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ISSN: #1527-3113
Issue # 125
March 7, 2005

Merle's Cyber Promotions Press Ezine
Meet your publisher Merle

Visit the Site!

"M.C. Promotions Press Ezine-
"Creating Visibility Online For Small Business"

Editor & Publisher: Merle

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning." * Catherine Aird

Courtesy of http://www.siglets.com

   

 

Mission Statement:To provide and enlighten small to mid sized business owners with the services/ products and information they need to become successful online.

In This Issue:

=> 1. Marketing News/Resources

=> 2. Feature Article-
"PPC ClickFraud: It's a Bigger Problem then You Think"

=> 3. Net Hot Spots!
=> 4. Sites to Help
=> 5. Site Promotion Software & More
=> 6. E-Books / Ezine Resources
=> 7. Other Valuable Ezines
=> 8. Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information


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Note From Merle:


Hi Gang,

Snow...snow....go away come again another day. Yep, it's the attack of the white stuff again. Grrrr....I do believe I've seen enough snow this winter to last me a lifetime. It's been especially snowy this winter, more then I can remember in the pasts few years. I don't ski and I don't enjoy shivering so I guess I'm just not a winter person.

OK, if you haven't heard I've got really BIG NEWS for you. As you know I've been publishing this ezine for over 6 years now. I think that's right. I'm starting to lose track. Anyway, I've combed through a year's worth of back issues and taken the best resources and created a brand new ebook "Must Have Marketing Resources- Vol #1" If you've been waiting for something like this I hope you'll jump at the chance to purchase it. If you enjoy this ezine and would like to support it you can do so by purchasing this ebook. It's really good if I do say so myself and I think you'll be amazed at all of the money saving resources. Get your copy now at

Come on, you know you want to help pay my bills.

http://mcebook.mcpromotions.com

It's named Volume #1 as I'll be writing future volumes as time allows. If you publish your own ezine it would be great if you could mention my ebook to your readers.

Dakota (my dog) has recovered nicely from his last surgery. Keep your fingers crossed that he'll be fine for awhile. I can't afford any more medical emergencies.

Some of you may have noticed there was only one issue last month. Unfortunately, my web host suffered a hard drive crash and it took awhile to get things put back in place. We're good now.

M.C. Toolbar

You can still download the M.C. Toolbar at http://www.effectivebrand.com/LandingPage.aspx/CT21612

Ever wonder what people think of this ezine? Read thru some of the wonderful emails I've received from some of my subscribers here http://www.mcpromotions.com/ezinearchives/testimonials.htm

If you'd like to see your name "up in lights" so to speak please send your comments to mailto:merleATmcpromotions.com

I hope you've taken the time to download my new ebook,"50 Easy Ways to Promote Your Website". If not pop over now to at...http://WebSiteTrafficPlan.com

***This Issue's Free Ad Contest Winner***

Today's contest winner for a free ad in this ezine is: Robert Boyle. Send in your ad and I'll get it in the next issue.

If you'd like a chance to win fill out the survey by clicking on the link at the bottom of this ezine. A winner is picked for every issue.

Thanks again for joining me.

Warmest Regards,

Merle- Publisher
http://www.MCPromotions.com/
http://www.EzineAdAuction.com/
http://www.MerlesWorld.com


Discussion Question of the Week:


Today's question on the discussion board is: "Who in your opinion publishes the best blog?"

To POST your comments hop over to the board at..
http://www.mcpromotions.com/webbbs/config.pl

I look forward to reading your comments. No Spam it will be deleted. You'll find some great resources in today's ezine so what are you waiting for....Let's go.....

 

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1) Marketing News


Lycos Buys Search Technology from Ask Jeeves
http://tinyurl.com/69z64

------
Netscape Browser Version 8.0
http://browser.netscape.com/nsb/

----
Tough New Penalties on Credit Cards
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20030425a1.asp

----
New AOL Web Mail to Bring Free Service
http://tinyurl.com/5oaco

-----
AOL goes public with local search
http://tinyurl.com/3zyot

-----
Yahoo to Rename Overture
http://www.bizreport.com/news/8718/

----
F-r-e-e Credit Reports for All
http://tinyurl.com/3uwol

----
NYT Buys About.com for $410 Million
http://www.bizreport.com/news/8689/

-----
Is it too Easy to Find People on Google
http://tinyurl.com/6fn9m

 

 

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2) Feature Article


"PPC ClickFraud: It's a Bigger Problem then You Think"

By Merle http://MCpromotionsPress.com

Pay per click search engine advertising is one of the
most popular ways to promote a website. With Overture
and Google leading the pack, the industry as a whole
has grown immensely in the past few years. According
to a report by PriceWaterHouseCoopers, they estimate
that Internet Advertising brought in more than $9
billion in 2004 alone.

With PPC advertising you choose "keywords/phrases,"
then bid how much you'd like to pay for each click.
When a searcher goes to a search engine and types
in one of your key phrases, your short text ad appears,
and if they click on it your account is then charged.
In a "perfect world" this is the way it would work,
but thanks to unscrupulous people, there's a dirty
little secret known as "click fraud."

Click fraud is simply the act of clicking on ads
for the direct purpose of costing the advertiser
money. It's similar to paying out cash for false
leads. According to InternetWeek.com, 60% of those
who responded to a survey conducted by the "Search
Engine Professional Organization" had stated that
fraud is a problem when it comes to PPC advertising.

So where does click fraud come from? Well, there
are actually a few different sources:

1) AdSense Users: Google Adsense has a program
called "Adsense" that pays website owners to
run their Adwords ads and compensates them per
click. Google does monitor this and it's against
their terms of service to click on any of the
ads on your own site. If they find a publishers
doing this, they will lose their accounts, but
some may still be clicking under the radar.

2) Your Competitors: Your competitors could be
clicking on your ads over a period of several
days in order to deplete your ad budget.

3) Software: There are those who use automated
clicking tools, such as robot programs, to
click on PPC listings.

In some Asian countries, people are often paid to
click on PPC ads for hours. Many don't know why
they do it, and don't care, only that they'll be
well rewarded for their efforts. If you do a search
on any search engine you'll see plenty of sites
looking to hire people for just this purpose. For
more on this see...http://tinyurl.com/2ka5g

Most PPC networks have measures in place to protect
you against click fraud. Overture tracks more than
50 data points, including IP addresses, browser info,
users' session info and what they call "pattern
recognition." They have a "proprietary system" in
place for detecting fraud and a specialized team
that monitors things and works with the advertisers
to stop it.

Google offers suggestions to avoid click thru fraud,
such as "using negative keywords" to keep your ads
from showing up for products and services that are
unrelated. They also suggest adding tracking url's
to your links so you can track the traffic coming
from Google. An easy way to do this is to add a ?
to your links along with the identifier. For example,
a tracking link to identify Google would look like
this:

http://www.yourdomain.com/?referer-google

If you go through your log files, you'll be able to
see your Google traffic at a glance.

If you suspect fraud, Google asks that you contact
them right away, as they have a team of researchers
that will investigate. They also take action to block
future impressions from anyone they identify as
committing click fraud. Like Overture, they also have
"proprietary technology" that distinguishes between
normal clicks and invalid ones. Google never bills
you for any "bad clicks" that are caught by their
system.

So what's an honest website owner to do? You need
to be alert to any "suspicious activity" by
researching your server logs or stats. If you're
experiencing a lot of clicks and no sales you'll
also want to take a closer look. You need to watch
for any spikes in traffic, usually on one keyword
or phrase and coming from only one PPC source. You
need to measure and track all of your PPC accounts
closely.

If this sounds like too much work, you may want to
look at an outside service to take care of it for
you. A variety of new services have opened recently
to help combat the click fraud problem.

1) Keyword Max: http://www.KeyWordMax.com

Offers up a service called "Click Auditor," which
monitors the activity on your PPC accounts and
alerts you to any suspicious activity. You can
request a free demo at the site.

2) Click Detective: http://ClickDetective.net

A website monitoring service that uses sophisticated
tracking mechanisms to determine whether "visitor
behavior" is normal or not. Offering a 15 day free
trial. Easy to use, you just copy and paste a snippet
of code on your page and add a campaign ID by logging
into your account.

3) Click Assurance: http://ClickAssurance.com

An Internet Security Firm that specializes in click
fraud. They will audit your PPC accounts and go
after any refunds you are due because of fraud.

4) Who's Clicking Who: http://WhosClickingWho.com

An independent auditing service that tracks individual
users for fraud. Can also detect abuse coming from
proxy servers. A one month subscription is
$79.00, which includes free installation and up to
50,000 transactions per month.

5) ClickLab: http://ClickLab.com/products/click-fraud

This service isolates bad clicks with a scorecard
based detection system. Pricing starts at $50.00
per month and is based on the number of sites you
need to track and their page views.

ClickLab also has a nice white paper you should
download while visiting: "How to Defend Your Website
Against Click Fraud."

Click fraud isn't going away anytime soon. If
anything, it will probably get worse before it
get's any better. It's up to you as a vigilant
website owner to do what you can to keep your
PPC advertising costs down. You can't stop it,
but with the right tracking in place, it can be
managed and controlled, and hopefully kept to a
minimum.

===========================================

"Must Have Marketing Resources" Ebook by Merle
is loaded with valuable online resources you need
to know about, when it comes to running your web
business. Get your copy now at ...
http://mcebook.mcpromotions.com

 

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3) Net Hot Spots


Feed Vallidator

If you're new to RSS and you've just created your
very own RSS feed you'll want to run it thru this
online handy dandy Vallidator to make sure you have
formatted it correctly.

http://www.feedvalidator.org/

-------

Amazon Prime

Amazon has launched a shipping membership club
where you pay a one time fee and get free 3 day
shipping on all of your future orders for a year.
79.00 a year to join.

http://tinyurl.com/6bjta

 

 

Go Back Up

4) Sites to Help


Over 125 Link Building Strategies

If you're trying to place with the search engines you
need to get a good linking campaign in place. If
you don't have incoming links to your site you're
dead before you get started. This is an excellent
article that will help you get set up in the linking
department. If you don't want to read it online you
can also download it as an ebook for f-r-e-e.

http://tinyurl.com/5asze

-------

Blog Explosion

What good is having a Blog if no one sees it. Finally
a traffic exchange program just for Bloggers. You
sign up you visit Blogs of interest and earn credits
so others will visit your Blog. It's a win win situation.
You get to read Blogs on topics that interest you and
earn traffic credits so others will visit your Blog all
at the same time.

http://www.blogexplosion.com/index.php?ref=msmerle

 

 

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**** QUICK TIP***
------------------------------------------

Want to make your computer screen easier to read?

1) Go to your control panel
2) Select Appearance, then Effects
3) From the 2nd drop down box choose
the "cleartype" option. You'll have to
put a check in this box to make a selection.

You'll love the new look of your screen.

 

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5) Site Promotion Software & More


Speedo Froogle Feed

"It's never been easier to submit your products
to Froogle! No more spreadsheets. You don't need
to own or learn Excel or an FTP program to quickly
submit your items. The Product Wizard with detailed
explanations walks you through adding your product
step by step, and lets beginners submit products
to Froogle in minutes." 30 day trial no subscription.

http://highdesertsoftware.com/froogle.html

 


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6) Ebook & Ezine Resources

"Are You an Ezine Publisher"?

Are you tired of constantly looking for new
content for each issue? Search no more. Browse
our huge database of FREE articles written
by some of the Net's Top Experts. Browse
now at....

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--------------------

Get Started With RSS

A free guide in PDF format that will get you
started with the ins and outs of RSS. This free
report was written by Rok Hrastnik, the author
of the most respected guide on RSS for marketers,
Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS.

http://www.marketingstudies.net/real/index.html

----------

Mine-Site Secrets

Jeanette Cates Grills Jim Edwards For His "Mini-Site
Secrets!" Listen to the taped show or download the
transcript.

http://www.minisitecreatorsecrets.com/main.html

 

 

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7) Other Valuable Ezines- Ad Swaps

If you would like to swap ads send your ezine information
to mailto:swap@mcpromotions.com

"Merle's Mission Ezine"

Merle's Mission is published twice a month and is
geared towards webmasters and those who own their
own website. Contains software, free e-books, website
tips and tools, design resources and much more that
will help you build a better website. You'll never
be at a loss for content ideas if you subscribe now!
http://MerlesMission.com

 


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9) Important Info- How to Unsubscribe

f you are not a subscriber and would like to be please send mailto:subscribe@mcpromotions.com If you would like to be taken off our mailing list Click Here.

Read Past Issues Here....
http://www.MCPromotionsPress.com

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Merle's Cyber Promotions - Send comments to Merle
Tell me what you like, what you don't like, ask me a question or suggest a topic for a future issue.*PLEASE DONATE*

If you enjoy this ezine and feel you have gained valuable information from it please donate through the Amazon Honor System. Your donations will help to keep this ezine and the website FREE and help buy "the boys" more dog cookies ....go to.... http://tinyurl.com/2ji9

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**Solo Ads Also Available**For current ad rates:mailto:ad_rates@mcpromotions.com

***************************************
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*********Win a Free Ad in This Ezine:*********

If you still haven't taken the demographic survey you still can and you'll pick up a free gift in the process and be entered to win a FREE ad in this ezine- Drawing held every two weeks.Go to http://www.advancedsurvey.com/ and type 8244 into the "take a survey" box on the right hand side.

PS. One other note if anyone is in need of a programmer for simple script installation or anything else contact my guy David Black he's wonderful and I highly recommend him. Just tell him what you need and he'll dash off a quote to you. He also does website hosting with superior customer service. I love this guy!
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If you'd like my online marketing articles to appear "like
magic" on your website check out my Free syndication feed.
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Disclaimer. The information contained in this archive is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind. The entire risk as to the results and the performance of the information is assumed by the user, and in no event shall Merle's Cyber Promotions be liable for any consequential, incidental or direct damages suffered in the course of using the information in this archive. Use of the information contained in this archive are governed by their respective license agreements and may contain restrictions on use. This newsletter is for informational purposes only. We respect your privacy and do not share our mailing list with anyone. of any kind. All comments in this newsletter are the opinion of the publisher only. Copyright 2001-2005- All Rights Reserved

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