I was reading this article from the Seattle times today that talked about some local Vancouver residents that are being sued by Microsoft over an allege pay per click fraud scheme. You can read more about it here:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2009342708_microsoftclick160.html
Essentially, many people pay to have their websites get listed in various search engines that costs the advertisers money every time someone clicks on their link. It is said that these three people were purposely clicking on its competitor links to use up their funds and hence making only their listings as the last one standing.
I was reading a particular line that stated “The cost per click ranges from 5 cents to hundreds of dollars, depending on the desirability of the search term, according to court documentsâ€. Now I have seen keyword terms go for say double digits in cost per clicks, but triple digits? That just sounded like a lot.
Incase you are wondering though, to my knowledge those extremely high priced keywords are usually lawyer related where they target things like asbestos and mesothelioma lawsuits. As you know, those guys can get a lot of money from winning lawsuits.
I have helped many people in creating their sites to rank organically meaning search engines will evaluate and rank your site based on merits such as the content you provide. I have run across situations like this as well where someone spends hundreds of dollars on items like pay per clicks just to find that it is mostly a competitor that is draining their funds.
If you are starting some kind of online business, this article just reminded how you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in one basket either if you intended to market your website online to attract business. Example, a good strategy is to use various search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to try and build the long term traffic source that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. At the same time, you can use pay per clicks as a way to help jumpstart your efforts to acquire exposure.
Of course, if you are paying say $1 per click which generates a $5 sale on average then it makes sense to keep going. However, it’s better to build the long term vehicle too I’d say as oppose to constantly trading a dollar for a viewer. It’s things like word of mouth advertising that you want in the end I’d say.