I received some bad news yesterday regarding my network. Valueclick Media, my second largest source of income behind Yahoo Publisher Network, canceled my account. This puts a huge dent in my monthly earnings and will force me to rethink how I do online business. VCM made up almost 40% of my total online earnings.

The removal from their program was not some random act against innocent people, like Google and Yahoo are known to do. Without knowing it, I was infact breaking a rule in their terms of service. According to ValueClick Media you are not allow to place ads at the bottom of your page (in the footer). I did not know that. Like most people, I chose not to read the 50 page user agreement. I just clicked ‘I agree’ without reading anything. And now I’m paying for it.

The worst thing about this is that the infraction came from a website that I don’t even own anymore.

I replied to the ValueClick support email they sent me with a plea for an appeal. I stated my case and asked them to check my other sites in my VCM account to see that the rules infraction was an isolated incident and not something I did knowingly. Hopefully they will hear me out and give me another chance.

Historically, appeals with big ad companies don’t fare to well. Just read the Google and Yahoo forums on DigitalPoint. I’m hoping that VCM is different. If I don’t get an email response by 3:00-4:00 PM today, I plan to call them to see if I can talk to someone directly.

And here’s a bit of irony… A few days ago I almost purchased a couple hundred dollars worth of VCM shares on the stock market. If I did pull the trigger I would have been really pissed knowing a company that I own banned me.

Moral of the story: Read the freakin TOS.