More companies than ever are enhancing their websites with alluring sweepstakes and contest offers. In fact, there are very few sites you go to that are not advertising some kind of give a way.

You might wonder how they can offer such great prizes and promise their entrants chances at luxury vacations and shiny new cars. Where does the consumer come into all of this and does the sponsor really profit by running contests?

The consumer profits from the contest offers because the added exposure is designed to give the sponsors more sales. The more sales a company makes, the cheaper they can manufacture and sell their products to the consumer.

The sponsor profits because the more people exposed to their products, the greater chance that you, the consumer, will buy their goods. Another benefit for the companies is advertising affordability. The web is less expensive than print ads and it gives them worldwide visibility, versus newspaper, radio and television ads, which all have limitations.

Here's an example of the power of web advertising. If a company has a new product such as a car, and they want to "name" the vehicle, it makes sense for them to offer a vehicle as the prize. Think about that for a minute. Instead of the company relying on a few high paid advertising experts in their office, they now have millions of creative minds sending them free ideas. A $40,000 car is really a cheap investment on their part.

Or how about a company that wants to create a new ice cream flavor? They run a contest asking entrants to send in different combinations of flavors and the winner is awarded free ice cream for a year. So for about $1,000, a national brand ice cream company now has a new flavor, which they really had very little participation in creating.

It really is an extremely smart way of advertising and I applaud the sponsors for rewarding the consumers, in some way, for their participation in the consumer process.

If you understand some of the reasoning behind companies giving away prizes, then you should be inspired and encouraged to enter all that you come across. Use your hidden creativity and try your hand at some skill contests that require more than your name, address and phone number. There are always fewer entrants in these contests, which only means one thing…your chances of winning increase!

To find out more about Editor and Author Sandy Lovern, please visit www.engaged-devotional.com and www.sweepstakessuccess.com