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Sphinn Home » PPC
Seth Godin Wants to Cheat Advertisers with Fake Clicks
PPC News Source: http://www.wolf-howl.com
Published: Aug 23, 2008 - 02:09 am
Story Found By: markus941 1264 Days ago
Category: PPC
Seth Godin has an article today called ads are the new tip jar, where he advocates clicking on Google adsense to help bloggers get paid for their work. Michael is right - this needs to be discussed more as to why it’s a terrible idea.
 Comments16 Comments  

Comments

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from wrttnwrd 1264 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Sigh. Why can’t folks like Seth stick to their own, considerable expertise, and let us have ours?

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from g1smd 1264 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Earlier posts:http://sphinn.com/story/67411?http://sphinn.com/story/67386?

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from NickWilsdon 1264 Days ago #
Votes: 1

"If you like what you’re reading, click an ad to say thanks." What completely idiotic advice to give people. I bet Google is *really* happy to have such a high profile blogger trying to make that an "accepted online protocol" Does Seth actually understand PPC? http://digg.com/business_finance/Ads_are_the_new_online_tip_jarhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22If+you+like+what+you%27re+reading,+click+an+ad+to+say+thanks%22&start=10&sa=N

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from boorishamerican 1263 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Ugh, Seth gets it wrong yet again

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from TheRealTerry 1263 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Yeah, as both an advertiser and a publisher, this is just retarded.  The content networks are just starting to come around as being useful and not just a big money suck, and here comes someone advocating turning it back into a red herring for advertisers.  Remind me to put any sites Godin is involved with on my negative placements list.

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from IncrediBILL 1263 Days ago #
Votes: 1

This has got to be linkbait because it’s too f’n stupid to be real.I hope someone follows his advice, gets booted out of AdSense, and then sues the crap out of Seth for giving bad advice which is against the AdSense TOS in the first place.Screwing with people’s incomes and promoting CLICK FRAUD is about as low as Seth could go, total lack of class. 

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from johnandrews 1263 Days ago #
Votes: 2

Do you all forget how Google killed his Squidoo enterprise? Since then, what has he got going on? Can you spell Vendetta?

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from JohnHGohde 1262 Days ago #
Votes: -8

So, what is this?  A Sphinn goes hot that is offering absolutely the wrong SEM advice?  What does that mean about the relationship between going hot and quality?

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from searchcommander 1261 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Good point, @johnandrews - maybe true? I couldn’t think of a single reason he might say something so completely stupid. I’m a huge fan, and have been for a long time, and I assumed it was just irresponsible link bait. I can’t see how the damaging effects of this practice could actually escape his consciousness.@johnhgohde - the Sphinn is for the post that calls Seth out - that’s what’s gone hot - not Seths post

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from AlexS 1261 Days ago #
Votes: 0

The rest of the storyhttp://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/08/beating-the-sta.html

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from DMCAFiler 1261 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Re: The rest of the story Well, I’m sorry Seth, but this is still really dumb.   “My point was that if everyone started clicking, clickthrough rates would go up. For a while, there’d be an imbalance, and sites would make too much and advertisers would pay too much. But then, advertisers would use the landing pages to start converting.”  Hmm, so as an advertiser I should pay more now so that other advertisers can benefit in the long run (when things balance out again.)  All we have to do is change the mindset of web surfers so they click on ads more often. Changing the mindset of web surfers would be like government deficit spending in Keynesian economics.  The government goes into debt, but it stimulates the economy. I’m not buying it.  There are already too many users who click on ads they have little interest in.  The great thing about Internet advertising is that it is targeted, not directed at the masses the way TV is.  Turn it into mass advertising, and it’s a different game.  Advertisers already have motivation to improve their conversion pages.  We don’t need to barrage them with more low quality clicks to make them try to be better salespeople.

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from johnandrews 1261 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Reading the follow up "explanation" he sounds simply wrong, but I can see why he’s trying. There’s no room for middlemen, except perhaps technical ones who can optimize. The ad man is out (again) and nobody cares. Remember the "pimply-faced geeks" comments from that other older guy a few years back? If the "adholes" can make the case for moving the conversion out of the PPC ad and onto the site/page, they have client work again. Otherwise, what value can they ad that is worth the rates ad agencies need to charge to over their bar tabs? I have to agree with the desire to remove some of the power from Google, but turning targeted PPC into a less qualified traffic stream game is not the answer, and obviously not by encouraging clicks.Funny thought - when Seth starts participating in the conversation here, instead of trying to keep it on his blog, I’ll recognize some progressive thinking on his part. Funny how that tracks "getting it".... there are so many traditional ad/marketing/publishing credos violated by sites like Sphinn, some of the old guys just can’t swallow it, and thus stay "out there".

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from Halfdeck 1261 Days ago #
Votes: 0

His update still talks around the bottom line: don’t click on my ads unless you’re looking to spend some money. Window shopping? Fine. Looking for sites to bookmark in case you want to buy later? Also fine. But Seth’s initial post recommended clicking on ads as a way to tip a blogger. Quote: "If you like what you’re reading, click on an ad to say thanks."There is no exit strategy for that statement except retraction.

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from iBrian 1261 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Seth responds here:http://www.internetbusiness.co.uk/23082008/seth-godin-confused-about-click-marketing/

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from justin-seibert 1260 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Incredible.  It hurts most parties involved long-term and short-term.I find it pretty interesting, too, that trackbacks are enabled on Seth’s blog, but not commenting.

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from oddseo 1259 Days ago #
Votes: -2

Come on everyone - Seth is not supporting click fraud neither he is promoting it. He is talking about the common psyche. He is talking about the changes in the online economics. And if these are not enough for you to understand think in this line - Google shows ads related to the post you are reading. and thus the link you are clicking is somewhat related to your need. Think twice before calling him an idiot or stupid - read between the lines

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