Honesty in Rewards Sites - Not All Sites Follow the Rules

There are several rewards sites that have set up "dummy" sites in order to gain advertisers that would normally reject the incentive sites. In order to gain advertisers, the site owners create a site that looks to be a legitimate site that a user would go to. It is, instead, a front site to gain advertisers links that pay either per click or per action, then the site owner puts those links up on their reward site for users to click the links, therefore profiting illegally and unethically from these clicks. It is sites like these that caused advertisers to reject honest rewards sites from their advertising campaigns and giving rewards sites a bad rap.

The fake sites are generally one page with little or no information, sometimes a bannerfarm with just banners to click or all similarly grouped banners to give the impression that it is a site based on one topic. The rewards sites using these banners are often member-only and you must be a member, logged in, to view ads therefore keeping advertisers blocked from seeing just how their ads are being presented.

What does this mean to the user? Well, nothing really, users will keep clicking these ads as long as it means points for them. They do not care that the site is fraudulent in its actions, just as long as they get paid. Honest sites end up getting lumped in with these other types of rewards sites just because the advertisers looks at all rewards programs the same, no value for their ads and will not allow incentives. Sponsors want and are paying for traffic for the genuinely interested, not the clicker who just wants their points, rewards, then leave.

As a user, you can easily identify these fake sites by the bannerfarm set up, very little creativity to the layout, but mostly by the rewards site asking you to click a few links on that site to support their merchant to keep them a daily click. What you are really doing is allowing that reward site to get paid as much as $.15 per click to which you receive 1/10 of a cent. You, as the clicker are contributing unknowingly to dishonest reward site owners. Now, if a rewards site asks you to at least stick around and view what the site has to offer, even if you do not click or act on the site, these are legitimate sites that want to expose you to their sponsors and clicking fraudulent links have nothing to do with your or the rewards site's interest in the sponsor. Basically if you are asked to click links on another page, ask yourself if the site is for real. If you are only asked to visit, ask yourself are you visiting only for the points or are you really interested in the site.

Many sponsors are now approving sites that offer points, not cash, in reply to actions. This is why so many sites award points and not cash these days. It helps cut back on fraud. Most advertisers can also track just where their traffic is coming from and can tell who the cheat sites are. Many might remember the whole ebay bidding fiasco years ago where several sites were caught using links designated for what were the dummy sites and the rewards sites had to back track their explanation to their members why they weren't getting paid.

While clicking the fraudulent links help earn the website owner more money than you, it does help get that site to expedite rewards quicker. And of course, the quicker you get your rewards, the more you will use that site. But stop for a minute and consider the honest reward sites that do not set up dummy sites, and actually complete some of their sponsor's offers from time to time. It is those sites that will be around for years to come and the money earned on those sites will come from reliable sources allowing them to also quickly process rewards.