You want to showcase your business in the best light possible, so don't hurry or skimp when planning a sweepstakes. You probably have heard from many Web marketing and promotion companies that holding a sweepstakes will drive hoards of traffic to your site, and you'll reap huge lists of customers that you can contact after the promotion is over. It's a bit of an overstatement, but the promotion idea is a sound one. You announce a sweepstakes just like you would announce any new Web site. If you have access to AOL, then you can also enjoy posting your sweepstakes information on the appropriate message boards.
Press releases are also a great avenue for announcements.
Sweepstakes and contest promotions make great press releases. Go to InfoSeek and enter the word sweepstakes. You can structure yours in the same manner. If you are offering fishing lures as a prize, go to the fishing or outdoors Web sites and discuss your prize on message boards or chat forums. Announcing a new sweepstakes will create an initial surge of traffic, and depending on the prizes that you offer and the frequency of the drawings, you could enjoy this traffic for several months.