Make Money From Home While You ChaCha

Oct. 2, 2006 — -- Chacha.com is a brand-new search engine, similar to Yahoo and Google, but with the added component of allowing users to take advantage of a human guide to assist with their searches -- all for free.

Beyond that, it's also one new way to make money at home via the Internet because all of those guides are home-based contractors who set their own schedules and work as little or as much as they wish.

Based on several conversations with ChaCha co-founder Scott Jones, here's how he explained that ChaCha works:

If you have a computer, broadband (high-speed) Internet access, and a comfort level with searching on the Internet, there's a chance you're ready to become a ChaCha guide.

By comfortable, that means you've Googled or used Yahoo on a regular basis to find what you're looking for online.

You don't have to be a tech genius, but you need to know how to navigate your way around the Internet with ease.

Guides also have good basic grammar and spelling, along with a desire to help people quickly.

Guides select categories or keywords, initially three, that represent their interests or expertise.

For example, a mom who's into gardening, antiques and cooking might select those three categories for the focus of her work.

A college kid who loves rock music, baseball and skiing could opt for those topics.

A man who's battled cancer might want to share his expertise in this area.

Using an instant chat feature, guides help people online who are searching for information on a topic that is familiar to them.

That mom who selected gardening, antique and cooking will help visitors to the ChaCha site find information on those topics. She's not going to be asked to help with searches on astronomy, for example, because that's not a subject in which she indicated interest.

Not to worry, guides aren't grilled on what they know.

They find and send links to Web sites on the topics the user is seeking. Guides' knowledge is also aided by a sophisticated technology system that helps them find those key sites.

Test ChaCha for free as a user before applying to be a guide to get a better sense of how it works.