Andrea, ReferYou at GPF, has graciously agreed to post information she's put together about PTP Advertising. I hope this will help members further understand some of the problems and benefits of their PTP ads.

Thank you, Andrea. You're more than welcome to post here, and we'll leave this particular thread open for questions and answers.

The floor's all yours when you're ready.

Let's Start with some basic information.

Please note that there are different scripts and some webmaster use different terminology. There are now "No Tier-All Approved" PTP programs. We will address those separately.

What is PaidToPromote (PTP) and how does it work?

Members earn cash for promoting a specially assigned link. Each full view of your PTP page will credit to your account an amount based on a Per Thousand (CPM) views. Some sites use 12 hours unique views, but most are set at 24 hours unique views. The value of a view is based on the country of origin of the viewer. You can see Country Tier Settings in your member area. Each PTP page will have it's own Country Tier Settings at each PTR site.

Can I advertise my PTP page anywhere and get credit?

No, all valid views must come from sites listed on the Approved Site List. If the site is not on an approved list, your traffic will NOT COUNT and your account will NOT be credited. Each PTP page within a PTR program has it's own Approve List. Don't assume that because a site is approved for one page, it is approved for all pages.

How can I get a site on the PTP Approved List?

If you would like to advertise your PTP page on a site that is not on the Approved list, contact the webmaster that owns the PTP page (PTR Program Owner). Usually the Webmaster has posted on the site (usually the PTP Approved Lists page) the best method of contact. Some use forum posts, some use the contact page and there are others that require you to send an email to a "special address".

How come my advertising stats don't match my PTP stats?

This is common question and one that is difficult to explain because there are so many factors involved. I am only going to touch on the most obvious reasons, unfortunately, users will not be able to obtain this kind of detail in PTP stats and many may not be able to obtain it from sites they advertise at or for.

For this example site A is the site where the advertisement is displayed and site P is the site that has the PTP.

1. The site P link and the accompanying banner were set up in reverse. You can not get credit for PTP hits if the PTP link is trying to be the banner that is displayed. Always check the advert set up on site A in your advertising stats area after the ad has been processed.

2. Site A has a large amount of click bot users, click bots tend to "click" on site A, but never "hit" through to site P.

3. Site P has tools in place that reject "bad" traffic. This can be known as click bot IPs, known open/anonymous proxy IPs, or known cheat software IPs. You can also include in this group users or hosts that have been blocked.

4. Site A may be on site P's PTP approved list, but not approved for traffic exchanges. Just because a site is listed as approved does not mean all aspect of a site are approved. If the link description says NO exchanges, do not use your PTP link in a traffic exchange even if the exchange is part of a PTR site.

There are times were webmasters have determined that some traffic is so bad it is blocked at the domain or even server level. This means that the IP or even IP range has been blacklisted by a service that watches bad traffic, compiles complaints and provides information to webmasters (usually for a fee).

There are some sites that are very good at controlling their traffic. Should you find that site A zips through your advertising campaign hits fast and site P shows a low percentage of overall hits, you now know, who is controlling their traffic (site P) and who is not (Site A). I would strongly recommend that you continue to support and purchase advertising at site P in the future.

You are sure to find yourself with a better percentage of valid traffic hits for other PTPs by advertising on a site that controls their traffic. A site that controls their traffic will also have less of a chance of losing advertisers, as well as, having quality members that actually view your ads.

Where does the money come from to pay members to promote a page?

Text ad networks - These companies provide text ads (you usually see them in a little box) based on keywords provided by the webmaster of the Paid To Promote (PTP) page.

Banner ad networks - These companies have Click Thru Rates (CTR) ranges that a PTP owner needs to be within. They expect some visitors will be interested, click through and purchase or signup. If the advertisers are not happy, the PTP owner is canceled from the network to protect the advertisers.

PTP Rotator View Advertisers - These are advertisers that have paid the PTP owner to have their page displayed in the main window (frame) on the PTP page. These advertisers also expect people to look at the offer on their page and purchase or sign up.

Slide in/glide in/text ads and banner ads - These are advertisers that are pay the PTP owner (usually by view) They expect a certain percentage of people will click through and that some of those will purchase or sign up.

Of course a person is not going to be interested in EVERY ad they see. All get your attention, but which one gets your click and then ultimately your business is up to you.

Remember the PTP owner is answerable to their networks and advertisers. What do their advertisers want? Just a click please? Just let the page load? No, they want click thrus and they want good ones that give them leads, signups, purchases.

Next time you see a PTP page, take time to look at the ads and select one to click through. You may find that hidden treasure you have been looking for, or a great new survey site to join, or an insurance company you would like a quote from.