Do you like the chance to win something free? So do your visitors and customers! According to Jupiter Communications, contests and sweepstakes are the most effective way to get users to register with you.

People like to imagine the difference that a prize can make in their lives. When Regis asks, "Is that your final answer?" on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire", people all over the U.S. are hanging on the edge of their chairs imagining what their own answer would be and how the prize money could change their lives. And that plays all over the world since there are a number of localized adaptations of this popular game show around the world. What would you do with a million dollars? The possibilities are endless! What would you do for yourself? A new car, a new house, a dream vacation? What could you buy for others?

Imagine your customers registering on your website for a sweepstakes for a new Porsche Boxter. Now, imagine only having to pay $950 to make that offer! Does that sound too good to be true? No, www.eprize.net can have you legally offering that on your site within 24 hours. Is there a trick? No, Eprize does it by pooling a number of websites together in offering the contest. The site promoters can pick any prize up to $50,000, so you can offer anything you want.

Chances are one of your customers will not win…but somebody will! If one of your customers does, Eprize will take care of buying the prize, delivering it and dealing with the legal and tax consequences. Studies have shown that people who enter these contests do not care that it is a pooled contest. They are just excited to have the chance to win a BIG prize.

What are contests, sweepstakes and drawings? In general, a contest involves demonstrating some skill in return for the chance to win a prize. A sweepstakes is an opportunity to win a prize by random chance. And a drawing is an under-the-radar sweepstakes for a smaller prize that will not trigger government oversight and extensive legal requirements in many areas.

If you have a small business and you are offering your merchandise or services as the prize, a drawing is often your best bet. If you want to offer something bigger, it is usually best to get a firm that specializes in running contests and sweepstakes involved. It will save you time, probably money and certainly reduce your chances of running afoul of the law.

When you set up a drawing or contest, you will get information about potential customers. The least you should ask for is how to get in touch with them. And they'll give it to you, because they want you to be able to deliver their prize! Of course, they realize (and you'll tell them in the rules) that they only have a chance to win. In 1999, 49% of all the people on the Internet entered at least one sweepstakes, up from 37% the previous year.

You can ask them for more information, but don't ask them for too much! A sweepstakes is an entertainment for most people. They can visualize winning, and enjoying, the prize. But they aren't going to take 15 minutes to fill out a detailed questionnaire. Usually, you want to limit your questions so that the entry can be made in a minute or less. Consider asking for information on their interests so that you can offer them targeted buy opportunities at a later time. Once you've got their data, you have the opportunity to convert them into customers again…and again.

While you have them on your site, make them a great offer. Again, according to Jupiter Communications, 32% of consumers make their first purchase at a website in response to a promotion. Do you have a surefire best seller? Make an offer that is for visitors to your site to buy while they are filling out the sweepstakes form. Keep it fairly low profile because high pressure tactics could lose you a lot of potential registrations.

Do contests, sweepstakes and drawings work? Yes! A well designed opportunity that you vigorously promote can boost your website traffic by as much as 500%. Do not promote it simply online. Promote it in your store, in your contacts, newsletters and ads. Send out press releases. Cross promote it with your allies. You can get a lot of mileage out of a free prize! If you are considering running a contest like this in a purely local area, you can probably even get a nice story about your prize winner.

Recently, sales gurus have recommended looking at not just the sales transactions or sales volumes of your business, but at the amount of sales you can make per customer. That makes sense because it is easier and cheaper to get an existing customer to make a purchase than it is to get a new customer to make a new purchase. A drawing, contest or sweepstakes is a great way to start that relationship or to get better information about your existing customers.

-Cynthia Nemeth-Johannes