Search Engine Watch, an internet search engine statistics and marketing group, revealed that there were nearly six and a half billion internet queries in the United States in March 2006.
Of the sites used to find web results, Google Search, exerted the greatest influence with 50 percent of all searches in America at 91 million a day. In a close second, was Yahoo, former search engine leader, with 23.4 percent of searches.
With as many people using the internet today, siblings Ken and J.J. Ramberg founded GoodSearch to introduce charity into everyday idle activity. The GoodSearch search engine is a memorial to their mother who died of caner in 2001.
GoodSearch is powered by Yahoo and presents the same amount of web pages as Yahoo. The difference is that one penny will be donated to a list of charities for every search performed on the web site. If the non-profit organization of the user’s choice is not available, a waiting process of a couple of days is necessary to have it added.
Groups like the National Kidney Foundation of Nebraska have used Goodsearch to raise money to help those afflicted with life-threatening illness.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has risen over $230 in the little time GoodSearch has been available and hopes to raise enough money for a mission by February 2007.
The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy of Asheville, N.C., uses a portion of funds generated by GoodSearch to buy and preserve local scenic areas for perpetuity and recreational usage. Among other non-profit options currently available are a list of schools, awareness group, and cancer research partnerships.
The GoodSearch website estimates that a regular user will use its site twice a day to donate. It categorizes a small charity as 100 people, which means that the organization would receive $730 per year. A medium-sized organization would fall at the 1,000 member range; its benefits would mark $7,300 per year.
Large groups will beenefit the most. Using the same formula as before with a number of 10, 000 GoodSearch users, an organization could conservatively receive $73,000 per year. All this is possible for about a penny in return for clicking a mouse.
On the business side of the Internet, measurable goodwill is a powerful marketing tool.
Articles featuring Good-Search have appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and on CNNMoney.com and ABC News.
When asked whether or not GoodSearch’s offer would make a difference. ETSU student Josh Davidson said “Yahoo’s returns are normally pretty so if it’s still a Yahoo Search Engine and goes towards a good cause I’d use it.”
While working towards charity, GoodSearch also gives Yahoo a creative edge over competitors. Regardless, now web surfers have the ability to use time on the Internet to benefit others.

Author