People have gone after Google in every way imaginable. Since the big G cornered the search engine market, “competitors” have been trying to build a better mousetrap to beat them. Many theorized Google killers would be the likes of Ask.com with natural language entries or about.com with added content and insight to searches. But things boiled down to simply fighting over who would be #2.
ChaCha.com is going at it from another angle. To put it bluntly: people search for you. The concept is: you can plug your keywords into the engine, but the results that appear are ones that actual people searched for and chose. The searchers are called “Guides”. If the keyword combo entered doesn’t produce any results, that means it hasn’t been searched by a guide yet, and you are asked if you want a guide to help you search. You could also start with a guide, there’s nothing stopping that.
Honestly, it sounds kinda hokey. It feels like a reversal from the automation of the internet, which we are so used to. Human interaction on most websites is all secondhand or in editorial or published style. But with ChaCha, the guide consults you directly, does your searching for you as per their expertise, and that’s it. There’s no charge to the user beyond seeing some ads on the side of your results. The guide initiates a one-on-one chat session while searching and showing the end-user the links chosen.
The hokeyness subsided when I realized I had a chance to try out the guide program. You see, guides are paid to help you search. It’s not a lot… but I’ve reverted to starving student status, and super flexible things that pay money (on a special debit card, no less) are right up my alley.
Guide applications are by invite only, but I have yet to find a online invitation scheme that I could not wiggle my way into. As it turns out, I have a few spare invites for all one of you readers. If you leave a comment on this post, I will send you one. All I ask is that you be serious about trying this, not just as some five minute goof. I only get so many invites, and the people who get them are added to my “network”, of which I receive 10% of whatever they earn for my lonesome self.
So, if my loyal two readers wants invites, simply comment on this article. The important part is making sure your email is accurate, or the invite email will obviously not get to you.
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