come up with your own if you want to. The most common types of contests that site owners run are described below.

Newsletter Contest

A newsletter contest is a contest where your site visitors will need to subscribe to your newsletter in order to be entered into the contest. This is an easy contest to run.

Entry Form Contest

An Entry Form Contest is a simple contest where your site viewers fill out a simple form such as name and email address and they are automatically entered into the contest. Most viewers prefer this type of contest because there is no further obligation.

Message Board/Forum Contest

If you have a Message Board/Forum on your site then you can offer a post-the-most contest where site viewers are required to post messages in order to win. The viewer who posts the most at the end wins the contest. There are also other ways you can use your message board for contests.

There are many other types of contests you can offer on your site. It all depends on your creative imagination!

Now you need to determine what you are going to offer as a prize for your free contest. If you own an e-commerce website and you sell products, you could offer one of your products or a gift certificate as a prize. If you have a service oriented website then you could offer free services as a prize. You could also ask other business owners to sponsor your contest by offering their products or services in exchange for site promotion.

Finally, we go on to why you should offer contests on your site. The main reason you want to offer contests on your site is to promote & market your site! You want customers to find your products and services! Advertising & Marketing your business are two extremely important aspects to running a successful business especially an online business. Contests are a great free way to advertise your site, get visitors to your site and to increase your overall site traffic. This is also a good way to get more subscribers and repeat visitors to your site. It’s also a way for your customers to sample your products before purchasing them.

Now that you know all about how to run a contest on your site and you have decided what you want to offer, you now need to promote your contest. There are many paid and free ways to promote and advertise your contest. The best way to advertise your contest is to submit your contest to the many free contest directories available on the World Wide Web. Most of these contest directory websites are updated on a daily basis, and since everyone loves free contests these contest directory websites have high traffic rankings which means your contest will be seen.

Below is a list of free contest directories that I have complied while searching the web. Feel free to submit your contests to them. They all offer free and paid listings.

www.ContestForMoms.com
www.ContestHound.com
www.GrandMaJam.com
www.SandyRealm.com
www.ContestGuide.com
www.ContestListings.com
www.CashNetSweeps.com
www.FamilySweeps.net
www.GalaxySweepstakes.com
www.SweepsAdvantage.com
www.sweepstakesonline.com
www.TheWinnersClub.net
www.ContestAlley.com

About the Author: Amanda Compton is a Work at Home Mom of two boys. Visit her at http://www.ContestForMoms.com, a Mom and Baby Resource site featuring a Free Baby Photo Contest, Mommy Forums, Parenting Resources and more for Moms! Be sure to keep up with her latest Home Business Site for Moms, http://www.HomeJobsForMoms.biz

Feel free to re-print this article provided that all hyperlinks and author biography are kept as-is. Copyright 2005

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