Looking at my logs, I noticed that the following keyword was searched 10 times yesterday: "hotel deal cancuns" (notice the typo in cancun). I looked further and all 10 searches are coming from the same class C but each time a different IP. (one is x.x.x.201, the next one x.x.x.108...) and from 4 different SEs. The SEs are affiliate type but not where I bid. I looks to me as a scam not too expensive ($0.25 per keyword) but I a liitle bit worried. Any ideas what should I do? I contacted the PPC and they don't see a click fraud and sent me back to the TOS.
Findwhat. We just decided to give up on them. They did a great job but since several months it really weak.
People honestly don't realize how big of a scam overture and google can be as well. Infact, Some of the smaller PPC's may actually do better since they can offer a more personal service. Your PPC campaign is only as good as YOU make it. If you work hard and understand the networks you are advertising on then YOU can make it succeed. If however you don't trust the arrangements before hand you won't trust your results and you won't put forth the effort you need to make it work. FindWhat is'nt bad at all. It completely depends upon your business and the way you setup your Ad campaign. A Webhost (friend) recieves good ROI with FindWhat whereas an AirTravel Company (antoher friend) lost a couple hundred dollars to them. It isn't up to the network to make things work, it is up to YOU understanding your audience and correctly targeting to them and tracking your results. Doesn't matter if its google, overture or anyone. Hoep that helps.
I agree with the last poster. Overture and Adwords are not guarantees for success - quite the opposite. Overture and Adwords crowded places which means that there are a lot of people bidding. So the prices on Overture and Adwords are usally much higher than say FindWhat.
have to say i have been webmaster for www.flyingkiwi.com for a while and we had to withdraw from using google as the prices were getting ridiculous and we were sure we were getting spammed. i've found overture to be much better value but as long as advertising in cheaper countries can work for you!!!!
Thats just a couple of problems with FindWhat and thats perfectly normal for such a huge Advertising Network. I've heard several cases of Google Adwords (Advertisers) as well as Adsense (Affiliates) Fraud. Overture is the daddy, have'nt heard too much bad about them. I'd really prefer Overture and FindWhat over Google.
Does appear so indeed. Are there tools to block FTP accress by IP? (I use FileZilla). Sorry to go off-topic.
Qal, the PPC consultants that I know, who do nothing but manage PPC campaigns for clients for a living, all claim that fraud is a much, much bigger problem with the 2nd tier PPCs than with Google or Overture.
Advertising is an objective issue, which I am sure you would understand. People who click on the link does not necessary want to sign up for the service straight away as they may be just browsing... 2nd Tier PPCs (FindWhat isn't a second tier Provide, make a note) never guarantee that the traffic generated would all convert, not even google or Overture assure that. However, FindWhat and 2nd tier ppc's like GoClick (Sold to someone else now), 7Search etc provide better ROI and a more personal service relatively. For instance, a mobile phone (friend 1) had an excellent ROI with FindWhat compared to any other provider, whereas, a Flower Delivery Service (Friend 2)had terrible returns with FindWhat, google but overture worked for them. Thusly, according to my experience in this scene so far, Overture works best, followed by just a few 2nd tier ppcs. Google has'nt been good for me (and everyone I know) so far.
2nd Tier PPCs (FindWhat isn't a second tier Provide, make a note) never guarantee that the traffic generated would all convert, not even google or Overture assure that. However, FindWhat and 2nd tier ppc's like GoClick (Sold to someone else now), 7Search etc provide better ROI and a more personal service relatively. I Also found good results for my co ultimate tickets and have had a problem with Google also. I have since been using 2nd tiers along with Miva "Findwhat" and have a had a great ROI with lower click costs. I use search engine called Redzee "redzee.com" and with their commercials they air on ESPN all the time have done well. With engines like Redzee and 7 search I can really take advantage of my best and most expensive keywords on Google and eliminate them completely. Like you said above these second tiers like Redzee and 7 search "7search.com" etc, may not work for everyone in the mainstream and popular keywords their userbase size is insigificant if I only pay for clicks. Yes my clicks are lower but ROI is better.
Let me guess, you're in Florida!? (where all of the Redzee spammers live) <edit> Just as I suspected, your IP matches this guy's: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=325447#post325447 And is close to all of the other Redzee employees in that thread.