Wired has an interesting article on the harsh reality of click fraud in the Internet marketing industry. I thought they did an excellent job in covering the different types of strategies criminals have in defrauding both the search engines, and the end client. wired

But what they didn’t discuss was the solution. They touched upon the idea of more sophisticated tracking, and even suggested that search engine may switch to a paid for performance model. The truth though is that programs like Google AdWords is already a paid performance model, if you treat it right. The real trick to paid search management is to either be willing to put the time in to do it right, or hand it off to a search engine marketing firm how is trained and ready to tackle the click fraud problem.

But how do you make sure you are getting the right firm? Make them put their money where their mouth is. I said earlier that programs like Google AdWords is a paid performance product, if handled correctly. Then your search engine marketing firm handling your pay per click bid management should be handling it correctly. Give them good goals to meet for cost per acquisition, or cost per action. Make the conversion rate their problem to tackle.

This should sound like exciting advice, but don’t think that this doesn’t mean work. If you’re not willing to cooperate with your search marketing firm on conversion, including detailed analytics and changes to improve conversion rates, than it will be a short lived relationship. Also, don’t expect a good quality firm to foot the bill for your clicks. Any firm willing to do that is no doubt taking advantage of a CPA rate that is inflated. Treat the program for what it is, a strategic partnership with an firm that specializes in this medium.

Step 1 is to establish goals and acquisition targets. Make sure you set realistic expectations, and that you’re able to earn profit off the acquired customers.

Step 2 is to implement very detailed analytics. If you have a product that can be ordered through telephone, now is the time to set up separate numbers. If you may have visitors that require more than one visit to your website to make a transaction, make sure you’re tracking that as well. The more detailed you are in analytics, the faster you will see success.

Step 3 is to be ready to spend. Don’t expect a professional search engine marketing firm to pay your Google and Yahoo bills and then just pay the firm when you make money. That model is simply not scalable for firms. Be ready to fund these accounts yourself, and to continue to fund them as the program becomes well tuned.

Step 4, be ready to change. If you have competitor out bidding you for a term, your search marketing firm will investigate the competitor and see what they are doing right, and how you can gain the edge. This may mean changes to a landing page, or trying different creative text options in the ad, or even implementing dynamic pricing based upon the search term of that specific landing page. The point is to be competitive, you have the be flexible.

This is the supposedly sought out secret of success in pay per click. Simply find the firm you feel is best qualified to handle your business, and give them the support they need to make you successful. When you have a firm being paid on performance, which means they will make sure to follow up on issues like click fraud.

click fraud, google, adwords

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 at 10:47 amand is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.