Herself’s Webtools

I’ve received several emails asking if I’d like to run an ad on one of my blogs for $30. It set off my warning bells for several reasons. The offers were for blogs that receive very little traffic. The offers did not state if it was $30/day/week/month/year nor did it give any information about the ad format. All of these offers vanished when I requested more information.

Then I ran across a Google blog post on ad containing badware being a problem on Blogger. It didn’t take much digging to turn up a slew of more information.

( From InfoWorld ) Smarttracker.org — the Russian hacker group behind the attacks — is a prime example of the type of outfit carrying out such effective campaigns, Thompson said. In his case the infected PCs got stuck with password-thieving malware, but it could work the same way for botnet programs, adware, or nearly anything else. How Google badware ads work

I strongly recommend that if you are using advertising on your blog you use a trusted source like Google’s Adsense, Commission Junction, or Amazon and check your ads carefully and frequently.

I pulled all my ads except for text link ads. Amazon was supposed to be showing a book cover only. When I checked my site I found an animated ad for Amazon that only sometimes showed the book cover. I also pulled all but text Adsense ads after finding animated ads running on sites where I had allowed for image ads. Now I don’t let any but text ads on my sites since I can’t trust my advertisers not to animate the ads. I hate animated ads personally and avoid sites with them. I don’t wish my visitors to see them either.

If you use an unknown source be very sure you understand the code and test the ad to see what exactly happens. Trust but verify.

More Information:
Stop Badware
Google Webmaster Blog: Malware reviews via Webmaster Tools
Advertisers using badware: who are they?