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| Five Ways To Stay Safe When Buying Online Advertising |
Published on 19-02-2005
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By Charlie Page
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Resource Through Special Reports and membership sites, Charlie Page
helps people succeed online. Visit Charlie today.
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| Website URL http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=236380 |
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You have probably heard, or may have painfully discovered, that the Internet can be a den of thieves. There are sites that will take your money and deliver nothing in return.
The owners of these sites don't care about you, and don't care that they just ripped off your last, (or nearly last) $50 or $60 or $150. All they care about is that they got your money.
Nowhere is this danger more prevalent that in online advertising. After all, most people online want to sell something.
Very few people understand the process of advertising offline, much less understand online advertising, and are willing to part with their money if the deal sounds good. And these crooks know how to make it sound good.
These factors create a "wild west" mentality, where the most brazen thieves are rewarded by a system with no ability to prosecute offenders.
But there ARE ways you can protect yourself when buying ads online, and I'm going to share my top five with you right now.
NOTE: The following steps apply to almost every type of advertising you can find, from buying leads to buying ezine ads to buying banner impressions ... even to buying traffic.
===> Step 1: Check the site for current information, ownership, and contact information.
No matter what resource you use to find the site you are considering buying ads from, you must do your homework. That includes going to the site and looking to see if the site information is current.
If the site information is not current, do NOT buy advertising from that site! Ways to look for a site's age include reading the copy, checking the copyright mark, and checking the contact information.
IMPORTANT: if the site offers ONLY an email address for contact, send an email to that address before buying advertising. If the email bounces, do NOT buy from them!
You must be able to contact vendors from which you buy products and services. If they don't offer a way for you to contact them, run ... don't walk away from that site.
===> Step 2: Subscribe to the site's information or ezine.
If a site offers some form of follow up, or an ezine, subscribe to it to see what happens. Did you get a confirmation? Is it a real ezine, or just an ad sheet? Can you unsubscribe if you want to?
How a site follows up with visitors who request information is an indication of how seriously the site owner takes their business, and how seriously they will take your business as well.
NOTE: Never buy ezine advertising without subscribing to the ezine first. Never.
===> Step 3: Look for testimonials.
While testimonials can be faked, the fact is that most thieves don't go to the trouble. Testimonials about any product you are going to buy are helpful, but they are doubly helpful when buying advertising.
If you find testimonials, and there is a link to a site, follow the link. It can be very helpful to see what type of product did well with the type of ad you are considering before you buy.
If you don't see testimonials listed and still want some, ask the site owner. How, and when, they respond can tell you a lot about how they do business.
===> Step 4: Insure your payment with PayPal.
While not everyone likes PayPal, they offer an incredible service I have not seen elsewhere. That service is the ability to insure your satisfaction by paying a very small fee at the time of purchase.
Since PayPal dropped the requirement of having a PayPal account in order to make payment through them, you can choose PayPal if the vendor offers it.
This one small step alone will protect you from fraud better than almost anything else you can do.
As the consumer, you have a whole host of rights when it comes to getting satisfaction from a vendor who has wronged you. Check with your bank, the credit card company, and the merchant account from whom you received a receipt to discover your options if you get cheated.
===> Step 5: Don't panic if you don't get an immediate response.
The people who run websites are busy, get sick, have family tragedies, sometimes take vacations, and sometimes are just too tired to work ... just like you and me.
And just like most online businesses, sometimes their "thank you page" malfunctions and you can't place your ad or download what you bought. While this is bad, it's not necessarily a sign of fraud.
If you have done your homework and know the site is valid, simply contact them via email or their contact form. If that doesn't work, call them. If more than a few days pass, send another message saying you will request a refund, then follow through if you don't hear back.
In the years I've been online, I've bought way too many products. ;) What this has taught me is that not everyone is at the top of his or her game at all times, and patience is a virtue.
That said; if you don't get what you paid for, you have every right to take steps to get your money back, period.
No matter what you are buying online, you must take care to evaluate the merchant as well as the offer. By doing a few minutes of basic due diligence, and following your common sense, you will be able to stay completely safe when buying online advertising.
And that's a very good thing indeed!
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