It sounds like a late night infomercial biz-op:
your kitchen table in your underwear!"
Today's Washington Post has an interesting article about about click fraud -- and what Google and Yahoo are doing about it. Google estimates that less that 10% of its Adwords clicks are fraudulent, while some industry experts peg the problem at 15-30%. Regardless, it's big money for professional click fraud artists -- and even the FBI is said to be getting involved.
The article tells of a lady in Iowa getting addicted to earning a half-cent for every ad she clicks, reporting that she makes $300 a year. By my math, that's 60,000 clicks a year -- or 164 clicks per day. In America, you can make more than that flipping burgers. But in India, where much of the click fraud is originating, $300/year might be good money. Whatever. Fraud is fraud.
Two things for marketers ...
Thing 1: Until this mess gets straightened out, you marketers RELAX. It's not like most of you know what you are doing in the area of paid search, so is click fraud really the source of your problems? No. Remember, this problem effects everyone, and marketing effectiveness is relative. Your job is to outrun your competitors, and the PPC track is slick for everyone. So shaddap.
Thing 2: Regarding his company's advertising nearly a century ago, John Wanamaker [#] commented "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." At least with paid search, even the most dire prediction is that 70% of of your advertising is working.
Try that with a space ad, a TV spot, or a blimp.
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[#] Hat tip to Bob (see comments section) who correctly attributed this quote to John Wanamaker, and not Harvey Firestone -- as I did in my first version of this post. HJ
