Thursday, February 12, 2009

Getting started with Homepages Friends.


Getting started with Homepages Friends

So what's this all about then?


Creating and using your paid to search home page is a new way to search the Internet because there's one big difference with Homepages Friends.....

You get paid for searching when you use Homepages Friends!

When you search for something using Google, Ask.com, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine, which includes Homepages Friends, you're normally shown a few adverts along with your results.

That's how search engines primarily earn their cash.
It's no big secret.

They get paid to show us adverts. They take all the revenue from these paid advertisments and we don't see a dime.

So now you're aware of that if you wasn't already, allow me to answer the burning question.
How do they do it?

How are Homepages Friends able to offer a paid to search service that allows normal users to be paid for searching the Internet in pretty much the same way we do now?

Well, it's simple.

You sign up then start doing your Web searches via their site.

Homepages Friends then share back some of the advertising revenue they earn every time you search the internet from their page.

If you're worried that the search results may be restricted or somewhat limited because this is a fairly new company then think again. Homepages Friends have just announced a 3 year deal with Yahoo! who will be providing the search results.

See for yourself. Try our very own Head the Web paid for searching home page for size.
When you sign up your home page will be exactly the same only your username will appear at the top.

So the next time you're searching the web for something you should ask yourself, was I paid to do that?
With Homepages Friends you would have been.

It really doesn't get any easier than this. :)

What's involved then?

Update: The section below is a brief introduction to the sign up process. A more detailed guide is also available.
Getting Started with Homepages Friends

1. Sign up

To start with you need to provide a username (this will be the name of your search) an email and your country of residence. Then tick the box confirming you've read the Terms and Conditions then click the >step 2 link. At this point an email is sent with your login details.

2. Set your home page.

After joining you'll be taken to the administration section.
About half way down this page is the "Set your home page" section.

Look for the bit where it says "You can go to this URL from any computer". Click the link directly below.

This is your new search page. This is the page you should always use so you get paid for searching the Web. Now is a good time to make this your browsers home page, or add it as a favourite and name it SEARCH or something similar.

Now try a Web search. Use the Yahoo! search box part way down the page. Enter your search term then hit the search button.

Congratulations!

You've just been Paid for Searching the Web

1. Get Registered!

When you first visit Homepages Friends you'll be taken to the registration page and asked to supply a few details as seen below.
Register at Homepages Friends

As you can see you only need to provide a name, an email address and your country of residence to register which is great because the quicker you're registered the quicker you can get paid to search.
You can provide all your payment details later once you've earned some cash!

» Your Name: Probably best not to use your real name here as this username can be seen publicly. Use a nick or make something up. We used Head the Web. See our paid search page Yours will be exactly the same once registered only HEAD the WEB will be replaced to show your username.

» Your Country: Select your country. Select the right country because it affects the way your paid. If you make a mistake don't worry, you can change it later.

» Your Email Address: A copy of your login details will be sent here so make sure you can access the email address you register with.

» I have read and understood the Terms and Conditions: View the Homepages Friends Terms and Conditions then select the check box to show you agree, standard stuff.

Thats all the details you need to provide at this stage.
Once you click the >Step Two link you'll be taken straight to your admin page which we'll walk you through on the next page.

2. Setting up the Paid to Search Page.

Once you register at Homepages Friends the first thing you might want to do is set your browsers home page so it loads your new personal search page.

This is the page you should always browse to before searching the web because every single search from here earns you cash.

I'll post some tips about how best to use this page over the coming days. Just normal day to day activities you might not have considered using the search for before which will now earn you cash.
Check back soon!

Look for the "Set your home page" section as seen below.
Image with CSS shadow

To set your home page simply use the "Click here" link. To check it worked just click the Home button in your browser. It should load your new page which will look similar to our paid web search

If you don't want to change your home page then there are other alternatives. You could save the page as a favourite instead. Just click the link directly under the bit that says "You can go to this URL from any computer." (see picture above)

Once you've browsed to your new home page just save it as one of your favourites and name it "My Search" or "[Your Username]Search" or whatever suits you.

The browsers here have SEARCH so it's easy to spot in long list. So instead of hitting the home button you can just load it from your browsers favourites list instead.

The hardest bit now is remembering to load the new paid to search page everytime you want to carry out a search because every time you don't search using Homepages Friends you don't get paid. It's worth brain training yourself not to forget!

Another and much easier way to use the Homepages Service is to install their search bar. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have the Google search bar, amongst others, installed by default and it's usually seen in the top right of a browsers menu bar. Homepages Friends also have a search bar which you can install from the admin page.

3. Installing the Toolbar.

The great thing about installing the toolbar is it remains there even after restarting your browser or pc. Once you're familiar with using a toolbar in your browser you'll never forget to be paid to search the Web again!

Look for the section on your admin page as seen below.
Homepages Friends Toolbar

Simply click the link that says "Click here to change your search box"

You should see a pop up box like the one shown below asking if you want to add the new search bar to your browser. Make sure your username appears next to Name.
Get Paid to Search

Now tick the box next to "Make this my default search provider" then click the "Add Provider" button.
That's it. Done.

At this point you'll probably need to restart your browser (just close it and open it up again) to load the new toolbar so bookmark this page if you need to come back before closing the browser.

Check for your newly installed search bar in the top right of your browsers menu. Can you see your username? It's a very light grey text in the search field itself. When you click to position the cursor to enter the search term the grey text should disappear.

If you see your username then it's installed fine otherwise you may need to select it from the drop down menu then you can start earning real cash every time you use the browsers new search bar.

Simplicity itself!

4. Getting Paid!

Change Password

When you signed up you were sent an email with your login details including your password. Homepages Friends set your password to some forgetable bunch of letters so you can change this to something more memorable if you prefer.

On the right of your admin page are all the links you'll ever need. The "Change my password" link is there as seen in the image to the right.

If you need to log onto your admin page this is the link: Login to Homepages Friends

For now that's all that's required. As long as you've set either your browsers Home Page to your paid search page, added the page as a favourite or installed the Search Bar you can start earning right now just by searching for things you normally search for on the Web.

You only really need provide personal details once your ready to request a payment so there's no real rush but if you want to do it now then keep reading on.
Homepages Friends Account Page

To receive a payment you'll need to provide your billing details at some point. Look for the "Account details" link in the right menu on your Homepages administration page as seen in the picture to the left.

Once you've completed the account details section click the "Give my payment details" link further down the right hand menu where you can select your preferred payment method.

The administration page also links to your earnings page.

In fact almost all links to the sections you need are in the right menu on the Homepages administration page which is very simple to navigate through.

Hopefully you found this article useful. If you like the sound of Homepages Friends and wish to sign up you can show your appreciation by signing up via our Homepages Friends Referral Link

Please be sure to check back again soon to see some of the great stuff we've got lined up.