By Joshua S Hill Oct 1, 2008, 17:13 GMT
In its latest attempt to grab a share of the online search market, Microsoft has launched SearchPerks. Based upon Microsoft Live Search, users will be able to accrue points and redeem them for prizes.
In its latest attempt to bring people over to Live Search the SearchPerks experiment will allow users to receive tickets – a maximum of 25 per day – to redeem for prizes like ringtones, Xbox games and T-Shirts.
Users interested in the program will have to sign up and download a small program that will track their usage before December 31, 2008. Users will be able to redeem their tickets for prizes on April 15, 2009. Microsoft has not determined how many points will equal prizes.
With only an 8% share of the US search market, compared to Yahoo’s 19% and Google’s 63%, Microsoft Live Search is trying anything and everything to gain market share.
Earlier this year Microsoft launched Live Search Cashback. Microsoft had hoped that their move from a cost-per-click (CPC) to cost-per-action (CPA) model would entice people to use Live Search in shopping. As a reward users would be given a cashback based on their purchases.
Currently SearchPerks is only available for Internet Explorer 6 or higher, though CNN reports that engineers are also developing a version for the Firefox browser. No mention on whether versions will be made for Safari, Chrome or any of the other browsers currently in play.
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