Ways to Identify and Tackle Click Fraud

Identifying and tracking examples of click fraud is the first step to eradicating the problem.  Click fraud is an enormous drain on the resources of advertisers operating on a national and international scale, estimated to occupy around 30% of all pay per click advertising spend.  With so much at stake, its no wonder the search engines are investing so much time and effort into devising solutions.

One way in which Search Engines and other pay per click programme providers have attempted to curb the growing click fraud problem is through introducing IP address repetition algorithms.  These formulae are designed to pick up on suspicious click patterns emanating from a singular IP address, which can help to uncover the existence of click farms and competitor-led sabotage, as well as identifying potential fraudsters at source.

However, there is an array of problems with this method of attempting to identify the fraudsters.  Firstly, fraudsters logging on through a dialup modem, DSL line or cable modem can almost completely bypass this check, as with every new online session, a new IP address is generated.  Furthermore, there is an extensive range of software available to alter IP addresses, which again can be used for ‘cheating’ the algorithm.  Cookie and session tracking are other methods by which search engines can attempt to uncover potential fraudulent activity, but again there are ways around these for the fraudsters.

More comprehensive software is being developed which profiles and reports on the browsing habits of each click-through to enable companies to track and monitor suspicious behavior, although this could be seen by many as intrusive and ineffective as anything on a small scale is still likely to go unnoticed, based on the vast coverage of ads across the internet.

The problem of click fraud recently hit the headlines with a class action raised against Google, prompting Google to offer $90million as a potential settlement.  Perhaps an acceptance of their responsibilities, Google’s offer goes some way to suggest the extent of click fraud, and its vast costs to the internet economy.

There are a number of self-help remedies that can be implemented to keep an organization out of trouble.  The first of these remedies is the reliance on search engine optimization and organic listings.  If a site is well and fully optimized, it could eventually realize a ranking that another site is willing to pay $2.50 a click for.  Similarly, with organically high rankings there are no clickthrough rates, therefore the costs associated with PPC are not applicable.  Although the process is significantly more laborious and takes significantly longer to see results, the SEO process is much cheaper in the long run, and with an estimated 25-30% of all clicks being performed fraudulently, an organically high listing can save money which would otherwise be drained by click fraud for more beneficial reinvestment.

Year on year, as the pay per click advertising market continues to grow and expand, surely click fraud will follow suit.  Unless an effective means of preventing click fraud is developed and successfully implemented, buyers will steadily lose confidence in the advertising medium and turn to more effective, less wasteful marketing methods, which would seriously hit the search engines and could potentially threaten the online economy as a whole.

What is Google adsense

If you look at the Internet a few years back, you’ll see that advertising was done in a way that was very similar to other types of media like television, or actually, more like what you see in a newspaper.

You’d enter a site, and in some location you’d get to see a banner (often these were quite numerous and very large), which would present and ad for whatever company was paying for adds on your space.

But there was one problem with this kind of advertising. It really wasn’t exploiting the fact that the adds weren’t in some newspaper, but were instead presented over the Internet.

You’ve probably noticed a lot of things like this over the pages you’ve browsed. You’re looking at an on-line shop, looking for a watch but you get a banner that advertises a car.

While you might, at some later point want to buy a car, right now you’re looking for a watch and it would have surely been nice if the banner were advertising a watch, because then you would have probably clicked it.

Well that’s also what the folks at Google thought of, so they came up with a killer idea. This is knows as Google AdSense, and it’s known as a targeted advertising program

What you do (as a web designer / website owner) is, instead of jumping through hoops to get some banner on your site that your visitors won’t even care about, is you just allocate some region of the screen.

You then sign up for the Google AdSense program, you insert a small snippet of code in your webpage and Google ensures that in the location you specify, a banner will appear, presenting adds relevant to the contents of your site.

It’s very easy for Google to do this because Google is a search engine company. It looks for the key words in your page, searches a database of websites to find the ones related to whatever is on your page and presto: a targeted ad.

You (the webmaster) get a fee for each visitor that clicks on an adsense banner on your site. Now that’s bound to happen more often then with a traditional banner because people are actually interested in what’s in that banner (otherwise, they wouldn’t be on your page would they?).

But, this also does wonders for the people who want to advertise. And it’s because of the same reason. The greatest thing about Google AdSense is that all the content in a banner is relevant.

This relevancy is the key to the programs success, and also the reason why everyone remains happy. The advertiser has a relevantly placed advert, the publisher earns money from their content and Google take their cut.

Of course, as always, Google has set some high standards for its AdSense program, in terms of looks and functionality. You can’t have more than two such banners on your website and Google only inserts text in these banners.

So an extra benefit is that AdSense advertising is a lot less obtrusive then regular advertising. But this also means you should position the banner better because it’s possible that visitors might miss it altogether.

So in the end, Google AdSense is an advertising program that is unique because the ads are relevant to the content on the site. Anyone that wants to advertise pays Google for it. Anyone who wants to place ads on their site does this through AdSense, getting paid by Google in the process.

All transactions are run through Google, and the advertisers and publishers get access to statistics which help them to understand and moderate the effectiveness of their campaign.

The whole process is elegant, simple and effective from anyone in the chain, from site visitors to advertisers, and it’s one of the reasons Google are known for their innovation and new thinking.

Where Adsense Should Appear

When deciding whether to incorporate Adsense into your website there are several factors to consider. Many feel that it diminishes their brand, whilst others see it as a useful tool for visitors which creates revenues and makes their content profitable.

The choice can largely come down to the commercial goals and the purpose of your website. Many businesses who sell products decide to place Adsense adverts within their website. This would appear to be a strange choice, opening up opportunities for rivals to promote their service or product to your potential customer base.

Many publishers claim that they are only doing this to allow companies who provide ancillary services to advertise. These claims have some merit, as those who for example sell pillows could provide those who sell bedding with an opportunity to advertise.

Although this would make sense, there are still those online retailers who allow rivals to penetrate their audience. Many claim that there are still benefits in allowing your direct competitors to advertise within your website. One of these is that ultimately if visitors wish to see your competitors they would be able to see them through a Google search regardless. This may be true however the thought of an established brand like coco-cola having a Pepsi advert in their website is not even a possibility.

Another factor which is considered in this situation is that publishers do not feel that Adsense is effective in making conversions. They feel that visitors who would click on adverts are not highly qualified customers, as they would quickly navigate to the materials or products that interest them if they were.

Despite Adsense being a questionable choice for online retailers, it is surely a good supplementary service for other varieties of online publishers. For example, a website which provides a free service like dictionary.com gets high levels of traffic, and is able to make their service profitable through adsense. This has been the case for Bloggers who originally provided content free of charge, being unable to reach the scale that is necessary to contract with advertisers directly.

This could also apply to other previously free services, including wider forms of information broadcast, and news for example. In 2006 a man who later published a selection of Videos claims to make $19,000 a month through adsense, claiming that he was also contacted through Google to help him increase the CTR (Click Through Rate) that he achieved. The thought of success like this has been a major factor in stimulating online publishers to opt for Adsense.

Many publishers also claim that adsense makes their website look more professional. Those who are able to contract with advertisers are generally seen to provide a service with large appeal, and therefore those unfamiliar with the program may feel that the Adsense advertiser is in this position.

Adsense however, is also aligned with those publishers who use the service purely to provide links to adverts. Everyone has done a Google search, clicked on an Adwords advert and came into a website which reads top ten resources on… This is a major problem, as is generally something that surfers find frustrating. If people see that it says adverts by Google, and they then see adverts by Google on another site, they may align that site with consumer unfriendly practices. This is therefore an issue which Google has to address, to maintain Adsense as a reputable service.

Regardless of the disadvantages and the websites for which the service may be inappropriate it is still a useful tool for website visitors. Those who visit a website, and click on a link provide revenues for the publisher, whilst those who provide free services are able to generate revenue.

The only fear that Google has, is that rival PPC programs offer better deals to publishers and they decide to go elsewhere, therefore taking advertisers with them. However, ultimately it is best for advertisers and publishers if they largely remain in same PPC circuit.

Why Advertisers support Adsense

Google is the biggest search engine on the web. It controls over 40% of Internet searches, and with that it controls pay per click advertising (pay per click). PPC involves the advertiser paying a rate for every click through (CTR) in which the advertisers set. As their budget increases, their position increases, and as their position increases, they get more traffic.

This has lead to over 140,000 companies choosing to advertise with them, and they advertise in a number of ways. The first way is through is through appearing on Google searches, the second is through appearing on distributors websites, and the third is through appearing in distributors search results. As advertisers appear in Google searches, the question is sometimes asked. Why do they choose to advertise with distributors as well?

One reason for this is scalability. Those who originally choose to advertise in search results and who were getting a ROI (return on investment) will decide at one point that they need to identify other advertising opportunities. With thousands of websites which have the capacity to display their adverts the advertisers can gain further exposure very quickly.

Another reason why advertisers choose to advertise in Google distributors websites is that it gains them further exposure. 60% of internet users do not use Google, so the advertiser can appeal to a wider audience through choosing to opt for distribution channels. Many website users may be looking to buy a product such as a phone, yet instead of coming across a website which sells such a product, they come across an article. If the article is on a website which contains Adsense then inevitably advertisers can use this channel to penetrate their audience.

Another reason why advertisers choose adsense is because they trust Google. The company is renowned for being an ethical company who are fun to work whilst providing free services to millions worldwide. Advertisers feel that money invested with Google is safe. Despite the evolution of click-fraud and its inevitable disadvantages for advertisers they appear to understand that this is an issue which Google wants to stop and hopefully will eventually. Advertisers are happy that Google admits a problem exits and provides refunds accordingly.

The trust in Google also stems from a trust in pricing. The pricing is set by market forces and therefore advertisers never feel that publishers or Google are overpricing the service. This means that as long as advertisers are able to advertise they will continue to do so, if not at the same rates.

Another strong advantage for advertisers is that they can appear where publishers promote their service. An example of this can seen if you consider a publisher who is discussing the benefits of new IT software. If a software retailer appears on the website then inevitably they will be the likely source from which the web surfer will purchase the product. If the surfer is not interested then you could argue that they would not click on the advert.

The service which Google provides has created an opportunity for businesses of all sizes to advertise. Although the issue of click fraud still plagues the service it is till widely regarded as the best. New businesses attempt to promote themselves on the web, whilst established brands alike choose to attract interest in their service using the same technique.

Why Use Google Adsense

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard about Google’s AdSense and you are thinking about giving it a go. But is it really worth placing an AdSense banner on your site?

The answer is a definite yes. You could always have some other banner on your site, or even use some search of affiliate ad program and that would probably make you some money, given of course that your site enjoys a healthy amount of visitors. However with affiliate marketing, it is expected that the visitor from your website completes a sale before you are remunerated.

But that’s nowhere near what you get for using AdSense. There are people who earn in excess of 100.000 dollars per year by using AdSense. And it doesn’t just stop with making more money. Firstly, the ads are text only. That means they’re by far less obtrusive on your visitors then your average, flashy banner that’s designed to catch the eye of the visitor.

Sure, you’ll have to ensure they get better placement, so as to be noticed but despite that they don’t bother viewer’s as much as traditional ads. Think about the many sites you’ve seen using pop-ups, floating banners and many other schemes that will have visitors screaming in anger every time they visit the said website. You can actually do better then that, annoying people less and still making an amount of money.

Secondly, the ads are generated based on the contents of your site automatically. When you use an affiliate ad program, you have to specify certain categories that your sites belong to.

However, if any page on your site falls outside of these categories, the banners aren’t targeted anymore. And what that means is that you’re potentially showing ads to people who don’t have any interest in them and that can lead to inefficiencies.

With Google AdSense that just about never happens: the ads present on your site will always be in sync with whatever your visitors are interested in and that adds to your site’s value and to the revenue it produces.

What’s more, the look of these banners and their size is customizable, which means they will feel more integrated with the rest of your site’s content, which brings an increase in your site’s overall visual quality as opposed to a traditional approach.

For many people, there’s also a great problem with finding people to advertise on their site as well. AdSense is clearly the easiest solution available to this problem today.

It’s free to join the AdSense program and it almost takes no time at all. The potential database of websites from AdWords is larger then anything you might encounter from any competitor, numbering over 150.000 users. This means as more people compete the CPC or cost per click for search terms will inevitably rise.

Also, setting up AdSense on your site is a breeze, and you can complete the whole process in less then an hour. It takes a lot less to do then any form of affiliate advertising which is yet another reason to choose the easy AdSense approach.

All you need to do is add an AdSense banner on your website (other then registering with the program of course) is to copy & paste a few lines and you’re all done, you get to choose where the banners go, how large they are and how they integrate with the rest of your site.

For any webmaster out there, that’s a killer scheme because it lets you draw the line between your site’s usability level and the amount of advertising you wish to have. Some people need the money badly while others just keep AdSense running to pay for the hosting of their website.

AdSense is a great advertising program because a lot of thought has went into making it “just work for everyone”. It works great for the people who use AdWords, for the webmasters using AdSense, and most importantly for the visitors of the websites.

EntreCard

I found that EntreCard is interesting. Its a traffic exchange program.

First step you have to do is create your account at entrecard dot com. When you have setup all of the widget on your website, you can start generate money from it with just drop your card at someone else widget.

Every card you drop entitle you to get 1 EC point. A maximum points that you can generate is 300 EC per day. You can make a small buck with it. When you have 1000 EC points. You can sell it to other. Some will pay you as low as $9.95 for 1000 EC points. Very simple aite. For 4 days collecting those EC points, you can sell or use it to gain traffics from other site.

Some of webmaster prefer give their EC point to other webmaster to display the EC card at their site. Usually they search for high traffic site. The site owner can demand how much EC points needed to display it for  the whole day. Some asked 1000EC per day, and some just give as low as 10EC per day.

For me, I want to collect as much as EC points I can generate then I sell it to others that need it.

To all webmaster, I recommend you to have this EC widget at your own site. Great traffic exchange and its a social bookmarking / networking also.

When you joined it, add “U Drop, I Follow” button. Special group for EC point collectors.

Buying a Notebook

Today im doing some research about what type / specification of notebook that suit for me.

First I have to answer a simple questions.

1. what sort of user i am

2. how portable is portable

3. how big the hard disk i should have

4. how complicated the application that i will use

What Sort Of User I Am

I am power user. Will do video editing, rendering, multi application running at a time. So, I need a powerful processor.

How Portable is Portable

I travel a lot. Working at everywhere. So mobility is needed. I have to choose a notebook that is lightweight. Below 2kg i guess. Wow, must be expensive. But i can accept below 3 if the specs suit my needs. The screen size also must be below 14 inch. I dont like my notebook have bigger screen than 14 inch. If over 14 inch, might as well i buy a desktop. I can get powerful specs and wider screen as wide as 20inch with the same price of 17 inch notebook.

How Big is The Hard Disk

Hard disk space is not an issue for me. Nowdays, the smallest HDD in market is 120Gb. Enough for me. I prefer use external HDD if I need extra space. So, HDD is no big deal.

How Complicated the Application That Will Run Simultaneously

Im a web developer. Playing with emage editing, site building. Will use application like Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, SoundForge and other web design application. So, I need a good memory to run with. Minimum will be 2Gb of RAM.

Conclusion

There are some notebook that have been reviewed. Its like 3 notebook that suit my need. One from Lenovo. I really love the x61 series. So lightweight yet powerful. But, the price? Huh. Too expensive for me to buy. You know what, I can get the same specs like x61 for cheaper price. Lenovo notebook are specially design for business user. The one that use to impress.

Another notebook that i found is HP Compaq B1200 series. There a several specs with reasonable price. Range from RM3,000 to RM5,000. Maybe I will buy this B1200 series when I have determined which processor will I use. Maybe the basic specs or high performance machine.

The Journey Begin With Digital Product

There are many types of digital products that can be sold or buy thru the internet. Basically, all the products are made downloadable. Either its is images, ebooks, master resale rights products, privale label rights products, banner / site / images design from people who provide the services. Usually, all these products are instantly can be download after payment are made.

Ebooks is a pdf file. Ebooks are information products or a guide about anything. For example, there are ebooks called “How to Create Your Own Blog Within a Minutes”. So, in this ebooks should have information or step by step guide on how to create blog in just a minutes. Usually these kind of ebooks just have limited pages of pdf file because as we predict from the title.  There are  ebooks that have a lot of pages, it can be a hundred of pages or 60 pages  information like  this ebook called “The BlackHat Strategies”. From the title we can assume that inside this ebooks will have a valuable information about BlackHat Strategies.

Enough about ebooks. We go to these MRR (Master Resale Rights) and PLR (Private Label Rights) products. MRR and PLR is like those ebooks but these products we can sell it backand keep 100% of the profits. Sound interesting right. MRR products give you the license to manipulate, change the author name, or how ever you want to edit it, you have the rights because of the MRR license. Differ than PLR you only can change sell it as is basic. Cant edit but can sell how ever you want. Thats the beauty of the MRR and PLR products. So, when you buy this kind of products, after you use it or read it you can sell it back to make more profits from it. Please visit www.redscuffles.com This website offer you the brand new MRR /PLR product for your learning path and make a quick buck. Also these site using these 7DollarSecretScript that allow whoever have a PayPal account make some money from it. I will explain about it later.

Softwares also is a digital products that require no shipping address because can be download instantly. For example of site that selling software is ProxyFrenzy. If you buy and made a payment, instantly you can download and use it right away.

forum moderator

i just join a new born forum for about 3 days now and found it interesting. Every webmaster all over the world are gather there sharing info and experience with others. love it so much because i love to learn new things. so in there, i have learnt a lot. from php code to site monetizing strategy.

The owner PM me today, im so shock, he asked me to be one of the moderator of the forum. what can i say. i just say yes. i will be a good moderator and accept the challenge. LOL

the forum that i talk about is webzpoint.com

owned by Rick (owner of VisitorFrenzy).

Back Extension

ari nih ari khamis. so petang ni aku akan train my biceps, triceps and arm muscle. smalam mmg gile la training. smalam workout back muscle. kene pulak instructor ade. perghhh, bukan maen lagi sakitnye. sakit yang memuaskan diri. bile sakit maksudnya kite tau ape yg kite buat tu betul and kene kat spot yang sepatutnye. kalau buat spot lain, sakitnye kat spot lain, tu salah lah namenye.

aku baru je join satu forum ni. forum ni baru je live dalam seminggu lepas la. forum ni adalah satu forum untuk semua webmaster dan orang yang minat buat web, termasukla website coder, website designer, website designer, sume sume la yg pasal website. so dalam website ni banyak la aku blaja dari members seluruh dunia. perghh..

hairionline is going global.

ape yg aku nak cite sebenarnye, aku tau forum nih pon dari satu forum laen. owner forum yg aku join ni tgh carik orang utk promote forum baru die dengan cara buat posting yang menarik dan valuable untuk semua members. die bayar kat sesiapa yang post paling banyak $100, kire ok la tu kan. aku pon join la. post la mane2 yang aku paham, aku tau. belasah je. tau tau je skang ni aku adalah poster terbanyak dalam forum tu. so, dapat la sket2 owner die tolong aku wat kan backlink utk site aku dengan cara post article aku dalam 50 blog die. wah.. backlink bagus.

tapi bile tengok smula 50 blog yg die post article aku tu, alahai sedihnye, blog yg takde pr (Google Page Rank). takpe la, janji bertambah backlink aku. semakin hampir aku ke serp (Search Engine Ranking Position) paling power.

tadi baru je lepas lunch. makan macam biase la, kalau tak ayam sure aku makan daging. bukan ape, aku tak reti makan ikan. lagi pon kalau aku makan nasi ngan telor je ke, ngan sayur je ke, petang aku akan sakit kepala. mungkin sebab tak cukup protien or vitamin. blasah pulak kat gym. so supplement utk badan tak cukup. itu yg sakit kepala tu.

petang ni kol bape nak gi gym ek. dulu2 kol 5 sharp je aku dah kuar dari opis menuju ke gym. skang ni malas la nak gi awal2 sbb bebudak ni datang pon lewat. aku gi awal2 training sorang2 pon tak syok gak.

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