NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Campaign Auditing vs. Fraud
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Campaign Auditing vs. Fraud
Claire Amundsen Schaeffer (webmaster_at_freegraphics.com)
Thu, 19 Nov 1998 21:21:39 -0600 (CST)
There's been some discussion of protecting advertiser's from
fraud, but how does a content publisher protect their
reputation from paranoid advertisers who assume fraud when
there is none?
As a content publisher whose site is supported by
advertising, I was recently surprised by a note from
ClickTrade stating that the payout of one of my ClickTrade
accounts was being reduced from $0.11 to $0.06 per click
because of a "Continuing pattern of suspicious clicks".
Particularly surprising since this same account,
approximately two weeks earlier, had been bumped from $0.08
(the starting payout) to $0.11
How had I gone from a pay raise to suspicion of fraud in
just two weeks? I contacted the advertiser who sent the
following response: "Yes, I reduced your payout because a
significant number of clicks on the ad or link at your site
were NOT resulting in traffic ever arriving at my site. The
pattern is not as abusive as some sites (frequently I find
sites that generate ONLY clicks that never actually get to
my site, and they are cut to zero and reported as
fraudulent). Your site is generating a moderate number of
these unacceptable clicks, so I reduced the payout rate. If
the problem persists, I will reduce the payout rate to
zero."
I pulled all of this advertiser's ads (this headache I don't
need) and requested that the advertiser please send me the
numbers he was basing this decision on -- I *know* I was not
abusing the system, I wanted to see the stats. that led him
to believe I was. No response.
The kicker to this whole story is that I've been carrying
ads for this advertiser since late September/early October.
And while I had 65,000 visitors to my site in October, this
particular ad was on a low traffic page of my site. From the
time I started carrying these ads to the time I removed
them, I sent a TOTAL of 19 clicks to this advertiser. Only
seven of those clicks were after the pay rate was initially
raised to $.11
So out of a total of 19 clicks (or better yet, seven clicks
since I'm guessing I was not under suspicion of fraud when
my pay rate was *raised*), according to the advertiser, my
site generated a "moderate number" of clicks which didn't
make it to the advertiser's site and I was reported to
ClickTrade for "suspicious pattern of clicks". This is the
*Internet* for crying out loud -- not every click goes
through.
As money goes, this is a silly little incident, not worthy
of discussion. But I must admit to being incensed that my
ethics have been questioned and reported to an advertising
body as suspicious. One bad choice of advertisers and I put
my reputation (which beyond my own personal feelings, is
also important to my larger advertisers) at risk for .08 per
click -- not worth it. Rest assured, I won't be signing up
for any additional per click "affiliate programs." I won't
jeopardize my entire advertising base for such little
programs. I now know the negatives outweigh the pay rate by
a significant load.
Claire Amundsen Schaeffer
--
Free Graphics?
We Know Where the Good Stuff Is
http://www.freegraphics.com/
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