Friday, April 27, 2007

Avoid Pay Per Click Fraud Problems

One of the most important Internet marketing tools is PPC advertising. With Yahoo and Google leading the pack, the industry as a whole has grown immensely in the past few years. PriceWaterHouseCoopers reports that in 2004 alone, Internet Advertising brought in an estimated $9 billion dollars. Anybody can use this marketing system that is really quite simple in theory.


With PPC advertising you choose "keywords/phrases," then bid how much you'd like to pay for each click. When a searcher goes to a search engine and types in one of your keyphrases, your short text ad appears, and if someone click on it your account is then charged. In a "perfect world" this is the way it would work, but thanks to unscrupulous people, there's a dirty little secret known as "click fraud."

Click fraud is simply the act of clicking on ads for the direct purpose of costing the advertiser money. It is recognized as the biggest problem today in PPC marketing. According to InternetWeek.com, 60% of people surveyed by the "Search Engine Professional Organization" have stated that fraud is a problem when it comes to PPC advertising.

PPC marketing can cost you a lot if you do not administer it right. Bad targeting plus fraud can be a costly problem. The main sources of click fraud are the following four:

1) AdSense Users:
Google Adsense has a program called "Adsense" that pays website owners to run their Adwords ads and compensates them per click. Google does monitor this and it's against their terms of service to click on any of the ads on your own site. If they find a publishers doing this, they will lose their accounts, but some may still be clicking under the radar.

2) Your Own Competitors:
Your competitors could be clicking on your ads over a period of several days in order to deplete your ad budget. This way they neutrilize your advertizing campaigns.

3) Software:
There are those who use automated clicking tools, such as robot programs, to click on PPC listings.

4) Paid Clickers:
In some Asian countries, people are often paid to click on PPC ads for hours. Many don't know why they do it, and don't care. The only important issue is that they will be well rewarded for their efforts. If you do a search on any search engine you'll see plenty of sites offering to hire people for just this purpose. Type in 'earn rupees clicking ads' in Google and you get quite a few leads.

Most PPC networks have measures in place to protect you against click fraud. Yahoo's Overture tracks more than 50 data points, including IP addresses, browser info, users' session info and what they call "pattern recognition." They have a "proprietary system" in place for detecting fraud and a specialized team that monitors things and works with the advertisers to stop it.

Google offers suggestions to avoid click thru fraud, such as "using negative keywords" to keep your ads from showing up for products and services that are unrelated. They also suggest adding tracking url's to your links so you can track the traffic coming from Google. If you go through your log files, you'll be able to see your Google traffic at a glance.

If you suspect fraud, Google asks that you contact them right away, because they have a team of researchers that will investigate. They also take action to block future impressions from anyone they identify as committing click fraud. Like Overture, they also have "proprietary technology" that distinguishes between normal clicks and invalid ones. Google never bills you for any "bad clicks" that are caught by their system.

All honest website owners need to be alert to any "suspicious activity" by researching their server logs or stats. If you're experiencing a lot of clicks and no sales you'll also want to take a closer look. You need to watch for any spikes in traffic, usually on one keyword or phrase and coming from only one PPC source. You need to measure and track all of your PPC accounts closely.

A variety of new services have opened recently to help combat the click fraud problem. Some of them also offer web analytic tools that help improve your advertising productivity. You may want to look at these outside services to take care of problems for you. Here are some links:

1) Keyword Max:
http://www.KeyWordMax.com
Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can request a free demo at the site.

2) Click Detective:
http://www.ClickDetective.com
A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging into your account.

3) Click Assurance:
http://www.ClickAssurance.com
An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go after any refunds you are due because of fraud.

4) Nami Media:
http://www.NamiMedia.com
Specializes in post-click actions and landing page optimization technologies. Offers to increase sales and give marketers the ability to intelligently define landing pages to achieve business objectives. Works on ASP platform.

5) Who's Clicking Who:
http://www.WhosClickingWho.com
An independent auditing service that tracks individual users for fraud. Can also detect abuse coming from proxy servers. A one month subscription is $79.00, which includes free installation and up to 50,000 transactions per month.

6) ClickLab:
http://www.ClickLab.com/
This service isolates bad clicks with a scorecard based detection system. Pricing starts at $50.00 per month and is based on the number of sites you need to track and their page views.

ClickLab also offers white papers you should download while visiting, get them at the resources section.

7) Tracking ROI:
http://www.TrackingROI.com/
TrackingROI’s Content Personalization System is truly a technological innovation that targets site visitors more closely. This system allows you to segment visitors to your site into groups and then provides personalized content through a Microsoft Word like tool! Your visitors can be segmented based upon each individual campaign. It offers ad tracking, site optimization, as well as click fraud control.


Click fraud isn't going away anytime soon. Most probably, it will get worse before it get's any better. It's up to you as a vigilant website owner to do what you can to keep your PPC advertising costs down. You can't stop it, but with the right tracking in place, it can be managed and controlled, and hopefully kept to a minimum.

Copyright © InternetWorldStats.com

Friday, March 9, 2007

Google Guy Sergey Brin as The Youngest Rich Man in the World

The 100 World's Billionaires, According to Forbes Magazine

The ranking of the world's richest people as estimated by Forbes magazine. Listings include rank, name, home country or state, age where known, wealth in billions of dollars and source of the money.

Forbes says the research that went into compiling the rankings began in early 2006 and ended on Feb. 9, 2007.

But what is surpricing to me is the Two Google Alien Guy namely Sergey Brin and Larry Page with $16.6 each of Wealth solely made from Google. Sergey Brin is now considered as the World Youngest Rich man at the age of 33 followed by his mate Larry to 2nd spot. I might no doubt that by the 4th quarter of this year, this two young man will enventually rise to Top 10. They buying more famous websites from telecom to blogs. I've read rising of countless online millionaires last year just because of Google Adsense mania and it still in demand to the online market.

The below is the updated Ranking of the World richest people and Bill Gates is still too young to stay on top of the edge.


. William Gates III, Washington, 51, $56, Microsoft

2. Warren Buffett, Nebraska, 76, $52, Berkshire Hathaway

3. Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico, 67, $49, telecom

4. Ingvar Kamprad and family, Sweden, 80, $33, Ikea

5. Lakshmi Mittal, India, 56, $32, steel

6. Sheldon Adelson, Nevada, 73, $26.5, casinos, hotels

7. Bernard Arnault, France, 58, $26, LVMH

8. Amancio Ortega, Spain, 71, $24, Zara

9. Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong, 78, $23, diversified

10. David Thomson and family, Canada, 49, $22, inheritance

11. Lawrence Ellison, California, 62, $21.5, Oracle

12. Liliane Bettencourt, France, 84, $20.7, L'Oreal

13. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, Saudi Arabia, 50, $20.3, investments

14. Mukesh Ambani, India, 49, $20.1, petrochemicals

15. Karl Albrecht, Germany, 87, $20, Aldi

16. Roman Abramovich, Russia, 40, $18.7, oil

17. Stefan Persson, Sweden, 59, $18.4, Hennes & Mauritz

18. Anil Ambani, India, 47, $18.2, diversified

19. Paul Allen, Washington, 54, $18, Microsoft, investments

20. Theo Albrecht, Germany, 84, $17.5, Aldi, Trader Joe's

21. Azim Premji, India, 61, $17.1, software

22. Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong, 79, $17, real estate

23. Jim Walton, Arkansas, 59, $16.8, Wal-Mart

24. Christy Walton and family, Wyoming, 52, $16.7, Wal-Mart inheritance

24. S. Robson Walton, Arkansas, 63, $16.7, Wal-Mart

26. Sergey Brin, California, 33, $16.6, Google

26. Larry Page, California, 34, $16.6, Google


26. Alice Walton, Texas, 57, $16.6, Wal-Mart

29. Helen Walton, Arkansas, 87, $16.4, Wal-Mart

30. Michael Dell, Texas, 42, $15.8, Dell

31. Steven Ballmer, Washington, 51, $15, Microsoft

31. Kirk Kerkorian, California, 89, $15, investments, casinos

31. Raymond, Thomas and Walter Kwok, Hong Kong, ages unknown, $15, real estate

34. Francois Pinault, France, 70, $14.5, retail

35. Suleiman Kerimov, Russia, 41, $14.4, stocks

36. Vladimir Lisin, Russia, 50, $14.3, steel

37. Jack Taylor and family, Missouri, 84, $13.9, Enterprise Rent-A-Car

38. Vladimir Potanin, Russia, 46, $13.5, metals

38. Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia, 41, $13.5, metals

40. Oleg Deripaska, Russia, 39, $13.3, aluminum

40. Michael Otto and family, Germany, 63, $13.3, retail

42. Carl Icahn, New York, 71, $13, leveraged buyouts

42. Abigail Johnson, Massachusetts, 45, $13, Fidelity

44. Adolf Merckle, Germany, 72, $12.8, drugs

45. Barbara Cox Anthony, Hawaii, 83, $12.6, Cox Enterprises

45. Anne Cox Chambers, Georgia, 87, $12.6, Cox Enterprises

45. Mikhail Fridman, Russia, 42, $12.6, oil, banking

48. Vagit Alekperov, Russia, 56, $12.4, oil

49. Charles Koch, Kansas, 71, $12, oil, commodities

49. David Koch, New York, 66, $12, oil, commodities

51. Silvio Berlusconi and family, Italy, 70, $11.8, media

52. Nasser Al-Kharafi and family, Kuwait, 63, $11.5, construction

52. Leonardo Del Vecchio, Italy, 71, $11.5, eyewear

54. Alexei Mordashov, Russia, 41, $11.2, steel

55. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor and family, Britain, 55, $11, real estate

55. Spiro Latsis and family, Greece, 60, $11, banking

55. Birgit Rausing and family, Sweden, 83, $11, packaging

58. Forrest Mars Jr., Virginia, 75, $10.5, candy

58. Jacqueline Mars, New Jersey, 67, $10.5, candy

58. John Mars, Virginia, 70, $10.5, candy

61. Viktor Vekselberg, Russia, 49, $10.4, oil, metals

62. Serge Dassault and family, France, 81, $10, aviation

62. Charles Ergen, Colorado, 54, $10, EchoStar

62. Michele Ferrero and family, Italy, 80, $10, chocolates

62. Naguib Sawiris, Egypt, 52, $10, telecom

62. Kushal Pal Singh, India, 75, $10, real estate

62. Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, France, ages unknown, $10, Chanel

68. Susanne Klatten, Germany, 44, $9.6, BMW, drugs

69. Philip Knight, Oregon, 69, $9.5, Nike

69. Sunil Mittal and family, India, 49, $9.5, telecom

71. John Kluge, Florida, 92, $9.1, Metromedia

71. Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Russia, 58, $9.1, telecom

73. Rupert Murdoch, New York, 76, $9, News Corp.

73. Hans Rausing, Sweden, 81, $9, packaging

73. Reinhold Wurth, Germany, 71, $9, manufacturing

76. Ernesto Bertarelli, Switzerland, 41, $8.8, biotech

76. Pierre Omidyar, Nevada, 39, $8.8, Ebay

78. Maria-Elisabeth and Georg Schaeffler, Germany, ages unknown, $8.7, ball bearings

79. Rafael del Pino and family, Spain, 86, $8.6, construction

80. Donald Bren, California, 74, $8.5, real estate

80. George Kaiser, Oklahoma, 64, $8.5, oil and gas, banking

80. George Soros, New York, 76, $8.5, hedge funds

83. Nikolai Tsvetkov, Russia, 46, $8.4, oil, banking

83. August von Finck, Germany, 77, $8.4, investments

85. Dan Duncan, Texas, 74, $8.2, energy

86. Mohammed Al Amoudi, Saudi Arabia, 61, $8, oil

86. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair and family, United Arab Emirates, 53, $8, banking

86. Kumar Birla, India, 39, $8, commodities

86. German Khan, Russia, 45, $8, oil, banking

86. Iskander Makhmudov, Russia, 43, $8, mining, metals

86. Sumner Redstone, California, 83, $8, Viacom

86. Shashi and Ravi Ruia, India, ages unknown, $8, diversified

93. Philip Anschutz, Colorado, 67, $7.9, investments

93. Galen Weston and family, Canada, 66, $7.9, retail

95. Enrique Banuelos, Spain, 41, $7.7, real estate

96. Stefan Quandt, Germany, 41, $7.6, BMW

97. Maan Al-Sanea, Saudi Arabia, 52, $7.5, construction, finance

97. Edward Johnson III, Massachusetts, 76, $7.5, Fidelity

99. Sulaiman Al Rajhi, Saudi Arabia, 87, $7.4, banking

100. Donald Newhouse, New Jersey, 77, $7.3, publishing

100. Samuel Newhouse Jr., New York, 79, $7.3, publishing

Monday, March 5, 2007

Finally Google Bought "YouTube" site

Numbers Out on How Rich TheTuBe Deal Was
By: Miguel Helft www.nytimes.com

Everyone suspected that the investors, founders and early employees of YouTube made tidy sums when it was acquired by Google for $1.65 billion in stock late last year.

But until yesterday, few knew just how tidy those sums were. The answer, which Google delivered in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is now in: The sums are big enough to spark a new wave of envy across Silicon Valley.

The biggest windfalls went, not surprisingly, to the company’s three founders and to Sequoia Capital, the main financial backer of YouTube, the popular video-sharing site.

A founder and YouTube’s chief executive Chad Hurley received 694,087 shares of Google and an additional 41,232 in a trust. Based on Google’s closing price yesterday of $470.01, the shares are worth more than $345 million.

Another founder, Steven Chen, received 625,366 shares and an additional 68,721 in a trust, for more than $326 million.

Sequoia Capital XI, the Sequoia fund that invested close to $11.5 million in YouTube from November 2005 to April 2006, was listed as having 941,027 shares, which are valued at more than $442 million.

The filing lists a Sequoia Capital XI Principals Fund owning 102,376 shares, valued at more than $48 million, and Sequoia Technology Partners XI with 29,724 shares, valued at nearly $14 million.

Sequoia, considered one of the most successful venture capital firms in the country, was also a principal investor in Google.

The third founder of YouTube, Jawed Karim, who left the company early on to pursue a graduate degree in computer science, received 137,443 shares worth more than $64 million.

In addition, several funds affiliated with Artis Capital Management, a San Francisco hedge fund managed by Stuart L. Peterson that was a co-investor with Sequoia, were listed as having received 176,621 shares, valued at $83 million.

When the deal was announced in October, YouTube was less than two years old and had about 70 employees. Several of the early employees are listed in the filing statement as owning thousands of Google shares.

The acquisition, the biggest in Google’s history, put the Internet search giant in the leading position in the rapidly growing world of online video. But the acquisition has been clouded by threats that Google could be sued by movie studios and other content owners over the proliferation of copyrighted material on the YouTube site. Just last week, Viacom demanded that Google remove from YouTube more than 100,000 video clips it claimed to own.