If you are Dr Vijay Prakash, you would go out and win awards. The man behind Guide to Home Remedies and First Aid didn't go on a media-buying binge to drive traffic to his site. He merely applied and won awards. 80 of them in a year, no less.

Says the paediatrician from Lucknow about the unique method of popularising his site: "Since, I did not have a lot of money to promote the site, I decided to popularise it by applying for Web awards. Sure, most of these awards are meaningless but they just serve as another link back to your page on the web." And as anybody worth his two-bits will tell you, the number of links on the web back to your page is directly proportional to the number of hits you get. It's not just that people can get to your site. In fact some search engines will rank you higher, if more sites link back to you.

His initial applications for awards used to win him one or two stars, and little else. That spurred him on to revamp his site and publish better content. Soon, the awards began to roll in. "There was a time when I would open my email box and have at least 20 awards waiting for me."

The awards, he says, have improved traffic to his site dramatically.When he started out a year ago, he just about clocked a couple of visitors a day. Today, on an average 200 people visit his site, and his site counter has ticked beyond 20,000. He receives at least 40 queries on email everyday seeking cures for everything from snakebites to chronic asthma. Dr Prakash answers them all, free.

Apart from getting more people to his site, the awards have also brought him recognition, even a touch of fame. "In India, an award from an international entity always means a lot. Now my peers look at me with newfound respect. Earlier, I used to apply to go to international conferences, now I get invited," says Dr Prakash, and adds, "They also agree to pay the airfare."

Though he doesn't have any favourites, he cherishes the link provided to his page on the prestigious John Hopkins University's web site.