Advertising

[Tyler]

I'll admit it. I'm a paranoid sucker! :dfingers:

When Identify Theft was all uncommon back in the day, I had no problem sharing my SSN as I would imagine others didn't have a problem as well.

Well, now it is all too common. Which is why I promised myself that I will never share my SSN online, under no circumstances. Well, this leaves me with not too many companies. Google and Yahoo! being the two biggest...

But, I've gotten by. The first company I choose to do my advertising was BidVertiser (http://www.bidvertiser.com/). When you first see 'em, they look great for a candidate don't they? From my experience, they are the worst.

For me it was an endless loop...They will serve poker ads, free pharmacy etc, the types of ads you would never click on. Since I never got any clicks, no "good advertisers" would want to advertise on me. But none of my members would click on these ads unless they were "good". So this resulted in a huge endless loop. Ran it for ~2 months, earned <$.25. Don't try 'em put simply.

I then continued my search. My next stop was Clicksor (http://www.clicksor.com/). When I first signed up, they was quite slow. It took about 4 days to BV's 1 day. So I didn't mind, I'm a patient guy :fairy:

But, I had problems. They serve popups, popunders and keywords (I forget the "technical" name). Well, I was getting the keywords (you highlight, you get an ad). It wouldn't let me turn it off, so I contacted support took another 4 days to get a response. And I finally fixed it myself, then they respond 12 days later. Their support is horrendous.

Once I got everything up and running, the ads were a bit better. But they was no Google. Overall the ads totaled to up about $.50 for ~2 months as well. Not great, but can be worse like it was with BV.

My next and final stop is Chitika (http://www.chitika.com/). From the first page, these ads look great! I mean, who doesn't like to have these effects that doesn't intrude, and its not flash? I know I do :angel: I applied, and got accepted within 3 days. Not too bad, but can be better. Once I signed up, I was amazed by their control panel and ad generation. They let you have complete control of your ads. YOU can choose your keywords, not them. This is by far their best quality. I now run highly targeted ads and I'm loving it! I've been running them for 2 and half weeks, and I've already passed the Paypal buyout minimum, so I will be accepted the money shortly.

They are the best from my experience, and I just noticed the famous Softpedia has started to use them yesterday evening. But, I did run "in-house" ads for a bit. If you think you can do it, try it and you will realize how much more money you make then these companies.

Just from my experience, hope it helps someone. :)

[Jimerson]

Great Tips Tyler :)

[Jan]

I'm not sure why you would be averse to giving your SSN to well respected, tried and thoroughly tested ad companies. If an American company doesn't ask for it, you should ask yourself why.

[adb22791]

I'm a bit young to be givin' my SSN out, and my parents arn't going to do it for me, so I went with Tyler's advise and submitted my site to Chitika. Hopefully I will be able to match Tyler's $.25 per 2 months :D

[Tyler]

I'm not sure why you would be averse to giving your SSN to well respected, tried and thoroughly tested ad companies. If an American company doesn't ask for it, you should ask yourself why.

Someone, if they want data, can get it. After that huge bank of CC #s last yearish was cracked, I got paranoid then too. But, most companies are oversea - British.

[adb22791]

Well Chitkia rejected me for the second time :banghead:
Does anybody have any idea why http://www.gamingultimate.net wouldn't be marketable?

[Scott]

Nice post Tyler, might check out chitika. :)

Dunno Alex, do they give you any way of contacting them to find out what's wrong with the site?

[linux-tech]

The question you should be asking yourself is "why don't these others ask for my social security number?".

By not asking for your SS#, the other companies are not legally allowed to do business in the United States, because all earnings over a certain amount (I forget how much, think it's like $100) must be reported to the IRS. How do they do this? They use your SS# as the uniquely identifiable number it is.

By accepting these funds without providing your ss# for proper reporting and validation purposes, you, as a U.S. citizen are breaking the law, actually. They need to report this expense, and you need to report the income. The way this is done? SS#'s.

Yes, I know it's risky giving these out, but that's why you think very hard before you give them out, and only choose the major companies to give them out to.

[Tyler]

By not asking for your SS#, the other companies are not legally allowed to do business in the United States..

From what I read - not saying it's right or anything, but since this is a US law it only applies to the companies that are on the US. Companies such as Bidvertiser etc are UK based and they don't have such laws.

[linux-tech]

That's true, IF they don't accept applications from US citizens, but once they do this, they're required to fulfill all laws of the US, as they're effectively doing business in the US as well.

[Tyler]

Ah, was unaware of that :)

[Banana]

Thanks for this, very helpful!