As with all enterprises, the people involved in this one find
it necessary to eat, as well as provide other necessities for themselves
and their loved ones. As such, it is also necessary to derive revenue for
our efforts.
Some of this revenue comes in the form of paid
advertising. Other revenue comes from products sold directly or indirectly
(i.e. affiliate products) through this website.
In our efforts to
provide such information we often come across products and/or services
designed to help people in their efforts to make money online. From time
to time we link to such products and/or services. These links usually come
in several types:
Links to products we sell ourselves. We also create and/or
acquire the rights to certain products and then offer them for sale. This
means we can offer you excellent value you can trust. Plus you can buy
with confidence because we stand behind every product we sell.
Indirect or "cloaked links" - indirect links are
simply links that "make a pit stop" before continuing to a final
destination. There are a couple of reasons why we would do them -- none of
them as ominous as it may sound. One reason is to simply hide an ugly
link. Certain companies give us the most unsightly links so we sweeten
them up so you see something easier like http://goforthatjob.com/go/cover/
This link goes to our preferred hosting company. But what if one day we
find an even better hosting company? (or hostgator changes the link) With
an indirect link, all we need do is change one link in the redirect file
meaning fewer broken links for you. Finally, using a redirect allows us to
test certain aspects of our efforts to help ensure a better experience for
you.
Direct links or links to useful resources that generally
offer no payment of any kind such as links to government agencies or
non-profit organizations. Some links may be to for profit individuals
and/or organizations, depending on the situation.
Advertising links
or links from those who feel they have something of value to offer to our
visitors and are willing to pay for you to see it. This is similar to ads
you see in newspapers, magazines or see on television.
Affiliate
links are links to products and/or services where a portion of the sales
price is paid to the individual or organization providing the link --
often with some insight about the product or service itself. Providers
offering affiliate payments often see this as another form of advertising,
thus, rather than affiliate "commissions" or "payments" increasing the
price of the product itself, this portion of the sales price would
otherwise be attributed to marketing costs. Our policy is to divulge as
fully as possible concerning the products and companies we link
to.
We hand pick the companies we affiliate with and are proud
of our association with them. If for any reason you are ever dissatisfied
with a company or service we recommend, we ask that you let us know so we
can got to bat for you. We cannot promise victory but we can at least
reveiw our association an adjust accordingly if necessary.
Overall
we expect the individuals and organizations we associate with to have high
standards similar to our own. We prefer products and services offering
good value for the investment. And we expect those we associate with to
provide excellent customer service as part of that value.
With this
in mind, you'll find a description of the types of links you can expect to
encounter here:
Products we affiliate with: these are products
offered by individuals or companies we feel offer fair value to the
end user. Whenever possible, these are products we use ourselves.
However at other times we may rely on trusted third party opinions.
If at anytime we discover undo bias or undeserved praise for a
product, it is our policy to investigate contrary claims and, if need be,
retract any overt or implied endorsements.
In certain rare cases,
we may affiliate with a product we do not personally care for. Here's our
reasoning:
Say you don't like Chinese food but you have a friend
who loves this cuisine. You just heard of a little-known Chinese
restaurant purported to have excellent food. Would you keep this
information from your friend? What if someone gave you a handful of
coupons and paid you so much every time someone used them? Would you
refrain from giving the coupon to you friend because you personally
despise Chinese cuisine?
Likewise, we feel that while some products
are not "our cup of tea", we may still see value in making such products
available. In such cases it is our policy to disclose the fact that the
product is not suitable for certain purposes.
Products we refuse to
link to: from time to time, we may come across products we feel are not a
good value. In such cases, we may state our opinion on these products but
decline to link to them. We will inform you of our reservations about such
products.
Certain government entities have taken it upon themselves
to provide "guidelines" and such in an attempt to regulate commercial
activity on the Internet. While we may disagree with their ideologies and
methods, we do agree consumers and businesses alike should be informed
about the choices they make. Thus it is our policy to keep you as informed
as is reasonably
possible.