Bidvertiser Ad Network Review

I read about Bidvertiser pay per click ads in a marketing blog and I thought I’d try them out. Every advertising network and affiliate program deserves to be tested – this is the only way you will find out what works for your site. So I signed up for Bidvertiser and let the fun begin.

First, it is a very cumbersome signup process as they require you to validiate your email address DURING the signup process. Yes thats right, you have to go through a popup window, click a link, generate the confirmation code, open a new browser window, find the Bidvertiser email, copy the code from the email, and paste it into your previous signup form. I don’t think its possible to make a more convoluted signup, which is why no other website has ever done this.

Another annoying part of Bidvertiser.com is the incessant use of web 1.0 technologies. Yes no need to worry about using any browser after Netscape 4.0, because this site make use of Popup windows galore. No timesaving userfriendly AJAX in sight on this ad network.

Here is what a Bidvertiser ad looks like, because its likely you have never seen one before:

It is very bland and apparently they let you choose colors, but it wasn’t intuitive enough for this review. This is the code that generates the Bidvertiser ad links. One thing that really turns me off about this company is their sneakiness. Take a look at their code:

<!– Begin BidVertiser code –>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=”JavaScript1.1″ src=”http://bdv.bidvertiser.com/BidVertiser.dbm?pid=89644&bid=211987″ type=”text/javascript”></SCRIPT>
<noscript><a href=”http://www.bidvertiser.com”>affiliate program</a></noscript>
<!– End BidVertiser code –>

Stuffing the keyword anchor text “affiliate program” into the javascript snippit! Unbelievable! How can you take this company seriously, what’s next spamming forums with their signature? I’ll leave the morality of hiding links and let our Google overlords pass final judgement, but this is way too fishy for me.

I thought that was just coincidence, and surely Bidvertiser wasn’t trying to stuff hidden links. But no, I generated an affiliate link and the same hidden link was added to the javascript:

<!– Begin BidVertiser Referral code –>
<script language=”JavaScript”>var bdv_ref_pid=89644;var bdv_ref_type=’i’;var bdv_ref_option=’p’;var bdv_ref_eb=’0′;var bdv_ref_gif_id=’ref_110x32_black_pbl’;var bdv_ref_width=110;var bdv_ref_height=32;</script>
<script language=”JavaScript” src=”http://bdv.bidvertiser.com/bidvertiser/referral_button.html?pid=89644″></script>
<noscript><a href=”http://www.bidvertiser.com”>affiliate program</a></noscript>
<!– End BidVertiser Referral code –>

Note to Bidvertiser, links in the <noscript> tag are ignored anyway. These stopped being effective before the web 2.0 revolution, which is understandable, since your website, marketing, SEO, and presentation is stuck in 1999 web 1.0

The code creates this referral button:

They seem to be quite sure of themselves and very serious. I’m not sure how serious they can be since few people have heard of them

Here is the list of items to avoid Bidvertiser account termination:

1. Don’t click on your own BidVertiser ads.
Clicking on the BidVertiser ads on your own site for any reason is strictly prohibited. If you are interested in one of the ads, simply type the URL of the ad directly into your browser’s address bar or login to your account and click “View” in order to see a preview of the ads.
2. Don’t ask or encourage others to click on the BidVertiser ads.
Asking or encouraging others to click on the ads for any reason, either directly or indirectly, is strictly prohibited. Using sentences such as “click the ads to support us”, “visit our sponsors” or “please click the ads” will lead to account termination.
3. Don’t display the BidVertiser ads in an unrequested pop-up, pop-under or third-party’s frame.
Pages showing the BidVertiser ads may never be loaded in an unrequested pop-up, pop-under, floating HTML item or as an inner frame of a third party.
Promoting your website or purchasing traffic from clicks-exchange networks is strictly prohibited.
4. Don’t place the BidVertiser ads on sites that contain prohibited content.

These are very tough guy rules for such a bunch of scammers. We’ll see if they even pay me after this review.