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A Hard
Look at PPC, Click Fraud and the Alternatives
By Bill Platt |
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With the creation of the Overture and Google Adwords
systems, many webmasters believed they had finally hit
the mother load. It was no longer necessary for small
online businesses to invest large amounts of money into
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to gain high
search rankings in the natural search results.
Even
webmasters committed to SEO campaigns began to realize
its fleeting nature. Given frequent search engine
algorithm changes, optimizing a website was no guarantee
that in 6 months or less it wouldn't be back to square
one and page twenty of the search results.
Hiring
a SEO company was no longer necessary to crack the top
search engine results. A Page One placement could be
purchased and often for far less than the cost of a SEO
company's services.
Webmasters discovered that they could get traffic to
their website for as little as one cent per click.
Pay-per-click, however, has evolved over the last 5
years and not to the benefit of most webmasters.
Although five cents is currently the average starting
bid price at most major search engines, many sought
after keyword terms can cost as much as $30 - $50 per
click. Given the increasingly competitive nature of PPC
advertising and spiralling costs, many small- to medium-
sized businesses today might be better served hiring a
good SEO company to search optimize their websites.
Who Is
Clicking Your Pay-Per-Click Links?
There
are four types of people who click on pay-per-click ads.
Knowing who these people are helps explain why experts
keep telling us that 20% to 25% of all clicks on PPC
listings are "fraudulent clicks".
Personality Type #1: True-Blue Prospects
These
are the people for whom you have placed your
pay-per-click ads. They see your advertisement; they
like what they see; and they click your link to see if
you can actually serve their needs.
Personality Type #2: Accidental Clickers
Every
once in a while, even my finger misfires, and I click an
advertisement that I did not intend on clicking. My
first thought is usually, "Oh no...", and my first
action is to find the back button.
I
didn't mean to cost that person money by clicking his
advertisement... but I did. It was an accident. Now, the
advertiser has to pay for my mistake. That bites.
Personality Type #3: Jealous Competitors
I would
like to think that all of my, and your, competitors are
fine, upstanding people. And most of them are. But,
there are some who are not, and they click on
pay-per-click links just to be spiteful or just to cost
their business rivals a few dollars.
Believe
it or not, a good percentage of "fraudulent clicks" are
believed to be clicks perpetrated by people against
their competitors.
Personality Type #4: True-Blue Fraudsters
Not
that long ago pay-per-click providers realized that
there was tremendous opportunity in offering small
website owners a method for cashing in on their limited
traffic.
Today,
a webmaster can go to any number of pay-per-click
services, add a small piece of code to a webpage and
start serving paid advertising the same day. Webmasters
thus become revenue share partners with the PPC
provider, splitting revenues with the PPC provider for
each click.
Ethical
webmasters, of course, put the needs of their
advertisers first and focus on putting eyeballs on their
website so that visitors can click on the advertising
links.
But,
the word "ethical" doesn't exist in the vocabulary of
some webmasters. These are the "true-blue fraudsters"
who believe in making "revenue at any cost... no matter
who might be hurt by their actions." They devise schemes
to have their own ads clicked in order to drive up their
revenue share.
These
webmasters, although a minority, are responsible for the
vast majority of fraudulent clicks. And, they are the
same people that should be taken out behind the barn,
for a good old-fashioned flogging --- one lashing for
each stolen dollar would be fine with me.
The
Unseen Costs Of The Pay-Per-Click Search Game
If the
experts are correct in estimating that 25% of all clicks
are fraudulent, then you are paying out 33% more than
you should have to pay to get your business.
If you
are converting PPCSE clicks-to-sales at a rate of $20
per transaction, then you should be aware that your
actual conversion rate for non-PPCSE advertising would
cost you an average of $15 per transaction. By escaping
the pay-per-click search engine model, you could in
effect make an additional $5 per transaction by cutting
the fraud out of your marketing budget.
Personally, I would rather not pay the pay-per-click
mafia the $5 a transaction that they are exacting
against pay-per-click advertisers.
Where My Advertising Money Works Best
I have
always gained the best bang for my buck with
pay-for-placement advertising. In a nutshell, I pay a
monthly, quarterly or yearly fee to have my advertising
seen on various websites. Banner advertising is always
an option, but text links provide better click-through
rates (CTR's).
At any
one time, you can find links to my websites on dozens of
other websites.
Here
are a few examples of pay-for-placement, often referred
to as "paid inclusion", advertising networks:
ISEDN.org Network:
The Independent Search Engine and Directory Network
(powered by
ExactSeek.com) is comprised of more than 200
specialty search engines, search directories and article
directories. Through their system,
you can buy quarterly or yearly top ten exposure for
specific keyword phrases which are then shown
through the ISEDN's 200 plus member websites. Their
network claims to show paid inclusion ads 150 million
times per month.
Pricing
starts at $4 per month per keyword term (word or phrase)
and goes down according to the number of keyword phrases
purchased. Quarterly and yearly rates for one keyword
phrase are $12 and $36 respectively.
BraveNet.com Home Page Featured Advertiser Listing:
BraveNet is the number one provider of free web tools in
the world and through their AdBrite sales page you can
purchase a 30 day text advertisement at the bottom of
the Bravenet home page for $1500 or a 3 month
advertisement for $3500. According to the
Bravenet Media Kit, their network serves 500 million
page views per month.
ColdFront Network:
ColdFront serves the Massive Multiplayer Online
Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) communities. With 150,000
unique visits and 12 million page views per month, they
provide real advertising value, if your target market
happens to be in this area. Paid inclusion can be
purchased for $250 to $350 per month.
Who
Left The Barn Door Open?
We put
locks and deadbolts on our doors. In some localities, we
put bars on our windows. We keep our valuables in safes.
We keep our cars locked when we are not in them. We are
a nation obsessed with protecting our valuables.
And
yet, when we advertise our online businesses, we seem to
be willing to let PPCSE providers steal 25% of our
advertising budget? It boggles the mind.
Personally, I am done with PPCSE companies until they
can assure me that my advertising dollars are protected
from click fraud.
I have
always relied on my own search engine optimization
skills to strengthen my natural search results. And
frankly, I am pretty good at it.
And, to
supplement my own SEO efforts and organic search result
placement sucesses, or lack thereof, paid inclusion
currently offers me the best value for my money.
About The Author
Bill Platt is the owner of
http://thePhantomWriters.com Article Distribution
Service. Through his system, you can have your Free
Reprint Articles sent to thousands of publishers and
webmasters looking for good quality content. If you need
someone to write articles for you, Bill's writers can
create interesting articles on most any topic. If you
would like to talk to Bill personally about his
services, you can reach him from 9:30am to 6pm CST at:
(405) 780-7327
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