Ad Network Legalities

[StickSuicideDotCom]

As most of you have probably forgotten, I asked about starting up a newtork of sites to help smaller sites "get what they deserve." Basically, what I want to do is set up a network of sites the are very closely related and use the network to get them all higher paying advertising opportunities.

As I go deeper into this, I start to think more. What kind of legalities are there towards reselling ads throughout a network of sites? Since I woudl be paying them, wouldn't I have to get their SSNs and fill out their W# forms are stuff for tax purposes? If I did it through PayPal (which I am leaning towards), would the tax legalities still stand?

Anybody who knows anythng on this subject, please give me some insight. I don't want to jump into something that I'm really not ready for. Thanks!

[danushman]

You would need a lot of stuff:

A DBA
A Business License
A Tax ID (or SSN if you are going to be an SP)
Servers
Software
Bandwidth
A sales staff
A business bank account
Time
Energy
Traffic

And yes, you would have to pay taxes. Eek.

[StickSuicideDotCom]

Jesus! If you think I'm talking about making an ad company like dkAds (which is VERY nice btw), then you misinterpreted me. All I want to do is help out a few sites (3-5), not start a big coalition of dozens upon dozens of sites.

Can you retell me what I would need if I were to just be doing this for 3-5 sites through PayPal? Also, what's a DBA?

[danushman]

Well,

Regardless of the size of the business, advertisers will be very
wary about sending a check to a individual. A DA is "Doing Business As," a legal document giving you the rights to do business using an assumed name.

The state of IL, where we are located in, calls them Assumed Name Certificates, I don't know about the other states.

Since you will be small, you will probably be a sole proprietorship. This means that your taxes are simply filed as part of your normal income tax return. It also means that if something really bad happens, you personally are liable for damages. I don't think that will happen though.

Finally, you still will need software, and hardware. Since you will only serve a few sites you *may* be able to get away with a virtual account for your ad server software. Or you can hire a company to host an ad server for you and give you control panel access to it (dkAds does it, so does Advert PRO and Fast Click - i think.)

There is a lot more involved in running an Internet business than most people think. But once you get going its easy sliding.

Good luck,
Dan

P.S. Thanks for the kind words ;)

[danushman]

Oh, and...

Many advertisers require that all payments from them to you be made via postal mail and checks. Only smaller companies will go for an online payment.

Paypal will cut it for paying publishers, but besides that your going to need a business bank account. To get a business bank account you will need a DBA... Etc.

[StickSuicideDotCom]

Thanks for the info. The main reason I'm setting up the network is to get a total number of hits throughout the network in order to reach the requirements needed for big ad networks. Most of the sites don't have enough hits to get accepted into a good ad company, so, therefore, I won't deal with advertisers. It will be purely outside ad network based. So since I will just use PayPal for everything, will I still need that DBA?

I could set up an account with a web host and host all of the ad tracking software that I'll use. I would make the software myself, so that wouldn't be a problem.

Also, how would I go about filing taxes for everybody? What if they aren't in the US?

Thanks for all the help. I didn't think anybody woudl have the patience to do all of this.

[danushman]

With PayPal you may not need a DBA.

I would take them off my taxes anyways...

[Epgs]

ok i believe he wants to go to advertising companies and send out checks to people in kinda like his webring, they all advertise with his code. so i believe that you have to grab ssn just incase the irs wants them

[StickSuicideDotCom]

Epgs is right. All I'll be doing is distributing the revenue throughout the network. I still think I need some tax stuff for that though. I posted this same post in other forums, too, and some people said I would have to hire a lawyer and such. I don't think I'm ready for that. I'm 17 and all I want to do is help out some of the sites that I see great potential in.