I have a colleague that wants to enable the chances to win a prize for completing a task on one of our sites. I was wondering what is you views and thoughts about offering prizes from a marketing stand point and your point of view from a user stand point? Like from the sites you have encountered in the past that offer the chance to win a prize.

Offering prizes is a great way to increase exposure and on-site participation. It can get people blogging about your offer, linking to your website, and returning to see if you have any other offers.

You should think about sending an email announcement to your opt-in subscribers, a follow up email halfway through the contest, and one more to announce the winner. Maybe even put out a couple of press releases as well.

Yes, I totally agree with Jay. Just remember that the prize has to be alluring enough in the first place. :-)