Excite, Redwood City, CA, launched an affiliates network last month, http://affiliate.excite.com, which offers its own content for use by any Web site as well as a free advertising credits program in return for the opportunity to promote itself on other sites.
The program enables any Web site to use elements of Excite's content — such as the Web and news search, headline news, sports scores and standings, horoscopes and daily weather — for no charge.
Credits for free advertising on the Excite site are accrued by the number of page views generated to it through the participant's site. Excite will track these leads and award credits toward free banner ad impressions on the SmartClicks Network.
Sites that have already signed up include Plumtree, a corporate portal player and Encanto, a thin-client server company.
