How to Avoid Click Fraud

So you're contemplating spending a couple of thousand on a Google Adwords campaign, or Overture, or maybe you're signing up for Adsense hoping it brings in the big bucks.

Good for you. Monetizing your blog and trying online marketing is a great step in learning how to interact with an online audience. We wish you the best of luck.

But what about Click Fraud? Word on the street is Click Fraud is growing, which means all of those people you think are going to your site are actually sucking dollars out of your pocket and giving nothing in return.

Exhibit A: eMarketer.com says Click Fraud increased to over 14% last quarter, and for high-dollar keywords, the ClickFraud is over 20%.

The problem with ClickFraud is you should see it coming. There is no such thing as cheap and easy in this world, and purchasers of Google Ad Words (or any other PPC) who think you can just plop your credit card down and POOF! here comes the profit probably shouldn't be in a position to be spending company money.

Ad campaigns can work, for the right products. If they are monitored and managed by people with a record of success, you will greatly increase your chances of success. But there is no guarantee.

What I don't understand is why small businesses and niche players aren't tapping into comprehensive strategies for their online presence.

Compare the following companies over a six month period, each with $25,000 to spend:

Company A:

1. Selling Widgets through Adwords, Budget of $30,000.

Company B:

1. Selling Widgets through Adwords. Budget of $10,000
2. Started a professionally designed blog, updates daily. Built a community of 100 similar sites discussing the Widget industry. ($6,000)
   
3. Launched a Blog Ad Campaign putting their logo and an ad on 30 sites targeted at their demographic. ($2,000)
   
4. Sends out newsletter about new trends in widgets. Builds subscriber list of 5,000 customers. ($12,000)
5. Reporters pick up blog and newsletter and do a high-profile story on new media communication strategy

At the end of six months, Company has spent $30,000 and has made some sales, but $5,000 was wasted through Click Fraud. Now that six months has passed, they have to spend another $30,000 to generate new results. There's another problem. Company C has joined in, so the cost to generate the same result is now $40,000.

Company B, on the other hand, has built a self-sustaining community of referrals, has trained their staff on how to interact with the online world, and for less than $15,000 can maintain their same level of leads.

This is the fundamental problem facing companies planning on joining the online world today.

Company A only has to write a check to get results, but those results cost more each year. Agencies love Company A because it's the least amount of work.

Gone are the days where you ask someone to build a website and sit back to wait for the results.

Company B has built a community, which means feedback, referrals, better SEO, a voice in the community, and the ability to push information out to the mainstream media.

1) Who will be successful in 2-5 years
2) which company would you prefer to work for?

Don't be a Company A. Let us show you how.

-Jim Durbin
Director, Corporate Communications.
jdurbin@durbinmedia.com