Winning big on the web Sweepstakes
Getting something for nothing is always a big draw card for surfers
According to PC Data, this September, nearly two out of every five Web surfers found their way to the growing number of sweepstakes Web sites, with some offering free contests to win as much as $1 billion.
The traffic to sweepstakes sites began to soar in February, and according to PC Data analyst Jeff Moulton, the surging popularity of these sites isn't going to wane any time in the near future since “everyone wants something for nothing.”
Sites like Grab.com - which is giving away US $1 billion - and lottery-playing site Freelotto.com were among the 17 sweepstakes sites that have taken a foothold among the top-100 most-visited Web sites.
Nearly all these sites earn their revenue through advertising, either through banner ads or - in the case of one site - by skipping the banner ads altogether and sending people directly to a product Web site. Others make money by selling registration information to marketers.
More than 60 percent of the visitors to these sites have an annual income of at least US $50,000. "It's not the poor guy, but the guy who makes a decent living and is interested in making more," Moulton said.
Some sites have been around for nearly two years, but the soaring traffic and registered-user numbers have only been peaking over the past half a year.
Andrew Warner, president and CEO of Grab.com, believes that the key to the success of these sites is to promote the idea that people actually do win on these sites.
Grab.com launched their site on the 1st of October. According to the company, during its first 15 days online, Grab.com got 120 hits per second, making it the 32nd most popular site on the Web.
However, the leading sweepstakes site is Freelotto.com, with 12.2 million unique users in September. Second was Luckysurf, with nearly 10 million unique visitors. Third was Webstakes.com, with 8.78 million.
According to PC Data, sweepstakes are second only to entertainment as most popular on the Web. In August, half of the top 10 Media Metrix newcomers were sweepstakes sites, including Fastfreefun.com (which had nearly 2 million unique visitors), Uproarlotto, Freelottomarket, DineroReal.com and Winmesweeps.
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