YOU MUST HAVE THE TOOLS

Do you have an arsenal of weapons to use to drive traffic to your site? Does your site compel visitors to stay, make it easy for them to find what they want and then buy it? Do you have a method of staying in contact with your customers, letting them know of new and exciting changes to your site? Do you know what tools are available to you and which ones will work best for YOUR offer?

If you answered no to ANY of these questions, get help you need NOW that will drive traffic to your site, make them stay once they have found you and want to return again and again. Do it now.

EASY AS 1-2-3

FIRST: Know what you are selling and why they should buy it.

SECOND: Know why you are different than others who sell same thing and TELL THEM every time they visit your site.

THIRD: Let your customer know that you will be around for long haul.

AND FINALLY: Find out for what tools are needed to accomplish your goal of driving traffic to your site and HOW YOU CAN DO IT FOR FREE. You MUST have tools to work with.

Again, just make sure that prize or prizes are directly related to your business, and to what you want to accomplish.

3. How do I do it?

The general rule of thumb is to 'keep it simple.' Write 'rules' first, and post them on your site. Put an entry form on a prominent page, and make sure you include any disclaimers you may need.

Base length of time you'll run contest on value of prizes - more expensive booty, longer you can run draw. Decide whether contest is time-frame based (that is, it will end at midnight on such-and-such date), or base it on a certain number of entrants (for example, "We will only accept 1000 entry forms, so get yours in today!")

Look for an autoresponder that will do a lot of work for you - it can send contestant an acknowledgment of their entry, and send you a report at end of day with those valuable email addresses.

4. How can I promote it?

There are several sites on Internet that exist solely for purpose of promoting YOUR contest. Do a search on 'contest promotion' and see what you come up with. Of course, there's nothing to stop you from promoting it in your ezine, submitting contest pages to search engines, or running local print ads, either. Whatever it takes to get visitors to your site to fill out form!

Good luck building your contest - and get ready for a great way to generate 'pre-qualified' leads for your service or product!