I want to look briefly at a specific aspect of one of the web’s greatest commercial success stories, Google. AdWords is the name for the pay per click service offered by Google to advertisers for the sponsored links that appear beside the queries entered into their search engine. Google explain their advertising system this way: “Concerned about costs? Don’t worry – AdWords puts you in complete control of your spending. Set your budget. There’s no minimum spending requirement – the amount you pay for AdWords is up to you. You can, for instance, set a daily budget of five dollars and a maximum cost of ten cents for each click on your ad. Avoid guesswork. We provide keyword traffic and cost estimates so you can make informed decisions about choosing keywords and maximizing your budget. (Estimate keyword costs) Pay only for results. You’re charged only if someone clicks your ad, not when your ad is displayed.”
So what Google does is match searches with relevant advertising. Now it is the advertiser who initially decides what keywords are relevant to their product, but Google helps them with this since they offer a search for effective AdWords function. While the advertisers determine how much they are prepared to pay both per click and in total, the more people click on an ad the less Google charges per click (their search engine dominance is based on ‘ relevance’ AKA ‘popularity’ and they are obsessed with preserving this). A simple mathematical formula is used to work out a Google AdWords rating but I won’t bore you by actually going through it here; suffice to say that the most effective ads are charged at lower rates and shown the most often. So to use AdWords successfully an advertiser has to write good copy and bid high enough on click payments to be displayed.
Where Google led others have followed, and a similar but less effective system operates on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Until last spring I had a number of profiles on MySpace most of which mentioned my passion for communism (anti-Bolshevik of course!), but the data miners didn’t seem to know the difference between real communism and fake communist tendencies that are now historically discredited – therefore when I was on MySpace I was often subjected to adverts with the following headlines: “School trips to Russia”, “All types of Russian Visas”, “Trotsky T-Shirts & Books” and even “Russian Beauties Seek Dating And Marriage”. Since like Bordiga and many others I view what happened in Russia under the Bolsheviks as a capitalist and not a communist revolution, these ads were of little interest to me and had been poorly targeted. Naturally the data miners are constantly attempting to refine their ad placement but since they never got me to click on anything, they were unable to learn much about what pushed my buttons, and I’d say the same is true for many readers of my blogs – a number of those from outside the UK wondered why after visiting my old MySpace pages they had been bombarded with ads for products associated with people they’ve never heard of; these were invariably British micro-celebrities such as Abi Titmuss who’d been lampooned – often just in passing – in my blogs or the accompanying comments.
That said, the data miners expect a certain failure rate, so the fact that they’ve been spectacularly unsuccessful at targeting ads at me and my blog readers isn’t statistically significant to them, but it does demonstrate that despite the hype their techniques are often too crude to work. What I haven’t worked out, but maybe someone else has, is when it would be more damaging to the click thru advertising industry for me to click on an ad that doesn’t interest me rather than ignoring it. Is there a way of driving up costs for advertisers by clicking thru to their product but not buying it that will discourage them from using click thru? Since this must vary from web service to web service, we clearly need specific equations to work out how to do click thru ad busting on specific sites such as Google and Bebo.
And while you’re at it don’t forget to check – http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ – you know it makes (no) sense!
Comments
Comment by Michael K on 2009-01-28 10:31:40 +0000
Hey this ad really caught my eye: “Make Money Online Scams? We Tested 37 Make Money Online Programs. Only Two Paid Out. ProConsumerGuides.Org”… Now why would someone supposedly critical of internet get rich quick schemes use click thru ads? Well my hunch is they are a con artist using knocking copy on their rivals to sell their own heap of crock! You can bet your bottom dollar they are actually running the two ads they say work. Genius! I’m going to AdWords right now with a bunch of clone click thru’s I’ve made that read pretty much just like this one!
Comment by The Real Tessie on 2009-01-28 10:54:20 +0000
Hey Micheal, check this which I got from that: “Profit Lance provides all members with 15 professionally designed and pre-hosted websites. The website are turnkey and they contain reviews to promote a variety of products in currently hot markets. As this removes all of the technical problems of creating a site and hosting it, it allows you to start generating income pretty much straight away, if you apply the other elements of the course.”
Professionally designed means only that the person doing it is charging you and runs the service as a business… it doesn’t actually mean the design is any good…. And you know what I’d do, I’d just give people 15 different free websites from places like WordPress and Blogger etc. All I’d do is create endless identical clone sites that won’t generate any traffic coz they are all the same cut ‘n’ paste job of material from the internet- but they are like so post-modern it will be a groove sensation! Wow I could like charge people 75 bucks for spending virtually no time setting up these clones. Of course my clients won’t make their money back… but what do I care?
And dig this: “…it allows you to start generating income pretty much straight away..” I love the caveat of ‘pretty much straight away”… like after a few months or years or something… You’re bound to get a click thru sooner or later but not enough to make your money back… Yes, pyramid schemes do indeed live on! There’s a sucker born every minute!
Comment by Harry Bates on 2009-01-28 11:00:53 +0000
Hi, my name is Harry Bates and if you click on the link to my site embedded in my name just above, you will learn just how easy it is for the average person with no experience to take the guess work out of making their money work hard for them by using simple methods on the internet!
I’m not some computer geek or wannabe when it comes to making money online. I am already Managing Director & owner of a very successful offline company, which earns me a substantial amount of money each year. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time when it came to setting up my online business. As a result, most of my income now is what I call ”automated income” – meaning, once I set things up, the money flows in almost effortlessly. My ”job” is simply keeping track of it!
Now before I write another word, let me get one thing straight from the start. What you are about to read is NOT A GET RICH QUICK SCHEME, ITS NOT MLM, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PUSH CATALOGUES THROUGH DOORS AND YOU DO NOT HAVE TO STORE PRODUCTS IN YOUR GARAGE!
So, if you’re at least a little bit curious, I invite you to click on the link above and allow me to show you just how easy it is to make a substantial income from the comfort of your own home!
Comment by GnatWest on 2009-01-28 11:03:44 +0000
Money$ense stands for straightforward, impartial guidance on understanding your money and managing your income and expenditure. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service has endorsed our material and accredited our Advisers.
Comment by Stay At Home Mum on 2009-01-28 11:17:39 +0000
Ok, we’re actually getting tired of people asking us to review Paid Surveys Etc. Because its been around for years, it does work and its really easy. Firstly all paid survey systems work, you get between $30 – $50 per survey, and they only take a couple of minutes to fill out. But where most of them fall down is that they struggle to get you enough surveys to fill out. A few years back we reviewed Stay at Home Mom an American sole trader that promised the earth and couldn’t deliver, and since then Paid Surveys have had a bit of a tarnished name. But there is the original and best Paid Surveys Etc Co that have been doing this for years, they have massive lists of surveys to carry out, and most people generate between $30k – $100k depending each and every
Comment by William Burroughs on 2009-01-28 11:20:40 +0000
Pyramid schemes exploit greed and gullibility. A successful pyramid scheme combines a fake yet seemingly credible business with a simple-to-understand yet sophisticated-sounding money-making formula. The essential idea is that the mark, Mr. X, makes only one payment. To start earning, Mr. X has to recruit others like him who will also make one payment each. Mr. X gets paid out of receipts from those new recruits. They then go on to recruit others. As each new recruit makes a payment, Mr. X gets a cut. He is thus promised exponential benefits as the ”business” expands.
Such ”businesses” seldom involve sales of real products or services to which a money value might be easily attached. However, sometimes the ”payment” itself may be a non-cash valuable. To enhance credibility, most such scams are well equipped with fake referrals, testimonials, and information. Clearly, the flaw is that there is no end benefit. The money simply travels up the chain. Only the originator (sometimes called the “pharaoh”) and a very few at the top levels of the pyramid make significant amounts of money. The amounts dwindle steeply down the pyramid slopes. Of course, the worst off are at the bottom of the pyramid: those who subscribed to the plan, but were not able to recruit any followers themselves.
Some network or multi-level marketing businesses, which sell real products and rely on the price differentials between the manufacturer’s dispatch ramp and the retail counter, may verge on the borderline between ”smart” and ”scam”. When a pyramid does involve a real product, such as Holiday Magic cosmetics in the United States in the 1970s, new “dealers” who’ve paid enrolling fees are encouraged, in addition to selling their products, to become “managers” and recruit more new “dealers” who will also pay enrolling fees. As the number of layers of the pyramid increases, new recruits find it harder and harder to sell the product because there are so many competing salesmen. Those near or at the top of the pyramid make a lot of money on their percentage of the enrolling fees and on commissions for the supplied products, but those at the bottom are left with inventories of products they can’t sell. However, most multi-level marketing businesses are not pyramid schemes.
Pyramid schemes are not to be confused with Ponzi schemes, named after Charles Ponzi, which also rely on greed and gullibility but are quite different. In a Ponzi scheme, all new money is paid to “Mr. Ponzi” for investment in his incredibly profitable business and he distributes a portion of it to other members as “interest” or “investment income” whereas in a pyramid, money is paid to the next level upward in the pyramid.
Many pyramids are more sophisticated than the simple model. These recognize that recruiting a large number of others into a scheme can be difficult so a seemingly simpler model is used. In this model each person must recruit two others, but the ease of achieving this is offset because the depth required to recoup any money also increases. The scheme requires a person to recruit two others, who must each recruit two others, who must each recruit two others.
Comment by Christopher Nosnibor on 2009-01-28 12:38:47 +0000
I seem to get an awful lot of ‘targeted’ ads on MySpace – particularly around my blogs – for horny goth girls in my area, ‘publishers’ that want me to pay them $700 to get my book to print and for bust enhancement. My tits are fine just the way they are, for the record.
Most hits on my website come from people searching for brogues, blazers, obese boy’s nike tracksuits and knitwear for hip kids. What can we learn from this? People search for a lot of weird shit and it’s not always Britney Spears (or Abi Titmuss) that brings the punters into one’s lair…
Comment by Msmarmitelover on 2009-01-28 15:41:36 +0000
Stay at home mum is not a stay at home mum. It doesn’t even sound like a woman. Or is Stay at home mum’s name Michaela?
Comment by Msmarmitelover on 2009-01-28 15:48:12 +0000
Most hits on my blog are searching for two words: ‘figging’ and ‘gynarchy’.
Comment by K MAIL on 2009-01-28 15:55:49 +0000
Does anybody remember when frozen orange juice came in pyramids? It was a groove sensation!
Comment by Msmarmitelover on 2009-01-28 16:03:36 +0000
Anyone who starts a pyramid scheme is not a pharoah but a pariah.
K is the 11th letter of the alphabet.
Comment by Msmarmitelover on 2009-01-28 16:04:01 +0000
Stop making me do this. Must get on.
Comment by Get Rich Quick on 2009-01-28 18:25:50 +0000
A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to acquire high rates of return for a small investment. Most such schemes promise that participants can obtain this high rate of return with little risk.
Most get-rich-quick schemes also promise that little skill, effort, or time is required. They often assert that wealth can be obtained by working at home. Legal and quasi-legal get-rich-quick schemes are frequently advertised on infomercials and in magazines and newspapers. Illegal schemes or scams are often advertised on the Internet through spam or cold calling. Some forms of advertising for these schemes market books or compact discs about getting rich quick rather than asking participants to invest directly in a concrete scheme.
It is sometimes possible to get rich quickly if one is prepared to accept very high levels of risk — this is the premise of the gambling industry. However, gambling offers the near-certainty of completely losing the original stake over the long term, even if it offers regular wins along the way. Economic theory states that risk-free opportunities for profit are not stable, because they will quickly be exploited by arbitrageurs. Nevertheless, many people long for wealth, and find get rich scams appealing, which is why conmen keep punting them.
Comment by Why Work? on 2009-01-28 18:34:37 +0000
Here is the good news.. and believe me it is good news. It’s not hard to make a lot of money on the web. That is the really really good news. You just need to get the right knowledge. And, I can sell it to you, if you spend a few dollars and purchase the program. I guarantee that if I would have had this info before I started, I would have made more money, more quickly, then if I wouldn’t have had it. Plus, believe me, I’ve read all the so called experts books, programs, etc. etc. Heck, many of these guys are just selling you the program that made them the money! Does that make sense? In other words, their only source of money is their money making program. That to me is a joke. That is not what this is about. I made my money in several different ways. In other words, I’m going to show you how to come up with the ideas to make the money, not just one or two little ideas, when most of the time once you get in it’s too late. But, I’m going to show you how to think different, and come up with the ideas to make money, and show you step by step instructions on how to get your idea (assuming it’s one that has a potential to make money) going on the web. In other words, I’m going to teach you how to fish, where the other guys are just giving you a fish or two. Does that make sense? I hope so.
Comment by mistertrippy on 2009-01-28 23:03:13 +0000
Wow whatever happened to frozen orange juice in pyramids????? And if everyone lists the top hit words on their own sites in the comments here maybe this blog will become an internet super node! But for me in the main part of this site my name brings in a lot of hits, both spelt correctly as “Stewart Home” and incorrectly as “Stuart Home” – I guess the search engines must say “Do you mean Stewart Home?”… when people get it wrong. Oh but my big word aside from my own name is ‘cunt’ which brings people into the story “Cunt Lickers Anonymous” – and I also get a surprisingly large number of hits for “cunt lickers’….. I guess it is guys looking for lesbian porn… if only I’d included the phrase ‘muff diving” in that piece it would have been even bigger on the web!
Comment by Vivian Kilbride on 2009-01-29 00:09:41 +0000
I’m buying gold.
Comment by Fred Olsen Boudicca Cruise Deals on 2009-01-29 00:56:27 +0000
Boudicca 26 February 2009 for 15 nights
London / Manchester – Bridgetown – Port of Spain – St – Willemstad – Oranjestad – Roadtown – Gustavia – St Johns – Basseterre – Roseau – Castries – Bridgetown – London / Manchester
Comment by Howard Hughes on 2009-01-29 01:53:52 +0000
Onasis is Mister Big! Aristotle Onassis, Joseph P. Kennedy, and other prominent figures were involved in various schemes to forward a vast global conspiracy, involving the Mafia and corrupt politicians, brutal oil and drug cartels, rogue military operations, and more. In 1957, Aristotle Onassis had me (Howard Hughes) kidnapped from my Beverly Hills Hotel bungalow; I suffered a massive brain injury during the forcible kidnapping, and I was subsequently a prisoner of Onassis on Skorpios and injected regularly with morphine, while Onassis took over the operation of my considerable financial affairs, including airlines and U.S. defence contracting.
In order to cover up my sudden disappearance from public view, including my career as a ladies’ man among Hollywood’s leading ladies, a phony “marriage” to actress Jean Peters in Tonopah, Nevada was arranged, with the help of Paul Laxalt. Laxalt later rode this assistance to a career as Governor of Nevada, and later, a U.S. Senate seat. A series of doubles played me (Howard Hughes) whenever necessary.
“I” (i.e., Onassis acting as “me”) suddenly became a major purchaser of Las Vegas casinos, in line with Onassis’s previous gambling operations in pre-Castro Cuba and in Monaco. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute was created to serve as a major money-laundering money funnel (tax-free, private, not subject to any monitoring by anyone.) Its true purpose was covered up by generous donations to medical research and also to cultural institutions, but only a small percentage of the amount of money drained from the U.S. economy.
Onassis was the main force behind the election of John F. Kennedy as President, and subsequently, Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was a participant in the JFK assassination plan. He was linked to the CIA, and to Mafia connections in New Orleans. However, the role he was destined to play in the assassination was as the patsy. Jimmy Fratianno, Johnny Roselli, and Eugene Brading were the real shooters.
When Robert F. Kennedy decided to run for the Presidency, Onassis ordered that he be assassinated. A hypnotized Sirhan Sirhan was set up to be the ostensible shooter. His wild shots peppered the room, but none of them hit Kennedy. The real shooter was Thane Cesar, a security guard at General Motors, which was secretly owned by Onassis, who was “lent” for the occasion to act as Robert Kennedy’s bodyguard. Cesar was walking right behind Kennedy as they entered the Pantry area. While Sirhan Sirhan’s shots flew around the room, Cesar lifted a small palm gun and shot Kennedy behind the ear.
Joseph P. Kennedy was in bed with the Mafia, and with Onassis. John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy attempted to break away from Onassis and the Mafia, and the CIA, and that is the basic reason they were shot.
Comment by Díre McCain on 2009-01-29 05:09:09 +0000
The “half-your-age-plus-seven rule” is rule of thumb defining a mathematical formula to judge whether the age difference in an intimate relationship is socially acceptable.
Mathematically speaking, the rule is:
Age of Older Individual / 2 + 7 = Minimum Age
Comment by Christopher Nosnibor on 2009-01-29 16:58:21 +0000
‘if only I’d included the phrase ‘muff diving” in that piece it would have been even bigger on the web!’
Yup, we need some big muff on the web….
Comment by Christopher Nosnibor on 2009-01-29 16:59:11 +0000
Oh and I’d love to meet whoever came to my site with the search train seats thighs thrusting.
Comment by mistertrippy on 2009-01-29 22:18:57 +0000
Can we adapt the “half-your-age-plus-seven rule” for dealing with click thru ads and web searches?????