The Winners Club. Wright is a veteran sweeper who's won cash, shopping sprees, software, electronics and more T-shirts than she can use in a lifetime. She also runs her own free giveaways and makes money via click-through referrals paid by larger contest sites. Promotional sweepstakes site popularity is not in question. For larger sweepstakes operators, the name of the game is demographic-driven target marketing.
Some sites require more in-depth information such as annual income and level of education.
While online contests vary in style, the business models are nearly all the same. Site operators sell banner ad space targeted at the demographic data supplied by contestants. The sites also commonly furnish that information to the advertisers to help them better understand the markets they are trying to reach. Free sweepstakes site operators boast of click-through rates as high as 25 percent, a staggering claim for a mode of advertising that has generally seen a decline in interest from consumers, with percentages of less than 1 percent. WinDough requires contestants to watch a banner window on their screens at all times in order to win.