Adware Business Quick Overview (11)
Overview
I am going to explain how the adware business works and how you can be a part of it. Initially when I ventured into this industry I was surprised on how little information exists on the internet. I couldn't really find a forum or place to learn more about it. However, if you want to talk about CPV/PPV traffic there are tons of resources, but how did they start their networks.
Adware as defined by wikipedia: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adware) Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically renders advertisements in order to generate revenue for its author. The advertisements may be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during the installation process. The functions may be designed to analyze which Internet sites the user visits and to present advertising pertinent to the types of goods or services featured there. The term is sometimes used to refer to software that displays unwanted advertisements.[1]
I think if you would ask most any user if they would like advertisements removed from anything they would say yes, but the bills need to be paid or the whole internet ad based economy implodes. So I would like to reinforce that adware shows ads, but does not hijack the users computer and end up doing malicious activity, that's commonly called malware and should not be mixed up with adware.
AdwareROI was built because I saw a need in the market for a platform that could allow a beginner or someone new to the market to enter without shelling out $50-$100k in development fees and long learning curves. The platform allows any new business to integrate their network with a display ad server to show banners, popups, overlays, interstitials, and so on. You can also target users on specific domains to show your laser targeted CPA ads to them. However, to do all of this you will need to acquire new users and thats the next topic.
How to get new users
This is the most important part of this process. TrafficVance, Mediatraffic, and all the other CPV networks that sell traffic to advertisers had to first build up their network to have enough traffic to sell. So I am going to go over the different methods that I know of for you to get installs.
- Co-bundle with Pay Per Install(PPI) networks: These networks solely exist to sell installs to advertisers. Most people are familiar with the affiliate programs PPI networks advertise, but there are much fewer advertisers who are buying up all the installs. Installs vary greatly on price but for non-search(if you are not targeting a top search engine) then you can get installs from .05 and up depending on the country you want installs from.
- Create your own app or game and market it directly: What better way to get super high quality installs than to create your own game or app for users to download directly. There are many download sites where you can post your software to to get organic downloads on auto-pilot. However the most commonly download software are usually games, anti-virus, video players, and so on. So you don't have to create something unique just good enough to get downloads and grab some market share.
- Start an affiliate program: Why not start your own affiliate program and pay affiliates to bring you installs directly? This could be a good way to get a large volume of installs straight from the source without the middleman. However, be prepared for the super affiliates that can bring thousands of installs per day. Could you offer a revshare instead?
Those are the most popular methods but with your own creativity you could find other methods that work for you.
How do you monetize your users?
This is another important topic. So you spent all this time and money getting users now what? You have many options open to you now. You are sitting pretty because you can now sell this traffic, the demand is out there.
- If you setup your network with an adserver you can advertise to companies looking for popup traffic, CPA, CPM, etc.. There is tons of demand for traffic out there.
Its also possible to integrate into an SSP (supply side platform) to sell your traffic for you but this can be tricky as adware/toolbar traffic is like the black sheep of the industry (is it because it threatens traditional website publishers?).
- There are many call centers that are looking for calls for specific industry's that would buy your pop traffic.
- You can signup with 3rd party ad networks that supply you with a javascript ad widget. You can use that directly in the platform via custom js.
- You can push cpa ads directly to your users all day 24/7 without any extra cost.
Its all up to your affiliate marketing ninja skills on how to best monetize your users. You can also audience profile your users to see what would best fit their interests.
Taken from: http://www.adwareroi.com/articles/ad...uick-overview/
Thank you very much for the share. Funny thing is i did a research about that yesterday but couldn't find much 
Awesome write up man! I have been interested in doing this for a while.
With "Co-bundle with Pay Per Install(PPI) networks", do PPI networks accept your adware if it is just adware, like a "browser helper", or does it have to be an actual program like a movie player, game etc bundled with a "browser helper" type thing? By "browser helper" I mean something that just adds ads to your browsing.
Thanks for this write up there is not much out there on this topic
I can monetize the users but I wonder if I can buy the users directly from the Installs or if I have to go through one of the networks
Originally Posted by shakedown
Originally Posted by lazylobster
Great writeup! Some difficult aspects of this business that would be nice to hear more about:
1. How do you go about finding an ad network that will let your adware publish ads until you are big enough to sell direct to advertisers? Have any recommendations? Many ad networks won't deal with adware publishers.
2. There exists a whole cottage industry where antivirus affiliates SEO the heck out of your adware's name with articles titled things like "[your software's name] malware virus removal." This happens regardless of whether your adware actually is malware or not. They'll rake your name through the mud in the search engines. How do you deal with this?
3. This goes hand-in-hand with #2. Some antivirus/malware companies will flag your adware (again, regardless of whether it actually is malware). For example, Malwarebytes has a whole category of "Potentially Unwanted Programs" or PUPs. When a user who uses malwarebytes installs your adware, it will prompt the user with a message like, "A non-malware potentially unwanted program was detected. Quarantine now?" This'll scare the user enough anyway and they will quarantine/remove your adware.
Thanks again for the excellent article. Looking forward to more!
Originally Posted by baaron
1) Depends on the ad network and how you present it. There is some element of black hat sometimes you need to employ.
2) You don't. You have the advantage of changing your name/domain, etc when you want. So if they SEO some keyword, you just go on to the next. Also, if the user navigates to the antivirus site, you just pop your affiliate code over it if you wanted.
3) Yes, this is the nature of this BS industry where both sides try to make money with creating more problems that they can solve with their product.
This might be short-sighted, but could also be pretty profitable in the short term
What if you were to get the installs, and then immediately start popping anti-virus and other PC cleaner products, saying "to get rid of these annoying popups, use this"
could you get this to work on mobile phones?
Originally Posted by hlyghst
Home > Paid Traffic Sources > POP / PPV / Redirect