My text ad exchange has been offline for a while due to problems with my host.

Thanks to my good friend, Martin Payling, it's now back up and I've just spent several hours deleting ads for sites which have disappeared.

It made me realise how much money and time has been wasted by marketers promoting those sites.

How many upgrades have you lost? How many admins have disappeared with your hard-earned commissions? How much time have you spent clicking for credits which have disappeared overnight?

If there's a lesson to be learned from this, it's that it matters what you promote, it matters where you spend your money and it matters in whom you put your trust.

I accept that any business can get into trouble through no fault of its owner but there are a lot of sites launched which clearly aren't going anywhere.

There's a lot to be said for 100% instant commission sites. I mean 100% commission on ALL sales, not on every other, third or fourth, etc. Those are just a way for the owner to get rich quick. Pay me a percentage of every sale or I'm not interested. With 100% commission sites you are paid immediately and usually member to member without the owners ever touching your money. That's a real selling point for LeasedAdSpace.

If you're going down the more traditional route of a percentage commission on each sale, make sure you choose sites with a good track record. Any of the sites in the Tested and Proven downline builder are a good place to start (they're not just there because they deliver results, the owners are reliable and trustworthy). 

Basically, if you intend to promote a site, do your research before you start promoting. You could save yourself a lot of disappointment and your integrity will remain intact. That's very important when you're trying to build a business online. It may not always work out but at least you will be minimising the risk.