Buckets of Banners, commonly called BoB, is a banner advertising network with a somewhat unusual approach to banner exchanges.
At first glance, it looks like a conventional banner exchange: members display banners and earn banner impressions that can be used to advertise their own banners. But BoB adds several additional ways to earn impressions, including surfing the banner area and promoting an Interactive Splash Page (ISP).
That makes Buckets of Banners more than just a place to rotate a banner.
The current BoB website reports approximately 19,820 members and more than 28.5 million banner views during the last 30 days. The site describes BoB as a banner exchange “with a twist” because even people who don’t own a website can participate in earning banner impressions.
For marketers who use banner advertising as part of a larger traffic strategy, this combination makes BoB particularly interesting.
What Is Buckets of Banners?
Buckets of Banners is a banner exchange and viral advertising platform.
The basic concept is simple: members add banners to the system, promote those banners, and earn impressions that can be used to display their own advertising.
But unlike a basic banner exchange, BoB gives members several different ways to generate those impressions.
The current public website lists three primary methods:
- Promote your Interactive Splash Page.
- Surf the banner area.
- Display BoB banner code on your own website.
The standard and Club BoB membership levels receive different impression rates for each activity.
That flexibility is one of the things that separates BoB from a simple banner rotator.
You don’t necessarily have to own a high-traffic website to participate.
You can generate advertising impressions through activity inside the system itself.
Current BoB Statistics
The current Buckets of Banners homepage reports:
- Approximately 19,820 members
- More than 28.5 million banner views in the last 30 days
These are program-reported statistics displayed on the current website and can change over time.
The size of the network matters because a banner exchange becomes more useful as more members participate and more banners are being displayed.
However, total banner views shouldn’t automatically be interpreted as clicks, visitors, leads, or sales.
As with any advertising network, the real question is what happens after someone sees your banner.
The Interactive Splash Page
The Interactive Splash Page, or ISP, is one of the features that makes Buckets of Banners particularly different.
Instead of simply displaying a banner, the ISP provides a page where members’ banners can be presented together with interactive elements.
The current BoB website specifically lists the ISP as one of the three ways members can earn banner impressions. Standard BoB members earn one impression for each display of their ISP, while Club BoB members earn three.
This means the ISP isn’t merely a landing page.
It is also part of the credit-generation system.
And Club BoB adds another interesting feature: an Interactive Splash Page “Click” Bonus.
According to the current Club BoB information in the member area, when a new member clicks one of a Club BoB member’s banners on the Interactive Splash Page before joining, that visitor can receive a signup bonus of up to 500 banner impressions.
That creates an incentive for visitors to interact with the banners rather than simply looking at the page.
How BoB Members Earn Banner Impressions
There are three primary earning mechanisms.
1. Promote Your Interactive Splash Page
This is arguably the most interesting part of the system.
According to the current public site:
- Free BoB members earn 1 impression per ISP display.
- Club BoB members earn 3 impressions per ISP display.
Your ISP therefore becomes another traffic destination that can produce advertising inventory.
For a Club BoB member, promoting the ISP is particularly attractive because the return is 3:1 in terms of banner impressions.
2. Surf the Banner Area
BoB also allows members to surf through banners.
The current public site reports:
- Free BoB: 2 impressions per banner-page surf
- Club BoB: 4 impressions per banner-page surf
Your member-area information provides the same Club BoB figure.
This is another important difference from many traditional banner exchanges.
You’re not necessarily dependent on finding outside websites willing to install your banner code.
You can generate impressions through activity within BoB itself.
3. Display Banner Code
The third method is displaying BoB’s banner code on your own website.
The current public site reports:
- Free BoB: 0.5 impression per banner display
- Club BoB: 1 impression per banner display
That makes the Club BoB level a 1:1 banner exchange through this particular method.
For people who have their own websites and are willing to place banner code on them, this provides another way to earn advertising inventory.
Club BoB
Club BoB is the upgraded membership level.
Your current member-area comparison shows just how much more is included at the Club level.
The most obvious difference is the number of banners you can rotate.
| Feature | BoB Free | Club BoB |
|---|---|---|
| Banners you can rotate | 5 | 30 |
| Level 1 referral commission | 10% | 50% |
| Level 1 referral credit earnings | 10% | 20% |
| Level 2 credit earnings | 0% | 10% |
| Level 3 credit earnings | 0% | 5% |
| Level 4 credit earnings | 0% | 3% |
| Level 5 credit earnings | 0% | 2% |
| Level 6 credit earnings | 0% | 1% |
| Banner exchange code display | 0.5 | 1 |
| Surf-area earnings | 2 | 4 |
| ISP earnings | 1 | 3 |
| Banner URLs shown in surf | No | Yes |
| “Click Me” incentive on member ISPs | No | Yes |
| Priority ISP branding | No | Yes |
| Viral Signup Multi-Rewards | No | Yes |
| Club BoB Clique Lounge | No | Yes |
| Bonus monthly credits | 0 | 20,000* |
| Random referrals | No | Yes |
| Benefit from BoB advertising dollars | No | Yes |
*The 20,000 monthly bonus credits shown in the member-area comparison apply to the monthly subscription.
The Referral Credit Structure
The referral system is another major difference between Free BoB and Club BoB.
Free members receive credit earnings from Level 1 referrals, but the Club BoB structure goes considerably deeper.
According to the current member-area comparison, Club BoB members earn:
- 20% from Level 1 referral activity
- 10% from Level 2
- 5% from Level 3
- 3% from Level 4
- 2% from Level 5
- 1% from Level 6
In addition, the direct referral commission increases from 10% for free members to 50% for Club BoB members.
That gives Club BoB a genuine network-building component rather than making it purely an advertising upgrade.
Up to 30 Banners
Another practical advantage of Club BoB is the increased number of banner slots.
Free members can rotate up to five banners.
Club BoB members can rotate up to 30 banners.
That is a substantial difference for someone promoting multiple programs.
Instead of having to choose only a handful of offers, you can maintain a much larger advertising rotation.
This can be particularly useful if you operate several traffic sources, affiliate programs, lead-generation pages, or other marketing properties.
Banner URLs in the Surf Area
Club BoB members also receive another benefit that isn’t available to free members: their banner URLs can be shown in the surf area.
That means the upgraded membership isn’t merely producing more impressions from the same activity.
It can also increase the ways in which your advertising is presented to other members.
Random Referrals
Club BoB members receive random referrals as another membership benefit.
Random referrals can be useful in a viral advertising system because they provide exposure to people who may not otherwise encounter your account.
As always, a referral is only potentially valuable. It doesn’t automatically become an active member or buyer.
The benefit is the additional opportunity.
Benefit From Brad’s Advertising Dollars
One of the more unusual Club BoB benefits is the ability to benefit from the advertising purchased by the program owner.
The Club BoB information explains that when BoB itself spends money advertising the program, Club BoB members can have their banners rotated as part of that advertising.
That means the upgrade can potentially provide exposure generated not only by member activity but also by advertising purchased by the owners.
The current BoB website identifies Brad Webb as the person behind State-Of-The-Art-Mailer and says that Brad Webb is employed by BoB.
This is also relevant because the Club BoB lifetime offer includes advertising on State-Of-The-Art-Mailer.
Club BoB Lifetime Membership
The member area currently presents a Club BoB Lifetime Membership option.
The offer shown in your upgraded account is $265.50 as a one-time payment, reduced from a displayed $295 price.
The offer states that the lifetime membership includes the Club BoB benefits for life.
That is significantly different from simply paying the monthly subscription.
For someone who intends to use BoB for years, the lifetime option changes the economics of the upgrade considerably.
However, whether lifetime makes sense depends on how heavily you intend to use the system and whether you expect to remain active with banner advertising for the long term.
Lifetime Bonus #1: 1,000,000 Banner Impressions
The current lifetime offer includes a bonus of 1,000,000 BoB banner impressions, presented by the program as a $99 value.
Those impressions are added to the account immediately according to the offer.
For an active banner advertiser, a million additional impressions can provide a substantial amount of advertising inventory.
It is important to remember, however, that impressions are exposure rather than guaranteed clicks or visitors.
Lifetime Bonus #2: SOTAM Viral Banner Advertising
The second bonus is a 30-day viral banner advertisement at State-Of-The-Art-Mailer.com.
According to the offer displayed in the member area, the buyer gets to choose a banner that rotates throughout the SOTAM network for 30 days without a stated limit on the number of banner impressions received.
The offer assigns this bonus a stated value of $79.95.
This is potentially valuable because it gives the lifetime Club BoB purchase an advertising benefit outside the Buckets of Banners network itself.
In other words, the lifetime package isn’t simply giving you more BoB impressions.
It also provides an additional advertising opportunity through another network.
How We Use Buckets of Banners
Buckets of Banners fits into our strategy primarily as a banner-credit generator and advertising distribution system.
The important thing is that BoB gives us several ways to turn activity into banner inventory.
For example:
Surf BoB → earn banner impressions → advertise elsewhere
or:
Promote ISP → earn banner impressions → advertise your offers
or:
Display BoB banner code → earn impressions → recycle those impressions into advertising
This makes BoB more interesting than a banner exchange where the only way to earn credits is by putting someone else’s banner on your website.
The Interactive Splash Page adds another layer because the page itself becomes part of the traffic-generation process.
Why Club BoB Is Strategically Interesting
The Club BoB upgrade isn’t simply about getting more banner impressions.
It changes the economics of the system in several places simultaneously.
A Club member receives:
- 2X the surf-area impression rate
- 3X the ISP impression rate
- 2X the banner-code exchange rate
- Up to six levels of referral credit earnings
- Higher direct referral commissions
- Up to 30 banners
- Additional ISP exposure
- Random referrals
- Potential exposure from BoB’s own advertising
- Additional Club-only promotional opportunities
That makes Club BoB a fundamentally different experience from the free membership.
For an occasional banner advertiser, the free account may be sufficient.
For someone building a serious banner rotation, the upgraded level makes considerably more sense.
Banner Advertising vs. Traffic
It’s important to distinguish between banner impressions and traffic.
A banner impression means that your advertisement was displayed.
It does not mean someone clicked it.
The purpose of banner advertising is to create repeated exposure and generate clicks from people who find the offer interesting.
This is why I would evaluate BoB based on both sides of the equation.
First, how efficiently can you generate impressions?
Second, how well do those impressions produce actual visitors?
And finally, what do those visitors do after reaching your destination?
If the answer to the final question is “they become leads,” the banner impressions have real value.
Is Buckets of Banners Worth Trying?
I think Buckets of Banners is worth testing, particularly for marketers who already use banner advertising as part of their traffic strategy.
The current network size and reported banner-view volume are substantial, and the system provides several different ways to earn advertising inventory.
The Club BoB membership is particularly interesting because it changes the earning ratios while adding additional referral and promotional benefits.
However, I would not recommend joining simply because the program reports millions of banner views.
The best reason to use BoB is that its mechanics fit a strategy where banner impressions are continuously being generated and recycled into advertising.
That is where the system becomes more interesting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Buckets of Banners?
Buckets of Banners is a banner exchange and viral advertising network that allows members to earn banner impressions through several different forms of activity.
How many banners can I rotate?
Free members can rotate up to five banners. Club BoB members can rotate up to 30.
How do I earn banner impressions?
You can earn impressions by promoting your Interactive Splash Page, surfing the banner area, or displaying BoB banner code on your own website.
What is an Interactive Splash Page?
The Interactive Splash Page is a BoB promotional page where members’ banners can be displayed. It is also one of the ways members earn banner impressions.
What does Club BoB cost?
The member area currently shows a $10 monthly Club BoB subscription. It also presents a lifetime offer of $265.50 as a one-time payment.
Is Club BoB lifetime?
The lifetime membership provides the Club BoB benefits for life according to the current member-area offer.
How many impressions does Club BoB earn from surfing?
Club BoB members earn four banner impressions per banner-area page surf according to the current BoB information.
How many impressions does Club BoB earn from the ISP?
Club BoB members earn three banner impressions each time their Interactive Splash Page is displayed.
Does Club BoB have referral commissions?
Yes. The current member-area information shows 50% commissions from Level 1 referral purchases for Club BoB members.
Does BoB have a referral credit system?
Yes. Club BoB members can earn banner impressions from referral activity through six levels, according to the current member-area comparison.
Final Verdict
Buckets of Banners is not your ordinary banner exchange, and that description from the program itself is actually pretty accurate.
The combination of banner exchange, surf-based impression generation, Interactive Splash Pages, referral credits, random referrals, and owner-funded advertising creates a system that is considerably more involved than simply placing a banner on a website.
The Club BoB upgrade is where the system really becomes interesting.
The difference between earning 2 impressions versus 4 from surfing, 1 versus 3 from the Interactive Splash Page, and 0.5 versus 1 from banner-code displays gives upgraded members considerably more ways to generate advertising inventory.
Add the ability to rotate 30 banners, six levels of referral credit earnings, 50% direct referral commissions, random referrals, Club-only ISP exposure, and potential exposure from BoB’s own advertising, and Club BoB becomes much more than a simple banner-exchange upgrade.
For our overall strategy, I would classify Buckets of Banners as a banner-credit generator and traffic-recycling tool.
The real value isn’t simply in seeing your banner displayed.
It’s in the ability to continuously generate banner impressions and then use those impressions to create more exposure for the programs, pages, and offers that are part of the larger traffic system.
That’s what makes Buckets of Banners worth paying attention to.
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