Ideas

making links pages fun!

why would people play? i dont get it

and woudnt that just drive the wrong type of traffice?

wait just thought of something... start with facebook... perhaps? make a facebook app

People would play just to pass time and maybe found a site they need. How long they play,who knows? I'm thinking of incentatives to get people to play the game and visit the sites. Merchants could give discounts if a player visits their site via the game. Hopefully it won't drive the wrong traffic. I will look into facebook.

Here's an incentative to get people to play - offer a cash prize if they go to a certain web site, no buying involved. Let's pretend there are 1000 sites advertised on the game and we charge $20.00 each. We could give the winner $1000. Is $20.00 too low or high? Any CH members who have the knowledge in advertising rates?

more of a novelty / time-killer, than a business model.

yes, it is a time-killer as I have made up some Q&A from different sites. I thought let's do something that won't break the bank and if it isn't successful, then all that was killed was time. This will be ideal if other CH members want to contact web sites, because it will be their clients. It would take years to contact web site owners by myself.

I like the idea, very original. Reading Guy Kawasaki's book this idea has a viable purpose.

Which book? The Art of the State or Selling the Dream?

I agree with Brenden, I don't see why anyone would play.

One of my tasks would be to have the game fun enough to play. I am thinking of offering cash prizes from the revenue received from the web sites. It's more of a revenue for advertising, because players have to actually go to a site to find the correct answer. I understand that companies pay alot for advertising and there isn't any guarantee that people will see their ads and buy from them. Therefore, the charge would reasonable and will so many sites out on the web, I believe a small fee is possible and profitable. If you have any other suggestions on how to get people to pay, please bring em on.

Players don't have to worry about unwanted ads, because in order for a web page to load, the player has to click on to that address. They can play and hope they win some cash or find a site that might be of interest and see what they have to offer. The sites could offer an exclusive discount for the game players. A player will only be taken to a working web site. I don't think people want to see "server not found" every time they click on an answer. Example of some questions-
Which of these stores sells Ameribag?
http://www.bagselect.com
http://www.amiclubwear.com
http://www.electriqueboutique.com
http://www.allthingstrendy.com

Http://www.liquidparts.net sells products for
computers
automobiles
appliances
water treatments

Come up with a catchy name / site and I'll spend $20 with you, especially if you give me input to phrasing the question.

Thinking of catchy names. I'm also thinking about making it a scavenger hunt where people have to find something from a site and they earn points which they can exchange for money or prizes. We all know that there are sites that charge people to play games for money. Does anyone know what needs to be done to have a gambling site and if its worth the effort?
I know some states are against it. I want to give players a chance to win, but not if it breaks the bank.

Here's an example of a scavenger hunt question-
What is the second painting that is shown in the room with the queen and a guy saluting?

OK, I think I get it and I think I like it. But it does indeed need work; this is a great idea for crowd sourcing. Best of luck to you!
Wes

Thanks again, Wes. I'll need the help from CH members or soon to be Ven Corps members. We can all receive profits.

Players can play against each other and the one to first finish the hunt wins.

I would pay not to play..where do I send cheque

Why would you pay not to play?

Most of the ideas submitted by CH members are serious. My idea is more of a fun, have time to spend going through various sites and hope I get something in return concept.

Rich2809- Just out of curiosity how much would you pay not to play?
You don't have to pay not to receive ads, if that is what you are against.

Please excuse me, if I'm not making sense. Blame it on having a sore throat, stuffy nose and headache.

sounds like a neat idea
here are a couple of additional ideas:
- Do you remember that Google billboard ad that read {first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits e}.com? Maybe instead of multiple choice answers it could be something like that - collecting clues until finally finding the correct site. To save the cost of domain registration you could use a single domain, such as http://www.OWAG.com/{some clue}. The key would be to make fun, somewhat challenging, and relevant clues.
- Since the correct domain wouldn't be immediately visible to users, it would have to be publicized some other way, for example on the homepage, 'congratulations to userX who correctly identified microsoft.com as the place to find reliable operating systems and office suites, and won $X'
- A neat idea for rewarding someone who finds the correct website would be to give them X% of the advertising profit, where X could be say 10% or more. This would encourage the users to tell their friends so that their potential winnings would be larger due to increased web traffic and therefore larger advertising revenues.

Hambone- Thanks for the excellent advice. Yes, the money will come from advertising.
I've mentioned another concept to the game; however to save time scrolling up, I'll say it again. To add some rewarding fun to the game I'm thinking about having an online scavenger hunt where winners will receive money or gift certificates from the online stores that are part of the game. Stores would pay $20 to be part of a game. Players have to find items on a web page. Let's say there are 20 questions and the winner receives $100 in cash or certificate. Our profit would be $300.00. The reason for the gift certificates is that merchants may receive their money back and more($30) and the winner will get to know more about a site while finding something to buy. Ex- The winner of this game will receive a $100.00 certificate to use at Microsoft.com. There's a great sense of info on that site and hopefully the winner will take some time to see all the products Microsoft has to offer.
Players can trade certificates with other players. The games are winnable and in my opinion wouldn't be considered gambling. You don't have to hope that they call B-5 or you have the best poker hand and wonder what the other hands are. You only have to find the items before the other players. If I charge players to play I'll have to get a gaming license and I believe I can't get one in the USA? Does anyone know about gaming licenses. If I keep it free for players, I should be safe. What say you?

I'm an affiliate with many sites and have already written up some questions pertaining to the web sites. Below are some examples:

Find the Prince Phillip Shield at http://www.birthdayinabox.com and copy the image here.

What letter swing are they referring to at http://www.blasttheball.com?

D
V
B
W

Here's one for Microsoft. Which one of the Microsoft products found at http://www.microsoft.com "is a comprehensive business management solution for mid-sized and larger organizations that works like and with familiar Microsoft software to help your people improve productivity?"