A Hard Look at PPC, Click Fraud and the Alternatives
by Bill Platt
Published on this site: May 25th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
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.
Pay-Per-Click Search Engine (PPCSE) Placement
With the advent of the PPCSE model created by Overture, and
followed by Google Adwords, webmasters felt like they had finally
found the level playing field that everyone talks about. 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 : 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 : 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 : 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: 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: http://www.ISEDN.org
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 http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html
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 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:
http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/
purchase_form.php?zone_id=8181
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 http://www.bravenetmedianetwork.com/mediakit.php
, their network serves 500 million page views per month.
- ColdFront Network:
http://www.coldfront.net/index.php/content/view/100/50/
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.
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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