Rules and Guidelines: Site Ownership

For this entry in our series on our Rules and Guidelines, I am writing about Site Ownership. I am doing this because an advertiser responded to an entry, and I wanted to clear the air regarding the issue.

My goal with this series was to help advertisers and the public easily understand the parameters by which we expect our users to operate. I was pleased that an advertiser took the time to refer to our blog and then inquire about the facts. Part of understanding a concept is through dialogue, and questioning the facts presented. The advertiser was doing his due diligence, making sure that his account was operating within our rules. More advertisers could stand to do the same.

The issue that the advertiser contacted us was in regards to our Adult Content site policy which we talked about in our blog post entitled “Adult Content.” The advertiser wanted to confirm if the information regarding site ownership was true. The first line of the guideline states: “Advertisers must own the website submitted and must be able to verify ownership.” The advertiser contacted us to find out how to confirm ownership of a site. (He did not have an adult website, but was considering adding an adult campaign to his account.) This is, in fact, an issue that has its own rule on its own.

This brings us to the next guideline we are going to cover:

Site Ownership

7Search advertisers must own the website submitted for placement and be able to verify ownership.  

Affiliate Marketers are allowed to advertise direct links to their offers, provided the link contains the marketers affiliate ID within the URL string.

Affliliate Marketers are not allowed to advertise Casino or Pharmacy sites with 7Search.com.

This guideline exists as another security measure for our network. We specifically ask this for gaming and adult content sites because 1) they are highly sought after, and 2) have been targeted by criminals as avenues of opportunity. In some cases, fraudulent advertisers have promoted websites that may capture a surfer’s personal information, or spread a virus into their hard drives to hack their personal files.

We ask for this information because we can then closely investigate the advertiser. As we all know, you can become anything you want on the net. The information you submit, however, can determine if you are eligible to be a partner with us, and other businesses, as well. It has to hold up to scrutiny and be confirmed by our staff.

An advertiser can confirm the ownership of his site in several ways. You can submit a copy of any business papers that includes your business name, address, and other information. You can submit a copy of your tax forms (with any secure information blacked out, such as social security number or tax identification number). You can also send us any correspondence that includes company letterhead or logos. We can then examine the material and log this in your account. This guideline does not apply to all of our advertisers, but we do retain the right to ask for this information.

This guideline also covers a common question we receive: “am I allowed to direct link to another offer page?” Affiliate marketers ask this question a lot, because Google does not allow for this practice. We have become a “go-to” option for many of these folks.

The practice of direct linking goes like this: An affiliate marketer receives an offer to promote by an affiliate marketing company. They receive 2 URLs; a display URL, which is the page that your public would see, and then a destination URL, which is a page that visitors are taken to instantly when clicking in the display page. The destination URL contains an affiliate ID number, which tracks the clicks and sales that an affiliate marketer receives. This is how an affiliate marketer is compensated. This is considered “direct linking.”

We are set up for this option specifically. We only ask that the display, or “squeeze” page, be relevant to the offer. The keywords used should also be relevant to the offer, as well. The guideline goes on to say that affiliates are also not allowed to promote adult or gaming websites. This is also because of the reason stated above. The advertiser has to be the sole owner of the site, and cannot simply promote an offer, in order to prevent against possible fraud.

I hope this explains the measure clearly. I’ll be back with more Rules and Guidelines soon.