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Header: Definitions

Index of Definitions
accessibility, advertiser, affiliate, affiliate program, binding arbitration, lead, lender, lead generation, publisher, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine spamming, Section 508(c) compliance, W3C WCAG Level A compliance, W3C Webpage validation

 

Accessibility

The term "accessibility" refers to how accessible a Website is for those with low physical mobility, low or impared vision, or cognitive issues that affect their perception. These people may use special Web browsers (or other software, like screen enlargers or screen readers) to access a Website. In our opinion, accessibility is a hallmark of a well-constructed Website. (Smart businesses will require good accessibility features in their Websites so people who are physically impared can access their offered services.) A Website's level of accessibility can be measured against two industry standards: W3C WCAG Level A compliance Click to jump to this word's definition. and Section 508(c) compliance Click to jump to this word's definition.. PLIWatch.org is compliant with both standards.

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Advertiser

An advertiser is a payday loan company with an advertising budget. Many advertisers pay a fee (like a commission) to a publisher Click to jump to this word's definition. (or affiliate Click to jump to this word's definition.) for each lead Click to jump to this word's definition. sent to the advertiser. Some advertisers contract with companies that specialize in publishing to get leads. Other advertisers run an affiliate program Click to jump to this word's definition. to encourage the growth of an affiliate network.

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Affiliate

An affiliate (a kind of publisher Click to jump to this word's definition.) partners with a payday loan company (the advertiser Click to jump to this word's definition.) to make money for every lead Click to jump to this word's definition. the affiliate sends to the payday loan company. Taking advantage of search engine optimization (SEO) Click to jump to this word's definition. techniques, the affiliate usually builds many small advertising Web sites. (Inexperienced or "unethical" affiliates rely on search engine spamming Click to jump to this word's definition. techniques to get search engine listings.) Each website is optimized to rank well on the search engines (Google, Yahoo!, and MSN) and be found easily by consumers. These consumers then sign up for payday loans through the affiliate instead of signing up for a payday loan directly with the company that will write the loan. At PLIWatch.org, we debate how useful affiliates are to consumers. Because affiliates are paid "by the lead" (under a variety of arrangements), many affiliates abuse the consumer by saying just about anything to get that consumer to sign up right away. Making the problem of abuse worse, many payday loan companies don't care how their leads are gotten--as long as the leads convert into paying customers. So, in many cases, an affiliate is free to say anything because the advertiser isn't checking the affiliate's content for correctness or accuracy. How far an affiliate is willing to go in his or her "marketing" (read: lying to the consumer) depends strictly on the affiliate. Some are cleaner than others, but, in general, we find they all exaggerate the services offered by the advertiser.

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Affiliate Program

An affiliate program is normally set up by a payday loan company (or by an online advertising agency) to encourage third parties to obtain consumer leads and then submit them. (This process is called lead generation Click to jump to this word's definition..) A webmaster joins the affiliate program, becoming a publisher Click to jump to this word's definition. (or, an affiliate Click to jump to this word's definition.), and sends leads to the advertiser Click to jump to this word's definition.. Having an affiliate program is good for an advertiser, letting that company quickly set up (and then manage) a network of affiliates who will send leads.

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Binding Arbitration

Binding arbitation is when a consumer, the payday loan company, and a third party (the arbitrator) solve a dispute out of court. To keep from being sued, payday loan companies often include a binding arbitration stipulation in their contracts. Local and State laws vary, though, meaning that your agreement to use binding arbitration doesn't always mean you must use binding arbitration. A local lawyer can tell you if you are must use binding arbitration (instead of suing) because you agreed to use it in your payday loan contract. If you're worried about binding arbitration you really probably should be consulting with a lawyer, anyway.

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Lead

A "lead" (in sales and marketing slang) is the information entered by a potential payday loan customer on a Website. (It is assumed that a customer who has entered his or her information wants to get a payday loan.) A payday loan company (or advertiser Click to jump to this word's definition.) signs a contract with a publisher Click to jump to this word's definition. or affiliate Click to jump to this word's definition. to get leads from the Web. The online payday loan industry's lifeblood is fresh leads--without leads most companies would quickly go out of business.

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Lead Generation

"Lead Generation" is sales and marketing slang for the process of getting leads that can be sold to a payday loan company (or advertiser Click to jump to this word's definition.). Normally, a publisher Click to jump to this word's definition. or affiliate Click to jump to this word's definition. builds many websites, uses search engine optimization (SEO) Click to jump to this word's definition. techniques to have the websites appear on highly on search results pages, and then collects leads from visits to their Websites that will be immediately sold.

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Lender

"Lender" is another word for "payday loan company." Or, the company that lends a consumer money. (Usually the lender is also an advertiser Click to jump to this word's definition.).

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Publisher

A publisher builds one or more websites that are used for lead generation Click to jump to this word's definition.. The publisher may be a member of an affiliate program Click to jump to this word's definition. or may work with an advertiser Click to jump to this word's definition. directly. Many people make their living as publishers. The most successful publishers are knowledgeable about search engine optimization (SEO) Click to jump to this word's definition. techniques and can get excellent placement on search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. (The worst publishers rely on search engine spamming Click to jump to this word's definition. techniques to get search engine listings.) Sometimes an advertiser will tire of dealing with publishers (and "affiliates Click to jump to this word's definition.") and develop a large network of Websites for themselves. In this case, the advertiser is also considered a "publisher."

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (nicknamed "SEO") is the practice of building a Website with content (words and HTML code) that search engines will "like." SEO is performed to try and gain a high ranking on the search engines (Google, Yahoo!, and MSN in particular). Many payday loan company Websites, publisher Click to jump to this word's definition. Websites, and affiliate Click to jump to this word's definition. Websites are search engine optimized. In theory, optimizing for search engines isn't a bad thing. However, abuses by search engine optimization specialists to try and "trick" the search engines into awarding a high position on search results pages lead to bad text, poor page payout, and, worse, pages that work only marginally for consumers. An additional issue with SEO is that the search "payday loan" may not return the best results to a consumer. Instead, a search for "payday loan" is likely to return affiliate or publisher Websites instead of the best site for the consumer.

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Search Engine Spamming

Search engine spamming is a blatant "trick" (or set of related tricks) designed to get a search engine's attention. Ususally, search engine spamming is visible to a customer as "weird code" or out-of-place text and/or lists on a Webpage. (By the way, search engine spamming is not generally considered to be search engine optimization (SEO) Click to jump to this word's definition.--it an abuse of SEO practices.) Spamming tricks sometimes work, getting a site listed highly in search results. (The search engines can sometimes be fooled like this.) However, most times the search engines frown on spamming practices and will remove a site completely from their index of sites if they catch somebody using spamming techniques. A favorite search engine spamming technique is "keyword stuffing"--cramming a Webpage full of keywords and links just to do well with a search engine spider. Pepole who build publisher Click to jump to this word's definition. (or affiliate Click to jump to this word's definition.) Websites are more likely to search engine spam than an advertiser Click to jump to this word's definition.

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Section 508(c) Compliance

Section 508(c) of the U.S. Government's Rehabilitation Act "requires access to electronic and information technology provided by the Federal government." This act is important for people who have accessibility Click to jump to this word's definition. issues--those with low physical mobility, low or impared vision, or cognitive issues that affect their perception. PLIWatch.org checks for Section 508(c) compliance because it is quite stringent (but not difficult to implement). When a Webmaster has met the criteria for 508(c) compliance (and also at least W3C WCAG Level A compliance Click to jump to this word's definition.) it is assumed the Website in question is fully accessible. Most Websites today are not "fully accessible" according to the requirements of 508(c). PLIWatch.org is fully 508(c) compliant.

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W3C WCAG Level A Compliance

The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) has established guidelines for Webpage accessibility Click to jump to this word's definition.. These are the "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines" (WCAG) and the 1.0 standard has three levels: "Level A," "Level AA," and "Level AAA." These guidelines are important to people who have accessibility issues--those with low physical mobility, low or impared vision, or cognitive issues that affect their perception. PLIWatch.org checks Websites it reviews for at least "Level A" compliance (the lowest level) because this is the minimum level of compliance. PLIWatch.org is "Level AA" compliant. (A similar set of criteria for rating accessibility is the U.S. Government's Section 508(c) compliance Click to jump to this word's definition. rules.)

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W3C Webpage Validation

The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) is the body that establishes guidelines for code that is used to create Webpages (HTML, CSS, and XHTML). So a site can be compatible with the greatest number of Web Browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, Safari, etc.) a Webmaster should build his or her Website using only W3C-valid code. In our opinion, it is a hallmark of quality (and evidence of smart business practices) when a Website validates against W3C specifications. Most Websites do not validate against the standard. PLIWatch.org validates correctly against the HTML 4.01 Transitional standard.

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