Frequently Asked Questions

1 What is going on right now? As of April 29th, we've launched. Even so, we have more programs and services to improve and develop.
2 Why would we us FAN when we have dozens of other services like AdSense, YPN, Bidvertiser and so many more? The list can be quite massive, but let's pick out some of the most important reasons.

You'll want to use FAN because:

  • You'll always know how much you're getting paid for the work you do. No, we won't ever lower your earning percentages - if anything, we would only raise it.
  • You'll have more choices on how to receive payments and how to make payments. FAN is a global service and we understand that not everyone uses the same method of payments.
  • Our program is designed to help every member make money regardless of whether you are an advertiser or publisher. The secret to that is activity.
  • You'll know what kind of ads are showing up on your site. In fact, you'll have a voice (literally vote) in what kind of ads will be shown and even get paid for doing it.
  • You won't get the same ads over and over again that brings down your CTR. Our system will learn the behavior of your visitors and display ads that will get them to click.
  • You'll have more control over your ads (publishing and advertising). You'll be able to do more than just select colors and practically make it your own.
  • Working with us is easy. We won't take 10 days to respond to you. No, not even 9 and 1/2 days. Okay, maybe 8. Kidding. As you can see, we have a sense of humor as well. We'll be sure to handle each situation in a professional manner, but don't be surprised how down-to-earth we are.
3 How can you compete against them if you don't even have a search engine? Easy, by letting our competitors do the work for us. Search engines are simply the vehicle that drives traffic to a web site related to a particular 'keyword(s)' a person requests, correct? So why does it matter if we have a search engine or not when there are hundreds of them out there generating traffic to our publishers?

Our ad delivery system is not based on search results, but the content on a page and how related it is to a particular ad, whether it be by category, country, time of day or keywords. This keeps us from having to run our own search engine and allows us to focus on how to produce positive results on both sides of the spectrum. So thank you competitors!
4 Who may participate in your program? Anyone from anywhere in the world who is legally old enough to earn an income from their respective State/Province and Country with an Internet connection. Those in the U.S. will be required to submit their Social Security number for tax and documentation purposes. We will not request that information, until we have a SSL certificate to protect your data. Your security and trust is important to us and we will never dishonor that.
5 What restrictions do you have for advertisers? To participate, your web site or blog MUST be in English. We will be able to add more languages later, but this is the most important thing at this stage in Beta. We recommend that you read through everything in our web site. That includes our TOS, all of our FAQ, and information on publishers, advertisers and so on.

As an advertiser, you can promote any type of content, BUT if it is of adult and mature content, then you MUST select only the adult and mature category, respectively. We will not accept any pornographic material... ever.
  Ad Options  
6 What kind of ad layouts do you have? We provide text ads, link ads, images, CPM, CPA, rich media (video), interstitials and even co-registration.
7 How many ad blocks can I show per page? You may only display 2 ad blocks, 1 link ad, 1 rich media and 1 referral button. This will keep web pages from looking too cluttered.
8 Do you have a custom color palete I can use? Yes, you can easily choose colors and layouts to help blend ads with your web site or blog and increase your CTR.
9 How much does it cost to advertise? CPC - min. of $0.05 a click - (includes all text ads, link ads and images) Only unique clicks, from a certain GeoIP session every 12 hours will be accounted for.

CPA - min. of $2.00 per action - This will be screened and has to be qualified by us. Both publishers and advertisers will have to insert a code to verify the action, track where the visitor came from and if they signed up (took action).

CPM - $0.50 - Only unique views after a 12 hour period will count.

Rich Media - $5 setup per campaign and a minimum of $0.01 per click - If your video is appealing enough, viewers will want to share it on their web sites. We have a system to help make it very viral with very little effort on your part.

Interstitial - $5 setup per campaign and a minimum of $0.01 per click - It is one of the most powerful ad campaigns you could use. This guarantees a higher click through more than anything. Usually, only very powerful companies could afford to use this, but we are making it available to everyone.
10 Do you have something called a default chain? Yes, but we have upgraded that idea and now call it the "ad network management."

Here's how it works: In case we ever run out of RONs to display for your specific category, we will have the ad network of your choice kick in and show their ads. This will keep your web site from having empty spaces.

The service is free and while we hope to be your #1 provider, you are welcome to decide not to use us as your provider. That's just how fair we are.
11 How many tracking channels do you provide? We have 300 channels available for you.

How it works: Tracking channels are tools for publishers to group specific campaigns to see things like impressions, CTR and earnings.
12 What kind of statistics will we see from our ads? We'll display an advanced data analysis of your CPM and CTR statistics displaying the number of CTR, impressions, location, time of clicks, earnings per click and over all earnings.

We'll also help determine which of your campaigns are performing better and what category you used has a better ROI.
13 How often do you update your statistics? We update our statistics every 30 minutes.
14 How fast are your ads being generated/loaded? Our ads are delivered between 30-40 milliseconds. We will work on making it faster, but considering the amount of control you'll get over your ads (as a publisher and advertiser), it will be difficult.
  Extra Features Top of Page
15 Do you have upgraded memberships? Yes, we have the Master Marketer membership that is only $19.99 a month
16 So what is IN your Master Marketer membership? 1. You can view your top ad statistics of up to 100 instead of only 25. This is not your ad channels, this is an additional feature.

2. You can see what the most responsive types of ads (including second and least popular) - regular members won't see this. This will help you determine what to use without wasting your money.

3. You can see the most popular categories and sub-categories. This can help you create niche web sites and businesses that would focus specifically on these categories.

4. You can see company statistics free members and guests will never know:
a. # of advertisers
b. # of publishers
c. # of campaigns
d. # of ads served
e. Total paid out to publishers

5. You can send emails/messages to all referrals twice a week. The limitation will prevent anyone from abusing the system.

6. You can block emails/messages from sponsor. Hey, when you're a "master marketer" you don't want to be the one still receiving messages from your referrer, do you? You can if you want. The option will be available. Free members will not.

7. Setting up your interstitial ads are free (normally $5 setup fee for each campaign). Since interstitial ads are one of our most powerful methods of marketing, you'll want to take advantage of this. If you were to create 20 of these campaigns, you'd be saving $100 just setting them up.

8. Setting up your rich media ads are free (normally $5 setup fee for each campaign). Our rich media (video) ads will also be an arsenal you don't want to let go. We just covered it earlier.

9. As an added bonus, your specified web site will be shown every time a member logs out of his/her account. It's kind of like a pop-up, but instead of popping up, they would go directly to your web site. This won't cost you any additional fees! You can add up to 3 domains for rotation.

10. One more benefit is, instead of earning 60% of every click and every action, you'll earn 70%! That's unheard of in any ad network.
17 That sounds awesome, but aren't you missing something? Oh, you mean about us paying you 40% commission for all of your upgraded referrals? No.
However, to earn affiliate commissions from your upgraded members, YOU must also be upgraded.

One thing special about us is that as soon as you upgrade, the following month's referral commission will be given to you. No other company does this. Usually, that referral is taken out of your loop and you'll never receive commissions from them!

18
 You mentioned there are 4 different ways to earn money. What are they? Please allow us to elaborate on this though. There really is 5 different ways for you to earn money, but we have spidered out the different variations of how to do it.
  1. If you are a publisher, you're paid for click-throughs, impressions and action taken.
  2. You're also paid when someone takes the video you displayed and place it on their site.
  3. You are paid every time your publishing affiliates earn $50 through publishing.
  4. You are paid every time your advertising affiliates put money into their account.
  5. You are paid every month for your upgraded referrals.
It really is hard to beat that!
  Program Flexibility Top of Page
19 Will you have other languages other than English? Yes, over time we will be adding languages like German, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin/Cantonese,' Vietnamese and all other major languages.
20 Can I block certain URLs or ads? Absolutely, as an advertiser, you can choose what category NOT to advertise in, by not selecting them. More so, you can even block specific domains (includes all of their pages) and even the publisher.
As a publisher, you can choose any category you wish to display and specify any specific domain you DON'T want to show. If that's not enough, you can even block the advertiser all-together.
21 Can I choose what I want to display on my web site based on how much the advertiser pays? YES, we will allow you to choose a range of CTR prices to display on your web site.
You can choose to DISPLAY ALL (includes $0.05-$0.49), $0.50-$5.00, $5.01-$10, and more if available.
22 Will I get banned or get in trouble if I accidently click on my own ads? No, don't worry, if you accidently click on your own ads, it will just be voided. We track everyone's GeoIP and session. If it is repetitive, we will log it and investigate it to prevent you from getting framed.
23 Is it true I can combine my advertiser and publisher account? Yes, you can join as both an advertiser and a publisher when you register, but upon your discretion, you are able to reverse it and be only an advertiser or a publisher. You can also reverse it again later and have both accounts.
24 Is is it true you allow NGOs and non-profit organizations to advertise for free? Yes, but with a limitation. You will be thoroughly investigated and required to prove your organization's establishment. This may include all paperwork, confirmation by an authority and an interview.

The only way your ads will be shown is if a publisher accepts it. Publishers will have an option that lets them determine whether or not they want to display non-profit ads.
  Finanancials Top of Page
25 Do you pay for referrals or affiliates? YES, we pay for both advertiser and publisher affiliates, but not directly. This means we will NOT pay $X immediately after an affiliate registers - that's illegal and against FTC (Federal Trade Commission) rules, because registration is free.

As a qualified advertiser (actively adding funds within past 30 days - min. of $10), you will earn 8% of EVERY amount your referrals add funds.

As a qualified publisher (you must earn and maintain a min. balance of $20), you will earn $4 when your referrals reach $50. This is for EVERY $50 earned. So say your referral makes $500 in earnings, you would get a bonus of $40.
26 Do I have to maintain an active status? Yes, you are required to keep your account active. If you are an advertiser, you must deposit/transfer at least $5 every 2 months or your account will be rendered inactive, until a total deposit of $5 is met. This will stop all of your campaigns and any earnings as a sponsor. After 5 months of inactivity, your account will be marked for deletion. 30 days later, it will be permanently removed.

If you are a publisher, you must earn at least $1 every 3 months. That shouldn't be hard at all, but we have a low limit in case your site is new and slowly growing. However, if it is not met, your account is rendered inactive, until it is reached. During this status, you do not earn any commissions from your referrals. After 3 months of inactivity, your account is marked for deletion. 30 days later, it will be permanently removed.
27 How much do you pay for CTR, CPM and CPA commissions? As a standard, publishers will earn 60% of ALL campaigns they wish to serve. For instance, if the advertiser offers $0.10/click, you'd earn $0.06/click. If the advertiser pays $10.00/action, you'd earn $6.00 per action.
28 Will the affiliate commission rate ever change? Not for a very long time, but if it does, it will only go up. We tell you the exact percentage you will be paid up front, so there is no room to change it behind your back to meet certain quotas. The only quota we have to meet are yours.
29 How do I fund my advertiser account? Via PayPal, Credit Card (2checkout), e-Gold, e-Bullion, wire-transfer and many more throughout this year.
30 How often will I be receiving my money? We will be sending out payments every 1st and 15th of every month. Currently, we require you to reach $50, but as we progress and with more staff, we may be able to lower the minimum balance to $25.
31 Can I transfer my balance? YES, you can transfer the balance from your publisher account to your advertiser account, but not from your advertiser account to your publisher account. Having that option enabled would cause a lot of adverse affect on our payment system. To take money out unused money from your advertiser account, just contact support for a refund.
32 How can I withdrawal my money? It will depend on your choice of payment method. You can withdrawal through PayPal, business check, e-Gold, e-Bullion and wire transfer. We will be adding more throughout the year.
33 How long will it take for me to get my money? It will depend on what method you choose to withdrawal and where you are located in the world. It is usually within a week or 2, unless by check.
34 What is an IOU reserve? The IOU reserve allows you to owe us up to $10. Most ad networks require you to pay up front, but if your funds run out, it will immediately stop any traffic coming to you.

To prevent this from happening, you'll have the option to allow your ads to run until it reaches an additional $10 reserve. This will keep the traffic coming when it really matters and protect you from owing too much.
35 Will I be notified if my advertiser fund is going low? Yes, you will have the option to be notified at a specified amount. For example, if you decide $5 is the minimum, then when your account reaches that level, you will receive a message telling you that your account has hit $5 and that you are running low on funds.

You will also be notified again when you hit $0 and approaching the -$10 reserve. One last message will then be sent when you have reached the maximum owed. Remember, you can disable the IOU option. Notifications cannot be turned off though. These are important and we choose not to have an option for it.
  Additional Information Top of Page
36 Is there a login session? Yes, after 20 minutes of being idle, you will be automatically logged off.
37 What will my affiliate URL look like? Example:

http://fairadsnetwork.com/893489359082
38 Why are you using numeric code instead of username in our referral URL? Actually, your referral URL is generated so that you do not lose your affiliate commissions by others who may have intentionally or even incidentally altered the URL. When they come to FAN, the ID will then disappear.
39 How can I tell my referral URL is working? Let's put it this way, when a visitor comes to FAN without a referrer, they will come across a questionnaire that will ask them how they found us and if by search engine, what key word.

On the other hand, if a visitor came to FAN through referral link, the questionnaire doesn't even show up. That is how you will know your referral URL is working.
40 How many dedicated servers are you running on? We are currently running on 1 dedicated server, as of Beta 1.0, but we have built the network with expansion in mind and can easily add as many dedicated servers as we need, with very little downtime.
41 What is an interstitial ad and how does it work? It's an ad that stops the normal flow of navigation. You can easily identify it when you come to a page and have to click on something similar to "Skip this ad," "Go to my account" or "Click here to continue."

Here's an example from Yahoo! Games:

Interstitial example
42 What do all these acronyms mean? ROI - Return of investment (basically a ratio or percentage of how effective your investment is)

CPC - Cost per click (how much it will cost the advertiser each time their ad is clicked on)

CPM - Cost per THOUSAND (how much it costs to have an ad shown 1,000 times - a.k.a. impressions)

CPA - Cost per action (how much it will cost the advertiser if a visitor takes action - such as filling out a form, registering or signing up)

CTR - Click through rate (how many times an ad is clicked on)

RON - Run of the network (ads derived from advertisers within the original ad network)

PSA - Public service ads (ads shown without cost to advertiser nor earnings to the publisher)
43 I don't see anywhere saying that you will have PPC advertising. Will you? We did not mention it because it is not yet our main focus. We are a small and growing company and understand that we don't have millions of users to synchronously use our search engine, therefore we have decided not to take that path... YET.

After we have launched and we have enough members to use our PPC module, we will then release it to the public.

We are primarily a contextual ad network with a variety of layout options and more than enough compensation for advertisers and publishers. We have done more than combine the greatest marketing methods, we have also adapted all possible means of helping you make money and added additional tools no other ad network has.
44 What makes you different from any other ad network? As a FAN advertiser, you can advertise in any focused geographic area in the world or niche market at ANY given time, with as many types of online ads you've ever known.

We have more tools, advanced statistics and strategies for you to use our competition has yet to even think of. And if they did, they're certainly not making it available to you.

As a FAN publisher, you will come to understand the importance of having quality content and ads to display on your web site or you will not get paid the highest possible. We bring it to you live, hot and personal in split-seconds, without glitches or jumping hurdles.

With us, you'll get all the important data you need, so you can display the right type of ads. You'll have the choice of who deserves to be shown on your web pages, based on their niche market, their targeted client and how much they pay!

We force the advertiser and publisher to qualify each other, before the ad is even shown at all! In other words, these two members of the network must match each other based on their selected options.

We don't just guarantee satisfaction, we guarantee positive and increased results!
  Account Issues
(Registration/Login)		 Please read all FAQs below prior to contacting us for support.
45 I received notification of a new affiliate. Why don't I see him/her in my downline? A member is not counted in our system until they verify their account. Until then, they will not be displayed in your downline list.
46 Will you follow-up on these members who don't verify their account? Yes, every 3 days we will send them a reminder to verify their account. After 30 days of no response, their account will be removed from our database automatically.
47 I can't register. The same signup page is displayed again and again after I click on 'Signup.' Please keep in mind the fields marked with asterisk ('*') are mandatory. Fill those you haven't completed yet and resubmit the form.

Please read everything printed on the signup page, there are hints in red on what should be entered and what should NOT, if the information entered is invalid.

The most common causes for this problem to occur are:
  • whitespace in the beginning and/or in the end of the information/data you entered
  • commas, parentheses and/or apostrophes were useds (not allowed)
  • password entries did not match

NOTE: phone numbers should be in general format like below:

countrycode-areacode-number#extension

'#extension' and dashes are optional. If your phone number isn't accepted by signup form, please make sure there are no leading or terminating whitespace. See examples below.

1 234 567 8910 is invalid
12345678910 is valid
1-234-567-8910 is valid

Also: country code may not start with zero. 010 only means it's an international number.
48 I clicked on the verification link and it logged me in, but after I logged out I can no longer log back in. Why? The password you enter is case-sensitive. If you used white space in its end, this whitespace won't be seen in your welcome message.

Make sure CAPS Lock isn't pressed when entering password.

Please do not use national (non-English) characters in passwords, this won't guarantee you will be able to log in from anywhere.

Please also note that for security reasons, we don't store your passwords in plain text form, we use hashed (one-way encrypted) copies of your passwords. That means your 8 alpha-numeric password now becomes a 20 alpha-numeric code.

If you ever forgot your password, you can reset it to a new value by visiting this link (also found with every login box):

http://fairadsnetwork.com/lostpassword

The system will generate a temporary password for you; you can change it afterwards by going to the 'Edit Profile' page.
49 I tried to log in, but I am taken back to the same page, no error messages displayed. Why? Most probably your browser doesn't accept cookies. You can find concise information on how cookies are enabled HERE.

Cookies are small pieces of information (files) stored on your computer. They are used, in case of Fair Ads Network, to store your unique identifier, so that you won't have to enter your name and password, every time you wish to visit the members area or any other area of the site with limited access.

We do not use cookies for any other purpose. It is safe to enable cookies for FAN.

Our email is usually delivered to your mailbox very quickly, within seconds to 5 minutes. However, please wait for at least 30 minutes before contacting us about lost welcome messages. Many members have reported that it was received in their bulk bin, especially if you are using a Yahoo! account.

Some of the members may connect to Internet using ISP that provides dynamic IP addresses. That means that (almost) every time you establish connection to a remote computer (i.e., open a new URL in your browser), a new IP is assigned to your computer.

Our security precautions render login session invalid, if an IP address changed between two subsequent visits to the site. This is to prevent the so-called session hijacking attack.

Modifications have been made to cope with such a problem, in case the dynamic range is within C-class network. That handles most dial-up connections where IP address is allocated dynamically.

If you couldn't log in without any error messages, and cookies are enabled on your side, perhaps this last modification will solve the problem.

Please note: if you are using Tor and its dynamic change of proxies, or similar dynamic-range proxy service, you won't be able to log into FAN at this time.
50 My mailbox works, but the welcome message has never arrived. Why? Here are possible reasons you have not received the welcome (it's also your verification) message:
  1. Your service provider may be blocking our email for some reason. FAN doesn't send unsolicited email messages. Contact your ISP (Internet service provider) if in doubt.
  2. Your email inbox marked our welcome message as possible SPAM. In that case, our message may reside in 'Bulk'/'SPAM' folder, please check its presence. You are looking for the subject:

    Your account at FairAdsNetwork
  3. You are using a whitelisting option/service with verification (as in Bluebottle.com or SpamArrest.com). In this case, when a new correspondent sends you email, they are first sent back a special email message with verification link. Unless that link is clicked, you won't receive email from someone not present in your address book.

    Our message is sent from no-reply@fairadsnetwork.com, which is discarded, thus we cannot verify it with your service provider. Also, since there are more and more members, it could be quite a tedious work to manually verify all and every whitelisting request.
To make sure you receive communication from FAN, please add the following addresses to your address book:

no-reply (at) fairadsnetwork.com AND
fan-support (at) fairadsnetwork.com

Replace '(at)' with '@' to make valid addresses.
51 I have not received a welcome message or I can't recall my password. What do I do? If you failed to receive welcome email messages, try this:

- make sure your email box will accept our email (see above)
- try to log in. You will be told your account is unverified, *and* you will be given a form to re-send you the welcome message (and to change your password)

If you can't log in and nothing helps, perhaps you forgot your password or entered the wrong email address (yes, this has happened). Use our password help to make a new password. It will be sent by email with instructions on how to activate it.
52 I tried everything, nothing helps. What shall I do? Please contact us through the Help Desk for additional assistance. Please make sure that:
  • you provide your login name and your email address you registered with
  • you describe the problem in detail - what have you entered into the fields, what button clicked, what was displayed after that.
  • if you are trying to register, send us your info as if you were signing up.

Please understand that messages like "I can't login, help! " tell us nothing and do not contain information required to find the solution.

We will greatly appreciate your patience and understanding. Please take into account that we are delivering a new feature to the site ONLY after it has been tested and we are determined to cope with every problem to mutual satisfaction of both you and FAN.
    Top of Page
    Mozilla Firefox (1.0 final release and earlier)
  • Go to the "Tools" menu.
  • Select "Options".
  • Select the "Privacy" icon in the left panel.
  • Check the box corresponding to "Allow sites to set cookies".
  • Click "OK" to save changes.
Netscape 7.1/Mozilla 5.0
  • Select "Preferences" from the Edit menu.
  • Click on the arrow next to "Privacy & Security" in the scrolling window to expand.
  • Under "Privacy & Security", select "Cookies."
  • Select "Enable all cookies".
  • Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+
  • Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
  • Click on the "Privacy" tab.
  • Click the "Default" button (or manually slide the bar down to "Medium") under "Settings".
  • Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x
  • Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
  • Click on the "Security" tab.
  • Click the "Custom Level" button.
  • Scroll down to the "Cookies" section.
  • To enable:
    • Set "Allow cookies that are stored on your computer" to "Enable".
    • Set "Allow per-session cookies" to "Enable".
  • Click "OK".
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x
  • Select "Internet Options" from the View menu.
  • Click on the "Advanced" tab.
  • Scroll down to find "Cookies" within the "Security" section.
  • To enable:
    • Select "Always accept cookies".
  • Click "OK".
Netscape Communicator 4.x
  • Select "Preferences" from the Edit menu.
  • Find the "Cookies" section in the "Advanced" category.
  • To enable:
    • Select "Accept all cookies" (or "Enable all cookies").
  • Click "OK".

In some cases, you can even add our web site directly, like IE 6.0+. In the Privacy tab of your Internet options, just click on "Sites" and enter http://fairadsnetwork.com and then click on "Allow." Then "OK" and "OK" again.
  Last updated: August 24, 2007 Top of Page