2009 April | Convert2Media Blog

06: Apr; 2009

AdTech San Francisco April 21-22

Posted by: Ruck under Convert2Media News

AdTech San Francisco is almost upon us. April 21-22 is the exhibit hall. I dont go to keynotes. I feel that I come out stupider than what I was when I went in. However, Convert2Media will be going to the event. Generally we dont miss an Adtech show in the US.

If you have not been to an AdTech you are missing out on some serious marketing education. Advertisers, Publishers, Companies looking for traffic, general networking. It’s all so important in this business. Meeting as many people as you can in this industry typically helps to make your marketing knowledge shoot thru the roof.

If you are wanting to meet up with Convert2Media or a member of then shoot us a message over at:

events@convert2media.com
ruck@convert2media.com
407.704.0522

Would love to meet up with everyone we can.

05: Apr; 2009

Convert2Media Updates

Posted by: Ruck under Convert2Media News

Convert2Media has and will continue to go thru updates in April. If you dont already know, we have moved tracking platforms so please contact your affiliate manager if you do not have your login details. The old system is done except for tracking residuals. When this is finished, you will no longer have access to the old system so please switch everything over as soon as possible.

Website Redesign – We are in the process of a new website redesign. I think once you see it, you will be very surprised as to the looks of it. We took in account over 50 networks and their layouts and decided we wanted to do something completely out of the ordinary. You’ll probably either love it, or hate it. With that said, you may start seeing parts of the site, blog and/or forum start to change.

Forum – I will be doing away with the forum. With so much focus going into the coaching programs, their will be special forums provided for both parts of the programs. One generic forum as we have now is pretty lame. We would like to get a much more personal approach going with publishers and with the new forums rolling out, I think you will REALLY understand what I mean when you see them.

IRC Chatroom – I have a couple of trusted publishers in mind and will probably offer them an opportunity to lend a hand in operating the IRC room. Sometimes it gets pretty hectic in there and with all the updates that have been going on, we would like to have some more support in there. If you see them in there, dont bust their kahunas too much.

Coaching – Both programs have been delayed with traveling that I have been doing. We will be attending Ad Tech San Francisco this month and then I think we are done traveling until this summer. You will be receiving information related to the coaching programs this week. I would like to clear up a few misconceptions at this point regarding the coaching program.

Acceptance – There IS an acceptance process. I have had the opportunity to moderate about a half a dozen money making communities online and even have my own. Unfortunately, 90+% of the people you will try to help will end up wasting your time. Harsh, but true. Knowing this, I’ve setup a few guidelines to ensure that we dont waste your time, and you dont waste ours. We will get more in detail over the week.
Cost Involved – We are not hear to charge money. We are hear to teach you how to publish with Convert2Media. We hold up our end of the bargain and you hold up yours, then we progress and scale.
No Networks – I apologize for at least the 20th time here. I am not, cannot and will not allow any other employee, manager, partner or someone who works with another network to be involved. Sneak by and you will be embarrassed. Final Answer. As for publishers coming for the “fruit cocktail” (being the information and training) and then using it with another network, I have that figured out as well.

Sounds selfish right? It is.

I wont and will not allow our team to waste our time helping publishers only to have them go run with someone else. I wont have our content showing up in another network’s email newsletter, forum, blog or webinar either. That crap has already pissed me off enough. It’s lame.

Tracking – Since moving over to the new system, we have decided to publish some general overview and how to use the new system tutorials. These are being worked on currently and should be live in the interface this week sometime.

That’s about it for now. We’ll keep you posted as we progress.

03: Apr; 2009

Fraud Friday – Massive Network List Exposed

Posted by: Ruck under Performance Marketing

Just so everyone knows, the “fraud friday’s” comment in the previous post was a complete joke. I was not serious at all regarding outing fraud but I’ve given it a lot of thought over the last week. I’ve gone ahead and decided to go forth a liitle bit with such a project. Regarding the hate mail that has been coming in, you will now receive the first warning that I will be publishing your emails going forward.

Moving along…

Some have decided to take a few quips at me about my blackhat past as if they were going to expose something that was a secret. I dont have secrets, I openly will tell you whatever you ask. I would like to one up everyone that sent these lovely messages and let you know of where I have openly admitted to being an ex-hat blackhat. There are many versions of blackhat, what’s accepted and what’s not. I wont go into that. Just know I’ve done the gray, I’ve done the black, and I have done the super duper ultra black. It’s been by far one of our best tools in combating this stuff. Know that your hate is expected and accepted. You should also know that I have a ton of experience in dealing with fraud, incentive and all the other bullshit people to try and get away with. I think that will become REALLY apparent as we move forward.

On the flip side, since I have not disclosed any of the hate, I wont disclose any of the praise either. We have had quite a few networks, publishers, advertisers and other managers in the industry send us some pretty cool mail regarding the last post. I guess since fraud and bullshit isn’t talked about much that the post generated a bit of a buzz. What’s better than getting the information out of some who have been able to get these people responsible for a ton of the network fraud to give us their inside tips?

With that said, here is a list that was turned into us this past week. For all the networks who actually sent me mail about being pissy for how much it costs for a network approved account with you, please know that I am just a relayer of information. If you think you should be number #1, please take that up with the fraudsters, umm k.

This is raw info. It comes as it is. A huge list of networks targeted and some rates for approvals from one WHITEHAT guy that gets fraud accounts approved. Please know that these publishers are probably some of your best whitehat pubs. We should know, it’s happened to us. For extra cash, they sign up frauders. Lame.

DISCLAIMER: I am not going to teach your network how to detect this shit. I dont have the time and quite frankly it just sucks up my time. I also do not have any clue why your network is listed with this price. Some are $50, some are $5. Who gives a shit. The important thing is that if you are on this list, it’s GUARANTEED that they are coming into your network. Last by not least, I type this up for fun and because it is crap that we have deal with daily. If you dont like it, feel free to stop frauding at any time. Information has been copied/pasted as it came to us. One more thing. This is just one list, there are PLENTY more circulating. Enjoy.

Need to pay: 20

SSN: 260-57-3923

A : 100 USD /account after we get password.

clickbooth.com 9414834188 ext 221, devon

cpaempire.com 1-303-468-2615 applied

hydranetwork.com

cpastorm.com (303) 327-2180

valueclickmedia.com 818.575.4500 / 8058791600 / 717-346-3600

B: 50 USD /account after we get password.

coprosper.com

incentaclick.com 1.866.962.9764 – (Justin Spigelman)

neverblueads.com