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Primedia Business Magazines & Media

Sponsored Links, Jul 2 2002

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Q. Why should I buy Sprinks?

A. Advertisers buy Sprinks because their ads will appear in both contextually relevant locations on our partners’ sites and in search engines across the Web. Sprinks is the only Pay For Performance program to offer content placement. When advertisers bid for content placement, their listings appear on premier partner sites such as Primedia Business magazine sites in addition to targeted GuideSite content pages of sister company, About.com.

Q. How much does it cost to list my site?

A. You can open a Sprinks account for as little as $100. Every dollar goes toward your leads. You set and control the bid amount as you bid for placement.

Q. What determines my placement?

A. Your bid amount determines the order in which your listings will be displayed. The higher you bid, the higher you place.

Q. What is a GuideSite?

A. A GuideSite is a collection of content-specific pages that make up the About.com Network. About features more than 450 GuideSites that together cover more than 50,000 topics and feature over 1 million links to the best resources on the Web. When you choose to have your listing appear on a GuideSite, your listing will also appear in highly relevant content areas on select partner sites, in addition to About.com.

Q. How many listings can appear on a GuideSite?

A. Only the top 5 positions will be displayed on a GuideSite. As an advertiser, you must make sure the bid amount is high enough to appear on a GuideSite.

Q. What is the value of GuideSites?

The targeted environment of the About GuideSites, made up of key enthusiast groups, enables our advertisers to reach their target audience. Listings that appear on GuideSites will also appear within relevant content pages of premier partner sites. In general, content placement exposes a listing to the interested audience, increasing the likelihood of purchases and/or sign-up. To view Sprinks on a GuideSite, scroll to "Sponsored Links" at: http://retailindustry.about.com/.

Q. How can I get my ad listed on a Primedia Business magazine site?

A. Certain GuideSites are mapped to Primedia Business magazine sites. By bidding on that GuideSite, you will also appear on the corresponding magazine site. For a list of these mappings, please see our Magazine Mapping Matrix.

Q. Do I have to sign up with a credit card?

A. No, as an alternative to using your credit card, if you spend at least $3,500, Sprinks will invoice you. If this applies to you, please email: sales@sprinks.com. A member of our Sales Team will contact you shortly.

Q. What is Sprinks.com?

A. Sprinks.com is the search engine where you can view all approved search listings.

Guidelines and Standards

Q. What are the editorial guidelines for Sprinks?

A. All listings are reviewed prior to going live. In order for a listing to be approved:

Both the title and description must feature copy that is relevant to the advertiser’s product or service.
The URL must direct users to a page that features content relevant to the listing.
The keywords and/or GuideSites must be relevant to the listing.

Sprinks reserves the right to suspend and/or remove a listing at any time for any reason.

Q. Why must a listing be relevant?

A. An effective listing contains information that is relevant to the keywords and/or GuideSites selected. The degree of relevancy of your listing to the keywords and/or GuideSites chosen determines the rate of purchases, registrations, and visits to your site. Moreover, a relevant listing results in a better user experience, which in turn generates more interest in your listing.

Q. How long does it take for my listing to be approved?

A. Please allow 3 business days for the review process.

Q. Once approved, how quickly will my listing appear?

A. Once a listing is approved that listing will generally appear within a few hours. Delays occur when duplicate ads appear.

Q. Will I be notified of my listing status?

A. Yes. We will send an email to notify you when your listing is accepted or rejected. If a listing is rejected, the reason for the rejection will be included.

Q. How long will it take before my edits appear online?

A. If you modify your bid amount, the change should take place within one hour. If you make changes to the title, description, or URL, the listing will need to be reviewed again before it is posted. Please allow 3 business days for the review process.

Q. What policies govern the listings?

Child Awareness
We carefully screen listings that appear on our Teen/Child-focused GuideSites to ensure the content featured is appropriate. Several of our GuideSites feature "Homework Help" content for kids. Listings that promote the selling of research papers/essays are prohibited from these GuideSites. Listings that feature non-COPPA compliant content are also banned from these sites.

To learn how COPPA protects the privacy of children, please visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.htm

Prescriptive Drugs
The FDA does not approve of sites providing online prescriptions for drugs. Sprinks will not approve such ads on the About GuideSites.

Black Boxes/Cable Descramblers
Listings for sites that sell equipment promoting illegal activity (e.g. pirating cable television) are not allowed on About GuideSites.

Work at Home Services and Multilevel Marketing
Work at home services and multilevel marketing listings are not allowed on About GuideSites.

Email Extraction Software
Listings that promote the spamming of users will not appear on About GuideSites.

Adult Content
General keywords such as "photo," "women," and "teens" are not permissible for Adult-related listings.

All sites containing nudity and explicit language must direct users to a warning page. We will reject a listing if the warning page contains nudity and/or explicit language.

Affiliates
Affiliate sites containing relevant and targeted content will be approved only if they:

Include the phrase "affiliate of [parent company]" in the title or description of the listing.
Host a site that contains reviews or comments about the company, not just links to the parent company.

Ad Specifications

Q. What are the specifications for a listing?

Keywords: 40 characters
Title: 50 characters
URL: 255 characters
Description: 200 characters

Q. Can I use all capital letters in my listing?

A. No. Listings that feature all caps in the title or description will generally not be approved. Exceptions include acronyms (DVD) or a trademarked brand name.

Q. Can I put images and HTML in my listings?

A. No. Sprinks is a text-only service.

Q. How many placements are recommended per account?

A. The best experience occurs when a single account does not exceed 500 placements: keywords and/or GuideSites.

Sprinks Security

Q. Is my account information secure?

A. Yes. Sprinks utilizes secure connections (SSL) when customer information is being transmitted through our system. Short for Secure Sockets Layer, SSL works by using a private key to encrypt data that's transferred over the SSL connection. This prevents the data from being "seen" in transit. Only the intended recipient can view the information. Both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer support SSL, and most Web sites use SSL to obtain confidential user information such as credit card numbers. By convention, Web pages that require an SSL connection start with 'https:' instead of 'http:.' The 's' in 'https' represents the "secure" server location of a given page.

Q. What does Sprinks do to protect me from abusive click-throughs?

A. Sprinks ascribes to a zero tolerance policy for fraud; we employ strict guidelines to ensure that fraudulent activity is not conducted within our system. Two primary measures taken are:

Proactive monitoring of log files for repeated clicks from the same user
Responding to customer reports of erratic click-through patterns

If we find abusive clicks-throughs have been generated, we will credit the affected account.

Important Documents

Q. What is the Sprinks privacy policy?

A. To provide the most efficient service to our customers, some personal information is required during sign-up. Sprinks will not release information about its customers to any outside parties.

The Sprinks Privacy Policy can be viewed at: http://sprinks.about.com/priv/index.htm.

Q. What is our Advertising Agreement?

A.For a printer friendly version of the Advertising Agreement, click here. Otherwise, please view the agreement in the box below.

By participating in Sprinks, a service of About, you accept and agree, without limitation or qualification, to all of the terms and conditions in this Agreement.  Sprinks reserves the right to change the terms of the Sprinks Service and this Agreement at any time and from time to time by posting such changes in this area, and your continued participation in the Sprinks Program following such changes shall be deemed your consent to such changes.
        
Approval:
Any character title, site description or URL (collectively, the "Listing") and Bid Amount submitted to the Sprinks Service is subject to the prior approval of Sprinks.  Sprinks will not allow any Listings which are inappropriate, offensive or irrelevant.  Once you submit your Listing, Sprinks will review your submission for editorial integrity, relevance, appropriateness and accurate mapping to the Sprinks network of Sites.  You will be notified of your acceptance or rejection within the Sprinks Service within approximately three business days of Sprinks receiving your Listing submission and your Bid Amount.  Sprinks reserves the unrestricted right to reject or cancel any Listing for any reason at any time.  Listings may appear anywhere on the World Wide Web (at a minimum the listing's "title" will be displayed) and Listing positioning and placement is determined by Sprinks in its sole discretion and is subject to change in Sprinks' sole discretion.  Sprinks reserves the right to suspend and/or remove any Listing at any time for any reason.
        
Cancellation:
If you would like to cancel your Sprinks account you must send an email to sprinks@about.com with the words "Cancel Account" in the subject line and your user name in the body.  Your account will be canceled within approximately 72 hours.  If you have been assigned a dedicated account representative you may cancel your participation by providing Sprinks with at least 7 days written notice.  Notice to Sprinks must be sent to Sprinks c/o About, Inc. 1440 Broadway, 19th floor, New York, N.Y. 10018  Sprinks may cancel your participation in the Sprinks Service at any time, by email notice to you, and Sprinks may cancel or suspend the Sprinks Service at any time.  If your account is inactive during any 90 day period, Sprinks may disable the Listing and will notify you via a message sent to the email address designated by you on the registration form.
        
Payment:
You agree to pay Sprinks an upfront, non-refundable set up fee in the amount set forth on the registration form.  You also agree to pay Sprinks based on the number of click-throughs to the specified Web site generated via the Sprinks Service.  Such amount shall be determined by multiplying the number of click-throughs by your Bid Amount for each keyword and site purchased. You hereby authorize Sprinks to charge your credit card for your pre-determined account limit as well as pursuant to the terms set forth in connection with the Sprinks Service and you agree to pay all such charges.  Your pre-determined account limit shall be charged to your credit card on the same day in which you originally entered into this Agreement. If at any time, Sprinks is unable to charge your credit card, Sprinks may suspend or terminate your participation in the Sprinks Service.  If your account is reduced to $0 for 90 days or more, Sprinks may terminate your participation in the Sprinks Service.
        
Representations and Warranties:
You represent and warrant that (i) you are authorized to enter into this Agreement and to make available to Sprinks the Listing, and (ii) you are the authorized owner or representative of the Web site(s) for which Listing(s) are requested.
        
You agree that your Web site(s) for which Listings are requested do not contain any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, violate the rights of others, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, or that violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including intellectual property rights.  You will be responsible for any claim arising from any material that you post or transmit via your Web site(s) and you will not hold Sprinks liable or responsible for the activities of visitors who access your Web site(s) via the Sprinks Service.  You also agree that Sprinks may rely on any communications made by you to Sprinks, including any revisions to the Listings, which are made using your user name and password, and Sprinks may assume that all such communications are authorized by you.
        
Indemnification:
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Sprinks and its parent, subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, employees, agents and representatives from and against any losses, costs, damages or expenses (including attorneys' fees) resulting from claims or actions arising out of or in connection with your Web site(s), the content contained therein, or your breach of any agreement, obligation, covenant, representation or warranty set forth in this Agreement.
        
Disclaimer:
Sprinks is not responsible for the content of any Listing, including, without limitation, any claims, errors or omissions therein.  Acceptance of any Listing does not constitute any endorsement of any kind by Sprinks.  THE SPRINKS SERVICE AND THE SPRINKS WEB SITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE NUMBER OF CLICK-THROUGHS WHICH WILL BE GENERATED, OTHER THAN THOSE WARRANTIES WHICH ARE IMPOSED BY AND INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION, RESTRICTION OR MODIFICATION UNDER THE LAWS APPLICABLE TO THIS AGREEMENT.  NEITHER SPRINKS NOR ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES, DIVISIONS, AFFILIATES, AGENTS, REPRESENTATIVES OR LICENSEES 
SHALL BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY LOSS OR INJURY OR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR SIMILAR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS OR USE OF, OR YOUR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE, THE SPRINKS SERVICE.
        
Limitation of Liability:
Sprinks shall not be subject to any liability whatsoever for any failure to provide reference or access to all or any part of any Listing due to systems failure or malfunction, technological failure or malfunction of the Sprinks network of sites or the Web, or any other circumstances outside of Sprinks' control.  Sprinks will not be responsible for any unauthorized use of the Listing by third parties, including without limitation, unauthorized reproduction and/or tampering by network "hackers."  Sprinks' liability for any failure to position/place a Listing or for any error in any Listing shall not exceed the amount charged by Sprinks with respect to the Listing in question.
        
Ownership:
The materials used and displayed on the Sprinks Web site, including but not limited to text, software, photographs, graphics, illustrations and artwork, video, music and sound, and names, logos, trademarks and service marks, are the property of Sprinks or its affiliates or licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark and other laws.
        
General:
You agree that you shall have no authority to make any promotional or merchandising reference to Sprinks, or any public announcement of any kind which references Sprinks, including, without limitation, press releases or company statements by you in any medium or manner, except with the express prior written permission of Sprinks in each instance. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the United States of America and the State of New York, applicable to contracts executed and performed entirely in the State of New York, without taking into effect its choice of law rules.  Any dispute with respect hereto shall be resolved in the federal or state courts in New York county and you hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts over you. This constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof, and no statement, promise, or inducements made by either party or agent of either party that is not contained in this written Agreement shall be valid or binding.  In the event any provision of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable, such provision will be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the other provisions of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect.  You may not assign this Agreement without Sprinks' prior written consent.

© 2009, Primedia Business Magazines and Media, a PRIMEDIA company. All rights reserved. This article is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, redisseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of PRIMEDIA Business Corp.

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