Charles Mann writes in a Wired article about “How Click Fraud Could Swallow the Internet“. The article discusses, inter alia, that there is a war on the fraudulent clicks in pay per click (PPC) campaigns.
Many companies are spending millions of dollars in PPC campaigns to drive traffic to their websites or online retail stores. I know of one business that is spending upwards of $10,000 a month in PPC advertising. Mann writes that :
The amount of click fraud is difficult to quantify; estimates of the proportion of fake clicks run from as low as 1 in 10 to as high as 1 in 2. In a widely cited recent study, MarketingExperiments.com, an online marketing research outfit, reported that “as much as 29.5 percent” of the clicks in three experimental PPC campaigns on Google were fraudulent.
Taking the 29% as stated, the company I know spending $10,000 per month for keywords in their PPC campaign, is throwing away nearly $3,000 a month. For that kind of money I’m positive we could increase their organic search results. In fact, I’m sure that kind of money would support a family of 6 each month, but that’s another blog post. Of the $7,000 that are actually good clicks, how many of those are actually interested in the product or service? Could some if not a large portion of those be merely ”curiosity clicks”?
Search companies are spending vast amounts of money trying to combat click fraud and there are numerous companoies oout there that are charging good money to uncover the fraud. It is in the best interest of them and their advertisers to come up with a solution soon. I propose a long term solution for companies that may be put into play and they don’t have to wait for an application or a piece of software to be developed. The solution which is much more fruitful for business and has a price tag not likely to make your advertising budget look like someone just made you give away your child’s college fund. The solution lies in a four letter word called a “Blog”.
Organic search results are the Mecca of businesses. Organic searches produce people actually looking for your product or service and more times than not, they are looking to spend their hard earned money. Organic searches are what truly makes business owners praise the Internet and makes the sales figures soar. How can you increase your organic searches? A company can launch a blog. Therein lies the answer to combating click fraud. No, your results certainly won’t be overnight, and the return on your investment may take weeks instead of the quick metrics of a pay per click campaign. Certainly a blog will not break the bank, and the bottom line in the long run will be much more solid with customers that you can count on handing you a sale.
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