Internet-based advertising and referral system
First Claim
1. A method of internet-based advertising comprising:
- providing a system having a plurality of advertisers'"'"' web sites and an advertiser associate'"'"'s web site with a first selectable link;
providing a plurality of advertiser links that are respectively directed to the advertisers'"'"' web sites;
providing in the first selectable link a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site;
displaying the first selectable link on an Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to an Internet user accessing the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site;
transmitting to the Internet user'"'"'s computer the advertiser links in response to selection of the first selectable link by the Internet user; and
causing transmission of an advertiser'"'"'s web site to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to selection of a corresponding advertiser link by the Internet user, thereby accomplishing a referral to the advertiser'"'"'s web site.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for advertising with the assistance of an advertiser'"'"'s associate web site includes enrolling advertiser'"'"'s web sites for allowing customers to receive information or to electronically purchase items; enrolling advertiser'"'"'s associates web sites that refer customers to the advertiser'"'"'s web site in exchange for compensation; electronically providing to the customer'"'"'s computer, specific hyperlinks via the advertiser'"'"'s associate'"'"'s web page that, when selected by a customer, cause a list of advertiser'"'"'s to be transmitted to the customer'"'"'s computer, wherein each of said items in said list comprises a selectable advertiser specific hyperlink to the corresponding advertiser; transmitting to the customer'"'"'s computer a web page which corresponds to the advertiser specific hyperlink selected by the customer, to accomplish a referral to the advertiser; and determining and recording within a computer memory compensation for the advertiser'"'"'s associate for the referral.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of internet-based advertising comprising:
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providing a system having a plurality of advertisers'"'"' web sites and an advertiser associate'"'"'s web site with a first selectable link; providing a plurality of advertiser links that are respectively directed to the advertisers'"'"' web sites; providing in the first selectable link a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; displaying the first selectable link on an Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to an Internet user accessing the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; transmitting to the Internet user'"'"'s computer the advertiser links in response to selection of the first selectable link by the Internet user; and causing transmission of an advertiser'"'"'s web site to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to selection of a corresponding advertiser link by the Internet user, thereby accomplishing a referral to the advertiser'"'"'s web site. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 20, 24, 25)
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6. A method of facilitating internet based promotional advertising comprising:
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providing a system having a plurality of advertisers'"'"' web sites and an advertiser associate'"'"'s web site to refer a customer'"'"'s computer to at least one of the advertiser'"'"'s web sites in exchange for compensation; respectively assigning advertiser identifiers to the advertisers'"'"' web sites; assigning an advertiser associate identifier to the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; causing transmission to the customer'"'"'s computer of a first selectable link that is directed to information having a plurality of advertiser links respectively linked to the advertisers'"'"' web sites; providing in the first selectable link a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; causing the displaying of the first selectable link on the customer'"'"'s computer in response to the customer'"'"'s computer accessing the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; and causing transmission of the information to the customer'"'"'s computer in response to the customer'"'"'s computer selecting the first selectable link. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of compensating internet based advertising referrals in a web site system having a plurality of advertisers and at least one advertiser associate and an Internet user'"'"'s computer capable of receiving information, the method comprising:
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respectively assigning advertiser identifiers to the advertisers; recording each advertiser identifier within a computer memory; assigning an advertiser associate identifier to the advertiser associate; recording the advertiser associate identifier within the computer memory; providing in a first selectable link a term chosen by the advertiser associate; causing the displaying of the first selectable link on the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to the Internet user accessing a web site of the advertiser associate; causing a plurality of advertiser links that are respectively linked to web sites of the advertisers to be transmitted to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to selection of the first selectable link by an Internet user; causing transmission of the web site of an advertiser to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to the Internet user selecting a corresponding advertiser link, thereby accomplishing a referral; using the advertiser and advertiser associate identifiers to respectively identify the advertiser and the advertiser associate; and calculating and recording within the computer memory compensation due the advertiser associate for the referral. - View Dependent Claims (13, 21)
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14. A computer implemented system for internet based advertising comprising:
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a web site system having a system controller, a plurality of advertisers'"'"' web sites, and an advertiser associate'"'"'s web site for allowing an Internet user to receive information via an Internet user'"'"'s computer; an enrolling means accessible via the system controller for respectively enrolling the advertisers'"'"' web sites and the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site, and for respectively assigning identifiers to the advertisers'"'"' web sites and advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; a means to provide to the Internet user'"'"'s computer a first selectable link on the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site that, when selected by the Internet user, causes the system controller to transmit to the Internal user'"'"'s computer a plurality of advertiser links that are respectively linked to the advertisers'"'"' web to the first selectable link including a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site and is displayed on the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to the Internet user accessing the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; and a means for causing transmission of one of the advertiser'"'"'s web sites to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to the Internet user selecting the corresponding advertiser link, thereby accomplishing a referral. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 22)
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19. A method of internet-based advertising comprising:
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providing a system having a plurality of advertisers'"'"' web sites, a system controller, and an advertiser associate'"'"'s web site with a first selectable link to information having a plurality of advertiser links respectively linked to the advertisers'"'"' web sites, each advertiser link being a second selectable link to the corresponding advertiser'"'"'s web site, the plurality of advertiser links being arranged based upon an amount of payment corresponding to compensation each advertiser'"'"'s web site agrees to pay for a referral; providing in the first selectable link a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; respectively assigning advertiser identifiers to the advertisers'"'"' web sites; assigning an advertiser associate identifier to the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; causing the displaying of the first selectable link on an Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to an Internet user accessing the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; causing the system controller to transmit the Internet user'"'"'s computer the information in response to the Internet user selecting the first selectable link; causing transmission of the advertiser'"'"'s web site to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to the Internet user selecting the corresponding advertiser link, thereby accomplishing the referral to the respective advertiser; using the advertiser identifier to identify the advertiser'"'"'s web site transmitted to the Internet user'"'"'s computer; using the advertiser'"'"'s associate identifier to identify the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; and calculating a compensation for the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site for the referral. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification