Pay-Per-Action Is A Worthy Substitute, But Not The Solution To End All Problems
(Source) Google is beta testing a different business formula for its AdSense product that eases up on its lucrative pay-per-click model in favor of a pay-per-action model. The new program could help address the click fraud problem that dogs the per-per-click sector of the online ad industry.
The idea with the beta test is to provide advertisers more latitude with ad contracts by stipulating payment only for pre-determined actions that result from a Google ad, such as a certain product purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
I’ve been saying for some time that there is an associated risk with pay-per-click advertising, as there is with any form of advertising. That’s not to say that PPC is the be-all end-all of advertising. But it didn’t necessarily need a fix. Still, I think Google’s pay-per-action model just might be the right elixir.
First, advertisers can choose what specific action they are paying for clickers to perform. A newsletter subscriber might not be as valuable as a closed sale. An advertiser who drvies customers to a landing page to subscribe to an ezine might be willing to pay .15 cents per click, but that same advertiser may be willing to pay $1.00 per click for each visitor that lands on a separate page designed to sell an item. The reason should be obvious.
This will make online advertising more competitive. Instead of advertisers competing just for the value of keywords, they will also be competing for the value of keywords in relation to a specific action performed. For one advertiser, the value of a subscriber may be more than the value of a one-time sell. For others, vice-versa. It will mean greater choice and flexibility for the advertiser. But will it reduce click fraud?
It could. But don’t think that scammers won’t find a way to cheat the system. They always do. It may not be as prevalent but it will happen. Some brilliant mad man with a twisted mind will devise a scheme to cheat the search engine and the advertiser in order to scrape a few pennies off of clicks. I can’t say how it will happen but you can bet that someone somewhere will figure out a way. Then we’ll be having this discussion all over again.
I’m not saying that pay-per-action isn’t a viable solution or a worthy product. It is. But no advertising model is perfect. We shouldn’t expect it to be.
ASM Development can help you with all your SEO & Web Design needs
SEO Blog
Recent Entries
- Why A Search Engine Googopoly Is Bad For The Internet
- Blogging For The Sake Of Blogging Is Not Blogging
- How To Create An Effective Social Marketing Tweet
- Internal Linking – Don’t Be Afraid Of The Long Tail
- Adding Your Scotland Based Local Business To AOL
- Don’t Be Too Quick To Dismiss Google Buzz
- Are Guest Posts A Bad Link Building Strategy?
- Can You Overdo SEO?
- Review Sites And SEO For Scotland Local Businesses
- What Effect Will HTML5 Have On Web Design And SEO