1. A method of providing an incentive award to a user for visiting a participating web site, the method comprising: registering a user with the information gathering system, wherein the information gathering system maintains an award point account associated with the user and wherein award points are specific to the information gathering system; making award points available for purchase to a web site proprietor, wherein the web site proprietor operates the participating web site; awarding a predetermined amount of award points by the web site proprietor to the registered user for a visit to the participating web site, wherein the visit conforms to a predefined rule; updating the award point account associated with the registered user; exchanging award points associated with the registered user for a good or a service.