Click on Apply Now and fill in the simple online registration form and you will be signed up in minutes!

Remember we offer two basic ways to use our services:

Search box HTML code to upload onto your existing website or intranet or...
...your own branded full website including the search box ready loaded!

You can use either or both of these options and each enables you to search the internet and earn a share of the advertising revenue generated.

You will then be sent an e-mail with your username and password for access to your own "Administration Area".

This includes a "Client User Welcome Pack" that familiarises you with how to get started and all the marketing support available.

Any organisation that needs to fundraise, whether or not it is a registered charity.

Our FREE services are already used by a broad range of organisations, local or national voluntary groups, registered charities, schools, sports clubs, churches - you name it!

Umbrella organisations such as those that provide support to fundraising organisations, not only use the services for themselves but can also promote the services to their clients.

The answer is if you have an idea then talk to us at info@homepages-friends.com and we will work with you to come up with a solution that works for you!

HomePages Friends primary service centres upon a free Ask.com search box.

When anyone searches the internet from this search box you earn a share of any advertising revenue generated. For fuller details of the way this works see "How the Money Works!" below.

The HomePages Friends services are then tailored to deliver this search box to your individual or corporate supporters, in partnership with you in the most effective way possible.

With voluntary organizations, charities and other not-for-profit groups we provide our services entirely for free, including web-sites and html code and all other set-up arrangements. We then cover our costs over time out of our 50% of the revenue generated.

For the commercial world we have a sister company called Vine that provides a similar website service to companies and charges its costs up front. So our services clearly have a commercial value, but we believe in supporting fundraising organisations in this way.

The ongoing 50:50 revenue split is highly effective for both partners as by aggregating all the search traffic from all our clients we are able to negotiate higher proportions of the advertising revenue available.

No, you will not be charged for anything at any stage.

Yes of course! One of our services provides a free website, branded and written entirely by you, that contains your own internet search box.

As well as free hosting and a free domain name this service gives you complete control over the content of your website via your own password protected administration area.

By all means, please contact us on info@homepages-friends.com and we will arrange this if you wish.

Yes, based on our experience certain of our services work better for certain types of organisations and we are happy to provide input.

The key decision depends upon how your supporters, employees, etc will find the search box, with the most effective method by far being to put the box somewhere that they are already in the habit of using. You want them to carry on using a search box precisely as they already do, but to your benefit, so fitting in with their normal online access habits will work best. You should consider the following:

- If you or your supporters have a "high traffic" well known existing website that people regularly use then adding a search box is highly effective.

- If you or your supporters have an intranet site that staff or external partners often use then again a search box is very relevant.

- If you have internal users who just want to access the internet without any other internal requirements then our simple single page search facility set as the homepage on all computers will help maximise revenue.

- Clearly for many the most applicable option is having a free web site that can be easily updated with relevant news for supporters as well as containing a search box.

Finally do not forget you do NOT have to pick one service over another, you can use as many as you want!

As part of the sign up process you accept our Terms & Conditions which initially run for 30 days and are automatically renewed for rolling 30 day periods.

We suggest you print a copy of these and retain them for your own reference.

A full copy of our current Terms & Conditions are available via this website.

Once you have signed up we will create a specific Partner Control Panel (PCP) which you can use to view your volume of searches and the revenue generated (live and up to date), plus access your Client User Welcome Pack that familiarises you with how to get started and all the marketing support available.

Through the PCP you can access a dedicated "Marketing Materials" section that is regularly updated with marketing materials and ideas.

The most important message is to promote your search box out to as many supporters as possible!

There are a number of ways in which you can earn more income from our services.

This warrants a full discussion so please see the Marketing section.

Choice of search engine is clearly a subjective issue, but we believe that asks updated service is extremely strong. Please bear in mind that if you use the Ask box to access another search engine (Google etc) you will be able to view the results, but no revenue will be generated!

Our search box can be easily added to an existing website to sit alongside existing online fundraising activities, and our name and brand remain invisible so that the search service can be branded and presented by you to compliment your other activities.

There are a small number of other companies offering some of the same type of services as us, but we have worked hard to establish a strong differential by focusing on the requirements of the voluntary sector.

We believe that our service stands apart for the following reasons:

- We do not promote our brand to your supporters, clients or employees - everything appears under your name and as if provided by you with our involvement remaining invisible. Our competitors take the opposite approach.

- The initial set up and ongoing service is provided free of charge, we cover our costs only from our future revenue share

- We apply a straight 50:50 split to the revenue. Our competitors take significantly more, or do not disclose the split.

- Our systems are open and transparent. You can view your search volumes and revenue live at any time

- With our background and the experience of many of our team we have a particular understanding and empathy with the voluntary and charity sector