A good rewards program will consist of more than just a “submit a site” button, to be taken seriously. We’ve all seen those “free market wins for me” that consist of nothing more than right clicking your mouse, saving your win chart and linking back to the rewards program and “Tada”, you’ve won your first win . Rewards programs like these add absolutely no credibility to your website or rewards program. A credible award program will offer more details to help applicants with web designs and offer solutions. Their criteria consists of a constructed list, listing more than just the do’s and don’ts, but also offering tips and advice to applicants. In most credible rewards programs, you will see the following.

1. The Awards Program will clearly express its purpose. (Why are they offering their prizes)

2. The Awards Program will inform applicants who is eligible to apply for their awards. They will also list a set of rules for applicants. Who can apply, who can not apply, reasons why a site can be disqualified, etc.

3. The Rewards Program will not accept sites that are distasteful or sites that contain adult content.

4. The Rewards Program will not accept sites from children under the age of 14. They comply with COPPA regulations. (Children’s Online Privacy Act)

5. The Awards Program will have a “code of ethics” statement, showing its applicants that its standards for reviewing sites are high.

6. The Awards Program will display a privacy statement, informing applicants that any information they submit to their application form (other than the applicants name and URL)
website) is confidential.

7. The Rewards Program will display a copyright statement, protecting your content, reward graphics, and all the hard work you have put into building your rewards program.

8. The Rewards Program will give credit to anyone who helps with their site. Any graphics, content or donation made to their rewards site will give credit to their creator.

9. The Prize Program will offer personalized prize graphics for its winners. Graphics are generally optimized for fast loading and do not exceed 200×200 pixels or 20kb. (.jpg or .gif format)

10. The awards program will display a “Statistics” page to let applicants know how many applications have been received during the year and what their chances are of winning an award from your program.

11. The Prize Program will display a list of winners with the date the prize was awarded to its winners, as well as the country of origin.

12. The prize program will display a prominent list of winners. Gold Prize or Special Prize Winners, usually shows a screenshot, the country the winner is from, the winners site description and the date they received the prize. (This is considered good marketing.)

13. The list of winners of the Prize Programs will always be updated.

14. The awards program will often be listed by a reputable rating service or ethics organization. Most top rated rewards programs will display a “Membership or Affiliate Page”. We’ll talk a bit more about this in our next section, “Memberships, Qualifications, and Organizations.”

15. The Awards Program may win the highest award offered: Example: If an Awards Program expects applicants to demonstrate advanced technical skills with flash, scripting, coding, proper use of tags, etc., then the AP must show the same and be able to win their highest prize offered.

16. The criteria for a credible award program will consist of more than a few statements and a short bulleted list. Example: (provide detailed explanations and advice) If award programs require applicants to “optimize graphics,” they should explain why. They should offer solutions like cropping images or creating thumbnails to reduce loading time. If the rewards program requires that horizontal scroll bars not be present, they must explain how not all browser settings are created equal. If they require ALT tags to be used, they should explain the use of ALT tags and how they are used to name charts, while hovering over the chart, etc. They should explain more than what to do and what not to do. By doing this, they are also teaching beginning applicants and designers something they may not know.

17. The rewards program will display an “evaluation or scoring” page, which is easily understood and explains to applicants how points can be earned and deducted. This will give applicants an idea of ​​what they need to display on their sites to earn the highest points possible.

18. The award schedule typically displays “Award Title Descriptions.” APs should explain what the “Award Titles” represent. Example: how many points it will take to earn your gold, silver or bronze and a brief description of the general meaning of each award title.

19. A good awards program will offer tools, resources, or links to help applicants with web designs.

20. The Rewards Program typically offers an “Awards Process” page. Explain to applicants the award process, how long it takes to receive a response, who gets notified and who doesn’t, and what happens if they don’t win an award. AP applicants must provide the option to email their AP for advice and tips if they do not win an award from their award programs. Awards programs need to show their applicants that they care and are willing to help them achieve a higher award title if they ask for suggestions to improve their sites.

21. The awards program must list any credentials they may have or an evaluators/judging panel page. Applicants are quick to ask, “Who is judging my site and what qualifies them to rate my site?”

22. The Awards Program must display legitimate contact information and not just a form for applicants to fill out.

23. The rewards program must provide an alternative application process. Example: For applicants’ browsers that do not support forms, they should provide you with the option to submit your applications via email and what information you want applicants to attach to the application.