Apparently the "secret" site, that is so well talked about, www.prizola.com is not so secret anymore. And despite all the ads, and notices saying they are not going to "officially" launch until 2007, it looks like they are already up and running.
Some modifications to the site's layout (still needs work, but better than before) and the announcement that prizes are being awarded show there is in fact life behind this URL.
I am sure this is just some sort of a beta test period to work out the bugs, and weed out all the cheaters. But, I can see how the nature of the net can give this site a life of its own, and cause it to explode with visitors very quickly.
At first it seems their sites concept is not unique. Blingo and Winzy are the apparent leaders in this type of "search and win" genre of sites.
Prizola however has a new twist. Instead of simply having a chance to win by searching the world's most popular search engine (Google), Prizola gives you a chance to win by sending out free SMS text messages to friends.
I tested the form, which is very easy to use, and successfully sent text messages to both my own and my wife's cellular phones on the T-mobile Network. My friend on Cingular's network did not get his text message as of yet.
I know that the Myspace and college crowd will find plenty of use for the text message feature on this site.
Prizola uses the standard computation for selecting winners. Specific times of day are preselected and the first person to search close to that time is the winner.
These type of sites are able to give away prizes because of the revenue generated from advertising sales.
Many around the net have speculated what the prizes would be exactly and how often they would be awarded, since it was promoted as "over $10,000 in cash & prizes".
Turns out the prizes are pretty good and they are selecting 1-2 winners per hour.
The first prizes out the box on the curious site are 3-day/2-night vacation getaway packages and amazon.com gift certificates.
Unlike other sites, prizola.com actually allows the first dozen searches to count towards prize entry.
Here is the best part: if you use their web interface to send a text message to your friend's wireless phone, and you win--BOTH you and the person you sent the message to win the prize!
As the self-proclaimed "world's greatest prize portal", it seems they are well on their way to at least making a great first impression.
It's too soon to tell how they are on turnaround time on prize giveaways, but as soon as I interview some actual winners...I will tell you all :)