System for buying and selling click-through traffic on internet web sites

• US 20020128959A1
• Filed: 03/07/2002
• Published: 09/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guy Vandevelde, Miodrag Kostic
• Original Assignee: Guy Vandevelde, Miodrag Kostic
• Inventors: Kostic, Miodrag, Vandevelde, Guy
• Granted Patent: US 8,671,046 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system for buying and selling click-through traffic between web sites of interested buyers and sellers on the Internet employs an intermediary web site for registering buyers and sellers and conducting a trial process for click-through traffic from a seller'"'"'s web site with a number of interested buyers in turn during a trial period prior to opening a bidding process of the interested buyers. The seller'"'"'s web site is linked to the intermediary web site by embedding a links code which points to an addressable file stored with the intermediary web site containing the link content of each buyer to be displayed in the links area on the seller'"'"'s web site during the trial process. Upon conclusion of the bidding process, the seller can select a winning buyer and conclude a sale of the seller'"'"'s click-through traffic. The intermediary web site measures the click-through traffic during the trial process, and also after the sale is concluded, so that sellers and buyers are informed in real time of the actual performance of their click-through traffic. Buyers and sellers can conduct the trial and bidding processes automatically or manually, or by direct sale without trial, or by mutual exchange of click-through traffic between two parties. If either party becomes dissatisfied with the relationship, it can be terminated and the parties can re-enter the trial and bidding processes.

Claims

1. A system for buying and selling of click-through traffic between web sites of interested buyers and sellers on the Internet comprising:

(a) an intermediary web site accessible through the Internet for registering buyers and sellers interested in buying/selling click-through traffic of visitors to sellers'"'"' web sites for linking to buyers'"'"' web sites;

(b) a first facility for establishing a link from an interested seller'"'"'s web site to the intermediary web site, and for storing link contents of a plurality of interested buyers'"'"' web sites at the intermediary web site, wherein the respective link content of a buyer'"'"'s web site can be addressed through the intermediary web site by the link from the interested seller'"'"'s web site for display on the seller'"'"'s web site;

(c) a second facility for conducting a trial of click-through traffic sent from said seller'"'"'s web site to each of said plurality of interested buyers'"'"' web sites by the intermediary web site conducting the addressing of the respective link content of each buyer'"'"'s web site in turn during a trial of the seller with each respective buyer during a given trial period;

(d) a third facility for conducting a bidding process after the trial period is concluded, in which buyers can bid a price each is willing to pay for the click-through traffic from the seller'"'"'s web site; and

(e) a fourth facility for enabling the seller to select a winning buyer and conclude a sale of click-through traffic from the seller'"'"'s web site to the winning buyer'"'"'s web site.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the link from the seller'"'"'s web site is enabled by a links code pasted in a given links area on the seller'"'"'s web site page which points to an addressable file at the intermediary web site storing a buyer'"'"'s link content, for retrieving the link content and displaying it in the corresponding links area on the seller'"'"'s web site page.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein said links code and displayed link content are operative to enable the sending of a click-through message to the intermediary web site when a visitor clicks on the links area of the seller'"'"'s web site page.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein a code page is inserted in a buyer'"'"'s web site page for sending clicks messages to the intermediary web site representing the visitor'"'"'s clicks on the buyer'"'"'s web site page.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediary web site contains a tracking component that tracks and records data on the click-through traffic linked to the intermediary web site.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the facilities of the intermediary web site enable a buyer to conduct trials with more than one seller simultaneously.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the facilities of the intermediary web site enable buyers and sellers to elect whether to conduct the trial process automatically or manually.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the facilities of the intermediary web site enable buyers and sellers to elect whether to conduct the bidding process automatically or manually.

9. A system according to claim 1, wherein the facilities of the intermediary web site enable buyers and sellers to elect whether to conduct a trial process for an exchange of click-through traffic between each clicks sender and clicks receiver reciprocally.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein the facilities of the intermediary web site enable buyers and sellers to conduct a direct sale of click-through traffic without a trial.

11. A system according to claim 1, wherein after the seller has selected the winning buyer and a sale transaction is concluded, the intermediary web site operates to measure the click-through traffic sent from the seller'"'"'s web site to the winning buyer'"'"'s web site during a sale process.

12. A system according to claim 13, wherein the intermediary web site enables either the seller or buyer to terminate the sale process if the sale relationship does not meet their requirements.

13. A system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediary web site enables a seller with multiple pages or multiple channels on its web site to conduct multiple trials for the click-through traffic from the respective pages or channels with selected buyers simultaneously.

14. A system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediary web site enables buyers and sellers to conduct a reverse auction process, in which a buyer can offer to purchase click-through traffic of specified parameters to a number of interested sellers, and said first, second, third, and fourth facilities are operated with the buyers and sellers roles defined in reverse.

15. A system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediary web site enables buyers and sellers to conduct a bidding process for click-through traffic generated by a plurality of links on the seller'"'"'s web site grouped together as a clicks package.

16. A system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediary web site charges a commission for each click of the click-through traffic sent from the seller'"'"'s web site to the winning buyer'"'"'s web site during a sale process.

17. A system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediary web site charges a commission for the conclusion of each sale of click-through traffic between the seller and the winning buyer.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the second facility of the intermediary web site contains a tracking component that tracks and records data on the click-through traffic linked to the intermediary web site.

18. A method for buying and selling of click-through traffic between web sites of interested buyers and sellers on the Internet comprising:

(a) registering buyers and sellers interested in buying/selling click-through traffic of visitors to sellers'"'"' web sites for linking to buyers'"'"' web sites;

(b) establishing a link from an interested seller'"'"'s web site to an intermediary web site, and storing link contents of a plurality of interested buyers'"'"' web sites at the intermediary web site, wherein the respective link content of a buyer'"'"'s web site can be addressed through the intermediary web site by the link from the interested seller'"'"'s web site for display on the seller'"'"'s web site;

(c) conducting a trial of click-through traffic between said seller'"'"'s web site and said plurality of interested buyers'"'"' web sites by the intermediary web site conducting the addressing of the respective link content of each buyer'"'"'s web site in turn during a trial of the seller with each buyer during a given trial period;

(d) conducting a bidding process after the trial period is concluded, in which buyers can bid a price each is willing to pay for the click-through traffic from the seller'"'"'s web site; and

(e) enabling the seller to select a winning buyer and conclude a sale of click-through traffic from the seller'"'"'s web site to the winning buyer'"'"'s web site.

19. An online, interactive system for buyers and sellers of click-through traffic on Internet web sites, comprising:

(a) an intermediary web site accessible through the Internet for registering buyers and sellers interested in buying/selling click-through traffic of visitors to sellers'"'"' web sites for linking to buyers'"'"' web sites;

(b) a first facility for establishing a link from an interested seller'"'"'s web site to the intermediary web site, and for storing link contents of interested buyers'"'"' web sites at the intermediary web site, wherein the respective link content of a buyer'"'"'s web site can be addressed through the intermediary web site by the link from the interested seller'"'"'s web site for display on the seller'"'"'s web site;

(c) a second facility for monitoring the performance of click-through traffic sent from a seller'"'"'s web site to a buyer'"'"'s web site through the intermediary web site in response to the link from the seller'"'"'s web site;

(d) a third facility for conducting an interactive bidding process of interested buyers for the seller'"'"'s click-through traffic online at the intermediary web site; and

(e) a fourth facility for enabling the seller and winning buyer to conclude a sale of click-through traffic from the seller'"'"'s web site, and to monitor the performance of click-through traffic sent to the winning buyer'"'"'s web site using the second facility so that the seller and buyer can be apprised of the performance of the click-through traffic.