MSN Live Search

Many search engines on the Internet are competing with each other to drive traffic to their search engine. Blingo offers a chance to win prizes such as movie tickets and Winzy offers a chance at Amazon certificates --- all just for searching on their sites. It seems a new search engine is popping up every few months dangling the proverbial carrot in front of consumer's noses. Why search on a site that doesn't offer an incentive? With this in mind, MSN launched Live Search in May 2007.

MSN's Live Search was touted on a well-known deal site as an easy way to earn prizes. I took a look and sure enough, I was not led astray. According to a report on Bizreport.com filed by Helen Laggatt, "Microsoft Live's U.S. search engine volume rose 67 percent from 8.4 percent in May, 2007, to 13.2 percent in June..." Months later, the novelty has not worn off. What keeps people coming back? For me and most, it is the promise of prizes.

But what kind of prizes are available and just what hoops do you need to do to earn them? It is a very simple concept. Once registered, you can play games which earn you tickets once the game is completed. If you do not complete a specified game, you will earn partial tickets depending on just how far you got. There's something for just about everyone to play. A mere 105 tickets will get you a song download and 1,000 tickets will net you a set of digital headphones. If you are a movie goer, 2,250 tickets will score you a pass for two to the movies. If you are a serious player and want to save your tickets for a larger prize, 3,800 tickets will get you a web cam, 20,000 will get you a Zune and 35,000 tickets will allow you to redeem for an X-Box! To be honest, though, according to some sites, the amount of tickets available isn't quite high enough for the X-box just yet, but they are adding games on a frequent basis.

What kind of games can you expect to play? Since you will want to accrue tickets quickly, here are the top three that give out the most tickets:

Flexicon: This game is great for cross-word puzzle lovers! This is also a very high ticket game to play, allowing you to earn 25 tickets per game. This is an excellent way to earn tickets fast. If you get stuck, the live search appears below. Some clues have a live search option to help you if you need it also.

Chicktionary: In this game, there are 7 chickens with lettered eggs. You simply spell 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 lettered words with those letters. The maximum amount of tickets per game is 20, but as mentioned, if you fail to finish, you will receive partial credit. If you do not finish, your game will also be saved for later and you can then go back and redo the game in hopes of gleaning those last few tickets you didn't earn the previous time you played.

Seek-a-doo: This game is reminiscent of search and finds done in elementary school. You are given a theme, for instance, the 70s, and you seek out words in the puzzle relating to that decade. You might find the words "leisure" and "suit" in there. The catch is that you have to think of the words and then search them out. Some words will have a link where you can use the search engine to get a hint. Each completed puzzle is worth 15 tickets.

MSN Club Live is a great way to kill time and earn prizes. Whether you are seeking instant gratification and want to redeem for a lesser ticket prize like music downloads or if you are a patient person going for a Zune, these games are entertaining to play. Overall, MSN Live Search Club is a great way to de-stress for a few minutes and earn tickets toward a nice prize.

Source:
http://www.bizreport.com/2007/07/msn_live_search_club_games_boost_query_volume.html