Most of us set forth on this grand quest of blogging, Internet marketing, and all the rest of it based on a certain set of assumptions.
We assume, for instance, that we will generally have reliable access to our email so that we may best pursue the opportunities that are presented to us.
We assume that when we place an affiliate link on our blogs that we will be suitably and accurately credited for any qualified referrals that we generate.
Soon enough we may find that we are no longer just running a website or blog, but now a fully functional business or brand that is now generating some real money.
In addition to the management of such a site, there are plenty of factors that will now come into play – such as how freelancing can play a role in the growth of your business, and also how to better manage costs and revenue in the process.
No matter what areas you want to improve or expand in, it’s likely you are going to need some help through the use of manual work or software automation.
When it comes to generating revenue on the internet, it’s all about getting as many page views as possible – and of course, targeting the right audience.
With this in mind, we can also assume that when we see a page view or a click-through on our sites that it is coming from a living, breathing human being on some computer (or other connected devices) somewhere in the world. But the reality is much more complex than that and by most estimates, anywhere from at least 40% to over 60% of web traffic is actually being generated by bots.
These bots aren’t all bad, of course, because they are necessary for the day-to-day functioning of the web. Google unleashes its army of spiders so that it can feed the data into its search engine algorithms, for instance. However, some reports indicate that some 20% of overall Internet traffic can actually be attributed to malicious bots. And this could be seriously hurting your prospects of success.
The PPC campaign pain
The biggest and most profound scenario where you will find this in action is with pay-per-click advertising (PPC).
The two biggest players in this space are Google AdWords and Bing Ads. From the perspective of the advertiser, you set out your bid and budget for a given campaign and set it loose onto the online world. The way it’s supposed to work is that actual people click on those ads and you pay the corresponding amount for that click because you are extracting a certain amount of value from that paid traffic.
But click fraud, most typically from a bot or even one of your competitors, can completely wipe out your budget. That’s because you’re effectively paying for a click that has no actual value to you.
Let’s say that you’re running a PPC campaign to a landing page for a certain affiliate offer. If a real person clicks on the ad and arrives on the page, you have the opportunity to earn a commission. If it’s a bot (or a competitor with zero intent of giving you any money), then your chances of conversion are essentially zero.
Repeat this cycle over dozens, hundreds or even thousands of clicks and you can see how click fraud can completely kill your return on investment (ROI). You’re spending your budget on clicks that are worthless to you.
Google AdWords and Bing Ads have algorithms in place to detect some of this click fraud, but they’re hardly bulletproof and a lot of fraudulent clicks still make it through their filters.
You might watch several expert YouTubers or listen to PPC podcasts to help improve the performance of your campaigns, but click fraud can continue to play a hugely detrimental role in sabotaging your prospects at…
