You would think the lure of easy information and good search results would be enough to attract people to a search engine. But MSN is dangling prizes and charitable donations in front of would-be searchers, hoping that those who try its engine for the winnings might just hang around.

The company is kicking off a promotion called MSN Search and Win, which will reward random users who search on certain keywords over the course of the next several months. Prizes include gift certificates from American Express, Target, REI and Nike. Digital cameras and MP3 players are also on the prize list. Three winners each month will also get to choose charities to receive $10,000, $25,000 or $50,000 donations. The company details the promotion on a microsite, MSNSearchAndWin.com.

Overall our goal is to get people to trial the service who currently are not using MSN Search, said Kai Ichikawa, group product manager at MSN. Within search, the company would also like to expose people to images and local search features.

It is all about marketing to the public and those is an old method with a new twist