Microsoft recently announced the release of their new SearchPerks program, which provides incentives to users to search on the MSN/Live by rewarding them with “tickets” that can be exchanged for prizes.

Each time a user performs a search they receive one ticket. Users can collect up to 25 tickets per day, and you can receive 500 tickets just for signing up. The program, which runs from October 1st to April 15th, will allow participants to cash in their tickets at the end of April. Prizes will include items such as ringtones, music downloads, books and even frequent flyer miles.

My first thoughts on the SearchPerks program were, “Where do I sign up?” Who wouldn’t want some free frequent flyer miles? But after some brief analysis on the program, you probably won’t find me completing my 25 searches per day. Here’s why.

First of all, you have to be using Internet Explorer when conducting your searches according to the Terms and Conditions. You even have to be using Internet Explorer to access their SearchPerks home page. It makes sense that MSN would also want you to use the Microsoft web browser, but I don’t use Internet explorer at work or at home. And frankly, it would be a pain for me to switch.

Secondly, in order to receive anything that is even moderately valuable I would have to start searching today, and search 25 times in MSN using Internet Explorer EVERY DAY until April 15th. And that includes weekends.

If I were to sign up for SearchPerks today, I would have 188 days until April 15th to conduct my searches. With the 500 tickets you receive for signing up, by April 15th I would have 5,200 tickets if I searched the maximum of 25 times per day. I could then exchange those tickets for 2,500 frequent flyer miles. Not a bad deal.

But what if I took weekends off? I’m usually not online a ton on the weekends, and conducting 25 searches per day on Saturday and Sunday would probably be a huge hassle. So, if I decided to forgo weekends I would be able to accumulate 3850 tickets in 134 days. According to SearchPerk’s website, I would have just enough to exchange for the book Cooking with Jamie by Jamie Oliver, which retails on Amazon.com for $24.75. However, I would not have enough tickets to get the IntelliMouse Explorer, which you can also get on Amazon for $28.01.

In conclusion, my 3,350 searches total would get me between $24 and $28 of free stuff. And if it took me 15 minutes per day to conduct these searches, I would end up spending 33.5 hours on the task. If I were getting paid by Microsoft by the hour, it would end up beign $.78 per hour. For me, it’s just not worth it.

You can find more information from the Search Engine Land SearchPerks article, or by visiting www.getsearchperks.com. Just be sure to open the link in Internet Explorer.