The popularity of Coop Ad Networks has skyrocketed so I will atempt to do two things with this post:
1.) Explain how a Coop Ad Network works
2.) Give the Do's and Don'ts of choosing and using one

How a Coop Ad Network works

Coop Networks have long been around but before the importance of Inbound Links, they were under utilized. MSN had a program similar to many of the new Coop Ad Networks althought he only difference was you had to pay to get in.

The way it works is you agree to display ads (text or image - you can usually choose) on your site. Your site is then evaluated automatically by different factors, the biggest being Number of Pages Indexed, Number of Ads you have chosen to display, PR of the Site. These factors plus possibly a few more are used to determine your "weight". That weight in turn determines how often your ads are displayed on others sites.

In order to display ads on your own site, you just put a simple piece of PHP code where you would like them displayed as well as putting a .txt file on your server. This .txt file is where the system will pull the ads from.

The advantage of the most Coop Ad Network's is that the links are displayed as static links so that you recieve all of the SEO benefits plus any conversions you may get from people following these Ads.

With anything there are somethings to look out for when choosing an Ad Network:
What is the reputation? Digital Points is the granddaddy and the most stable (Its the link in my sig). It has a reputation for quality and if you decide to go with a different one, hold it up to this standard.

You shouls also be sure all ads go through a manual approval process. This ensures the sites you link to on your site are of good quality and aren't link farms, porn or gambling sites.

The ad network you choose should have a quality control panel so you can monitor your sites.

All of these reasons are why I have gone with Digital Points Network although this thread is for the discussion of ALL networks so feel free to add some.

This is the basic premise of a Coop Ad Network, so I will continue the Do's and Don'ts of using one once you have set up your account in a new thread.

If you have any questions on putting the DP Network in particular on your site, feel free to PM me.

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