Apparently, Lighting at Willow Glen needs more internet traffic. Who doesn’t?

Since, he changed his website from the early-adopted “WillowGlen.com,” owner Dan Cullen has seen his hit counts – and actual online purchases – decrease. So he’s been running a contest to see who can send him the most internet link referrals.

The contest has been running since May 24, and now gets the big media print treatment. In Friday’s Willow Glen Resident, Cullen promotes his invitation for websites to enter the referral-based contest. The prize: win some lighting products.

After once receiving millions of visitors at WillowGlen.com., the hits on Cullen’s new website www.LightingAtWillowGlen.com are now drastically down, and so are his sales.

“It literally dropped overnight,” he said.

Since the San Jose businessman likes a challenge, Cullen has created a web-based contest. Anyone with a website can add a link to www.LightingAtWillowGlen.com. The person who creates the link and draws the most traffic to the website for a period of three months will win up to $1,000 in lighting products, and the contest will then start over.

As an aside, WGx assumes the profit from selling “WG.com” to the Virtual Valley group is funding the contest — and then some. A further irony is not lost on WGx: Earlier this week, an article published here highlighted the apparent cessation of the Willow Glen resident’s own website.

It’s also not clear if the Resident/Merc offices are looking for some free lighting swag … but the link to Lighting @ WG appears three times in the online story. One has to wonder if the staff of the Willow Glen Resident get to win the contest if the Mercury is the actual web host.

And now WGx has entered the fray … It’s David vs. Goliath … literally?