Advertising has come to the web. Now, someone will pay you to put their advertisement on your web page.

What an opportunity. Not only can you make gobs of money, but your page will look "successful." (Otherwise, why would someone bother to advertise on it?)

But while other advertising media are aimed at influencing your next purchase, web ads have a completely different goal -- to get a visitor to leave your web page and go to the advertiser's site. (You only get paid if someone leaves your page and goes to the advertiser's page.) You can be sure that the designers of the ads will try their very best to get folks to leave your page (and probably not return).

But that's not all. You may not have any say about what the advertisement says or about the subject matter. Or even worse, what the ad does. Imagine, someone else's animated image on your page. Hmm... Wonder why your page doesn't load correctly any more.

A large ad at the top of your page may create a certain amount of confusion as to the actual ownership of the site. And since this is probably the first thing that loads, it's probably the first thing a visitor will see.

If you have a commercial site, you're going to look pretty silly with an ad for another company on your pages, especially when the goal of that ad is to get visitors to leave your site. Some might wonder why your company can't afford to pay for its own web site.

And don't forget the free ads that many sites carry. Sort of like paying extra for clothing that displays the designer's name in large letters. Most of these free ads are for the latest browsers or plug-in components that you absolutely must have to view the site properly. Others have created "awards" that you can use to decorate your page. Remember that they're also links to someone else's site.

Is anyone getting rich from letting others put an ad on their page? Only a few of the mega-busy sites. For the rest of us, it's just another Internet get-rich-quick scheme. 

"Whose web site is this, anyway?" 
> Henri de Toulouse-LaTech,
On viewing a page with three animated web ads, two "download me now" browser buttons, and six meaningless web awards.

Web awards -- you've seen them. Those little widgets that sites display so proudly. Some sites have so many, they look like a general in the Russian army.

And just what is a web award? Turns out that anyone can do it. Here's how:

Just make up an interesting little bauble, create a name, such as the "Site for sore eyes award," and start handing them out. Gives you a certain amount of power.

And pretty soon, everyone's got one of your little widgets on their page. When someone clicks on the award, guess where they go? That's right. Straight to your site.

So what are web awards? Free advertising for someone else. And, in most cases, just another Internet scam.