Dear [FIRSTNAME],
Click fraud involves the process of intentionally clicking ads
listed on your website for the purpose of earning money rather
than intending to view the products of the advertiser. Adsense
involves placing ads on your website for other businesses. The
way your website makes money is determined by the number of
clicks to the advertiser’s link. Most websites who participate
in Adsense are honest. However, the issue of click fraud is
happening more often on the internet as the owner’s of some
websites have found it an enticing method of generating more
money from the advertisers.
With the onset of click fraud, software has been designed to
analyze data based on the traffic to a website. This information
is used to determine the possibility of click fraud. If you
advertise this way you should invest in click fraud software or
you may pay more for advertising than you should be. This
software costs from $99 to $299, so it is very cost effective.
It is believed as much as 20% of the cost advertisers are paying
out each month is due to click fraud. With 3.2 million dollars
generated each year for this type of advertising, 20% is a very
high dollar amount to be losing!
A common method of click fraud involves an online robot that
clicks away at the advertisements listed on a particular
website. This is the quickest method. Others either do it
themselves, clicking away at the ads on their own website or
they hirer others to perform the task for them at a price much
less than what they receive in return from the advertisers.
Sometimes click fraud is done not to make money but to sabotage
competitors. This is done by finding websites that advertise for
them and continually click the ads. This will then cost that
competitor a great deal of money they have to pay out for
advertising without any hopes of generating additional sales
from that cost.
Those who participate in the act of click fraud should be very
careful. There are strict guidelines in place by Google to
protect the reputation of their Adsense operations. Anyone
caught participating in click fraud will be banned from further
advertisements on their website. Google has invested 2.7 million
for their Fraud Squad. They feel this investment is worthwhile
though as click fraud is a serious issue. It has the potential
of destroying the entire advertising industry online as we know
it.
There are legal issues involved as well. A California man was
charged with obtaining more than $150,000 due to click fraud in
2004. He has been indited by a Grand Jury. However, there are no
state or federal laws yet against click fraud. This particular
man was only indited in his scam because he came clean about it
with Google in a blackmail scheme. He was going to sell his
secret of how he did it to Google for another $150,000. If they
didn’t give it to him he threatened to keep on doing it. If we
can get state and federal laws to see click fraud as a
classification of fraud with the possibility of a felony charge
and jail time it may deter the amount of click fraud that takes
place.
To Your Success,
Joshua Shoemaker
P.S.
Click fraud is a huge issue that plagues the success of Adsense.
If you participate in Adsense then be warned on both sides of
the field. As a provider of such advertising don’t be tempted to
click on the ads yourself or with an automated system. The risk
of getting caught is very high as are the financial and legal
repercussions. As an advertiser pay close attention to high
changes in advertising costs through Adsense. Take the time to
question these increases. Is it click fraud or great increases
in traffic? Have sales increased? It is a great idea to invest
in click fraud software as well to protect your business as well
as your advertising budget.
