Internet-based advertising and referral system

• US 7,707,063 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2007
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emergency 24 Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Emergency 24 Incorporated
• Inventors: Monteverde, Dante
• Primary Examiner(s): JANVIER, JEAN D
• Application Number:
  US11/871,513
• Publication Number:
  US 20080033823A1
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/16, 705/14.4, 705/26, 705/27, 705/37, 707/7, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

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.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating internet based promotional advertising comprising:

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 hyperlink that is directed to information having a plurality of advertiser hyperlinks respectively linked to the plurality of advertisers'"'"' web sites;

causing the displaying of the first selectable hyperlink 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 hyperlink.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising providing in the first selectable hyperlink a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising causing transmission of an advertiser'"'"'s web site to the customer'"'"'s computer in response to the customer'"'"'s computer selecting the corresponding advertiser hyperlink, thereby accomplishing a referral.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the advertiser identifier to identify the advertiser'"'"'s web site that was transmitted to the customer'"'"'s computer.

5. 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:

respectively assigning advertiser identifiers to the plurality of 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;

causing the displaying of the first selectable hyperlink on the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to the Internet user accessing a web site of the advertiser associate; and

causing a plurality of advertiser hyperlinks that are respectively linked to web sites of the plurality of advertisers to be transmitted to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to selection of the first selectable hyperlink by an Internet user.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 further comprising 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 hyperlink, thereby accomplishing a referral.

7. A computer advertising system, comprising:

an advertiser associate'"'"'s website accessible by a user; and

a first selectable hyperlink, on said advertiser associate'"'"'s website, to a plurality of advertisers'"'"' hyperlinks, said plurality of advertisers'"'"' hyperlinks pointing to respective websites of said plurality of advertisers.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said first selectable hyperlink includes a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s website.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the plurality of advertisers'"'"' hyperlinks are arranged based upon amounts of payments to said advertiser associate'"'"'s website.

10. 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 hyperlink;

providing a plurality of advertiser hyperlinks that are respectively directed to the plurality of advertisers'"'"' web sites;

displaying the first selectable hyperlink in response to an Internet user accessing the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site; and

transmitting to the Internet user'"'"'s computer the advertiser hyperlinks in response to select on of the first selectable hyperlink by the Internet user.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 further comprising providing in the first selectable hyperlink a term chosen by the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10 further comprising causing transmission of an advertiser'"'"'s web site to the Internet user'"'"'s computer in response to selection of a corresponding advertiser hyperlink by the Internet user, thereby accomplishing a referral to the advertiser'"'"'s web site.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising providing an enrollment system allowing web site owners to enroll as the advertiser associate'"'"'s web site.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the enrollment system further allows a web site owner to enroll as one of the advertisers'"'"' web sites.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of advertiser hyperlinks are arranged based upon an amount of payment corresponding to the compensation each advertiser'"'"'s web site agrees to pay for the referral.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the advertiser'"'"'s web sites bid on the amount of payment.