Competition websites are often referred to as raffles, skill-based competitions, or giveaway platforms, and they all follow a similar concept. They run regular, time-limited prize draws where users pay to enter in exchange for a virtual ticket with a unique number, with prizes varying from tax-free cash or luxury watches, to cars or houses.
There are a growing number of raffle sites out there, including the likes of Raffolux and Omaze, which makes it an increasing competitive space to market in. But compared to more saturated industries like gambling, there is still ample opportunity for a brand to take an authoritative market share – all that’s required is a well-considered strategy for success.
Whether you’re looking to boost your marketing performance or wondering how to start a competition business from scratch, these six steps will help your brand resonate with the right audience and develop tactics that drive ticket sales, boost engagement and increase high-value site visitors that will improve your ROI.
Increasing Website Traffic
First things first – your competition website needs visits from the right people. These people should have interest in taking part in a competition or raffle, or winning prizes.
One key element in getting your brand to show up for these people is SEO.
Smart keyword optimisation for the terms that match your offering will help you take position at the top of organic search rankings. Ensure that you have the answers to common questions such as “how do raffle websites work?” and “are online giveaways free to enter?” so that users looking for information can begin to look to your brand for trustworthy information.
Ensure your site structure is set up correctly, create unique landing pages for each competition, and include schema markup for contests and draws so that Google can understand your content and display it clearly to users.
You can build on this with a content marketing strategy that will educate and entertain your target audience. Consider what matters to them – topics such as ‘Top 5 UK Prize Competitions This Month’ or ‘How to Win Your Dream Home for Just £5’ can boost engagement, improve search ranking and drive social shares.
Add social media into your raffle website’s marketing mix and you’re onto a winner. There are many online communities who share tips on the best raffles around, and if you can build a community of your own you’ll have a regular stream of returning entrants for your competition website.
For brands offering high value prizes: these are an easy thing to hype up on social media with eye-catching animated assets. Your community will love seeing past winners too – it builds trust that real people are taking home the kind of prizes they want to win. You can leverage swipe up links, bio links and strong CTAs to send them to your site to try their luck in the next draw.
If you want to know how to start a competition business, setting up your site and social media to be effective for organic growth is a great place to begin.
Enhancing User Engagement
Marketing a raffle website with a brand experience that is exciting, rewarding and trustworthy will ensure that your business stands out from the crowd and keeps users engaged long-term.
One thing that all the best comp sites do is feature a countdown timer so that players can see how long is left for each individual competition. This creates a scarcity effect and fear of missing out, incentivising potential ticket buyers to convert.
Combine this with slick UX site-wide to create an online experience people will love: signal recent ticket purchases, shout-out big prize winners, seamless ticket checkouts and show off striking prize images. Gamification is another great way to boost on-site interactions and build a buzz for users. If you can implement a loyalty scheme, or offer a reward for frequent players, they’ll be excited to return and more likely to make repeat purchases.
You can also use video content of prize draws, winner interviews or new prize reveals to hold users’ attention and increase social shares.
These techniques together prove legitimacy, decrease bounce rate and increase brand value. Three huge wins for any competition website!
Optimising Conversion Rate
Outstanding competition website performance is determined by how many tickets are sold. To sell tickets, the most crucial things a user must know are what they can win, cost of entry, and closing date.
If you’ve ticket these boxes, the next most important thing is that users must be able to complete a transaction easily.
Our top three tips to create a simple entry process are:
Allow guest checkout (don’t force users to create an account up front)
Use auto-fill forms and allow one-click payment options for PayPal, Google Pay and Apple Pay
Offer options to purchase multiple tickets per transaction with simple buttons like ‘Buy 5/10/15 entries’
Consider that every step in the purchase journey is an opportunity for somebody to abandon the purchase: keep it simple.
To assist this, adding trust signals to your site can work wonders. People won’t part with their money if your raffle website seems dodgy, so display payment provider logos, Google or Trustpilot reviews, and the SSL-secure logo to show them that their money is in safe hands.
As a final tip, why not look at an exit-intent pop up message. If it looks like a user is leaving the site without making a purchase, launch a pop-up that says ‘Hold up! Here’s 10% off your next entry. Valid for the next 10 minutes’ as a clincher.
Leveraging Social Media
Social media is one of the most powerful vehicles in digital marketing. Create consistent organic content that matches your brand identity and values, to catch the eye of new followers and keep existing customers engaged.
The idea of buying a ticket isn’t the appeal for a raffle website – it’s the idea of buying their dream prize (whether that’s a house, car, watch or holiday).
There are no better places than Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat to showcase these prizes in all their glory, stop social scroller in their tracks and improve your competition website performance by getting high-intent customers clicking through.
Some of the best social media content ideas for a raffle or competition website include like and share giveaways for smaller prizes, stream live draws, prize unboxing videos, and testimonials from winners that turn them into brand advocates.
Make sure your site is ready to receive these customers by following the other key steps in this guide, otherwise all your hard work on social media will be for nothing.
Develop a Mobile-First Site
We all know that most web users in 2025 are on a mobile device, so why would you develop a site that isn’t mobile first?
Ensure buttons are accessible and tappable, forms are easy to fill, and load time is quick on all devices. Users really don’t want to scroll through reams of text on a competition website to complete a conversion action and 99% of them simply won’t. Clear, minimal navigation with prioritisation for core pages like active competitions, past winners and user account will make your site a breeze for customers.
And mobile payment integration is a must. Flicking between apps to find credit card details is all a bit 2015. Give your players the option to complete their raffle purchase in seconds via Apple Pay or Google Pay for a modern and highly-performant user experience.
Implement Strong Calls to Action
One thing that many sites overlook with their calls to action (CTAs) is that they should be benefit-driven. This is especially true of a competition website where the main cause for a user to visit is to avail of a prize of some kind.
‘Submit Now’ or ‘Enter’ don’t scream excitement – and that’s what you’re selling. Better options? How about:
🎁 Enter Now to Win a £20K Rolex!
🎁 Get My Ticket – Just £1 Entry!
🎁 Secure Your Spot in the Draw
Once you’ve nailed your CTAs, it’s about visibility. Buttons that need to engage players into action should always stand out visually with a bright, contrasting colour, and be positioned above the fold i.e. no scroll action is required to find them.
Repeating mid-page and at the end will also help users find the button quickly if they decide to get involved after scrolling to see more content.
Summary
Above are some of the key strategic tactics you need to consider if you’re curious about how to start an online competition business, or improve your existing competition or raffle website.
It’s vital to the success of the site that consideration is given to building trust, creating excitement and prioritising user experience at every stage.
If your users like what you have to offer they’ll become customers, but only well-thought out and effective websites turn those customers into the regular ticket sales and customer loyalty that build success.
By testing and optimising with regular iterations, you can work at sustaining the hard work you put in when launching your competition business and continue to keep those lucky players entering your prize draws again and again.
