St. Joseph, MO -- (SBWire) -- 08/09/2011 --Behind the Counter, an online coupon and discount resource for smart shoppers, recently announced its summer “Beat the Heat” online contest. The contest, which runs from July 28, 2011 through August 10, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST, is free to enter and offers entrants the chance to win one of 10 Visa gift cards by completing an array of simple online activities. The Visa gift cards giveaways equal an astounding $2,000, with the grand prize being $1,000.

Ten lucky winners will receive a Visa gift card for participating in the Beat the Heat contest. The gift cards are broken down as follows: six - $50 gift cards, two - $100 gift cards, one - $500 gift card and one - $1,000 gift card.

Entrants for the Behind the Counter contest get closer to earning one of the Visa gift cards by earning points through various online activities. Some of these activities are as simple as clicking a button, while others require a little more thought. The more points an entrant earns, the greater their odds of winning one of the online giveaways.

Entrants earn an easy 100 points just for signing up for the contest. Once signed up, Behind the Counter will send an email with a unique URL which is used as the entrant’s “signature” throughout the contest. This assures they receive credit for all of their online efforts.

Other activities that reward points include: liking Behind the Counter – Coupons and Discounts on Facebook, tweeting or re-tweeting comments about @BTCcoupons and BehindtheCounter.com on Twitter, subscribing to the Behind the Counter YouTube channel, creating a video about the contest or the website, reviewing a merchant on BehindtheCounter.com, referring a friend to the contest, and much more.

Additionally, Quinn from Behind the Counter said there are bonus prizes up for grabs for a few overly ambitious entrants.

“All throughout the contest, I’ll also be rewarding people that go the extra mile,” said Quinn. “That doesn’t ‘necessarily’ mean people with the most points; Impress me by doing something creative that’s ‘very cool’ to get points.”

Entrants can keep track of their current amount of points by visiting BehindtheCounter.com.

The Beat the Heat contest is open to legal residents of the United States and District of Columbia who are 18 years and older at the time of entry.

Beat the Heat is one of many online contests BehindtheCounter.com has successfully run. Its most recent contest “Spring Into Summer” received rave reviews from entrants and fans.

To learn more about the Beat the Heat Contest, visit: http://www.behindthecounter.com/beat-the-heat-contest/