One way to attract extra traffic to your website is through having a contest or giveaway. Although it is true that a large portion of the new visitors you receive may just come looking to get something for free, there will create lots of good publicity that is beneficial.

Consider the products and services offered by your website and then use your imagination to create a fun contest that will appeal to the average customer you will be targeting with this promotion.

For example, for a website whose content focuses on issues relation to parenthood one creative contest might be that people have to tell the story of the most embarrassing thing their kids have said in front of others or the funniest mistake they have made in parenting.

Contests can also be used in conjunction with the release of a new product. Suppose you had a website for busy women which offers tips on how to manage time better and that you were preparing to present a new product that discusses what to do to make it through the holidays. A possible contest that you could hold is asking for funniest Thanksgiving food disasters or best tip for holiday shopping time-saving.

Contest prizes can be arranged by owners of other websites or can come from your very own products and services. If you choose to go with a different website for prizes, you won’t have to spend any money on them and the other website’s owner will probably be happy to receive some free publicity. If you do this, be sure to mention the name of the provider of the prizes on your website.

For the less creative, simply asking for visitors to submit their personal information and holding a giveaway choosing a random winner from the submissions is still a great idea. You can use the same system for prizes that was outlined in the previous paragraph.

Giveaways can be used to keep customers coming back for more from your business. In a service based business like graphic design, you could allow customers that have paid for your services to fill out a giveaway form each time they do so and offer a monthly prize. This might be added incentive for customers to return in an attempt to win your monthly prizes.

Promotion of any contest or giveaway is the key to success. Inform everyone on your mailing list of the event and advertise it on you site’s home page. Mention it in podcasts as well. You want to spread the word to as many people as possible.

A large number of other sites will allow you to advertise your contest with them as well. Google “contest submission sites” to get a hold of some good possibilities. Press releases can also be well utilized to stimulate interest for your event.

Contests and giveaways can really help you bring traffic to your website. Once you start offering them, you gauge which type your visitors like the best and you will be able to create great results.