clickxchange.com - any advice/experience?

PPC that you offer - to anyone that wants it...

[stavs]

I stumbled across the site [clickxchange.com...] some months ago. I stumbled across it again today in my rather disorderley bookmarks.

Essentially, you offer a PPC price, i.e. $0.04 and anyone who wants to display your link on their site can take you up on your offer - and you pay them for the amount of referrers you get. Its that simple - apparently. If it is that simple, and if folk will display your link for as little as $0.04, surely there is nothing to lose and everything to gain???

I am thinking of giving it a try on a new site but would be grateful for anyones opinion on it.

I am a bit concerned about folk abusing the system and creating bogus clicks - but then again, why bother if you are only offering, say, 4 cents for a click.

Presumably the sites that display these PPC links, of which there appears to be plenty, must receive a high level of traffic to make it worth their while.

Any opinions gratefully received.

Regards, Stavs.

[rcjordan]

CX gets fair to good marks as an affiliate management program, but the problem of fraudulent clicks is always brought up when they're discussed. They are recommended along with the caveat that you police long and hard.

>why bother if you are only offering, say, 4 cents for a click.

You'll find out FAST with that easy-going attitude. Ever hear of clickbots? Even good, honest affiliates can generate traffic that causes a merchant to *gulp* and run for cover. Thousands of dollars can be run up at even .03/click. Make sure you're going to convert.

[stavs]

> Ever hear of clickbots?

I must confess that I hadn't thought of that possibility.

Its a damn shame because that really puts me off - is there nothing that CX can do to combat this?

[Drastic]

CX do have anti-fraud measures and technology in place. For example, clicks are only counted when accompanied by the 1x1 tracking image call. However, the best way to avoid cheaters, is to screen them yourself.

So when someone applies to join your program, you want to thoroughly check out their site - does it look professional? (or at least professional enough for your topic) does it appear the webmaster takes time/effort/pride in their work? Does it appear a visitor would likely use the site, find useful info, or actually have a legitimate reason for visiting it? If you answer no to any of these questions, chances are you don't want want them as an affiliate.

I hate this situation, but I have heard merchants say they eliminate 90% of the cheaters by only allowing US affiliates to join their programs. It is sad, as I know there are many excellent affiliates in other countries, but you can't ignore the fact that most cheaters are not in the US.

[rcjordan]

I have several merchants who maintain one-to-one email dialogues with me and send very brief updates (and assurances) about the on-going changes in the affiliate networks. Candidly, most of these contacts originated because they suspected fraud and cut me off but they did take time to respond to my request for review and reinstatement. I would strongly encourage a CPC merchant to open that dialogue as part of the original sign-up process by asking some specifics about the affiliate site. As a matter of self-protection, I would only accept affiliates that [a] own their own domains and [b] provide a 'real' email address (no @hotmail, etc).

[stavs]

thats good advice, RC

I suppose that when you look at your affiliates website and open up a dialogue, you'd get a feeling about them.

If their site attracts high traffic and actually serves a business need, one would be inclined to think that they are unlikely to be involved in clickbot scams. On the other hand, if their website looks very amateur and untrustworthy, the alarm bells will ring.

[rcjordan]

I'd be upfront and tell them that you're very selective and trying to iron out potential problems before they happen. Remember, the affiliate doesn't trust the merchant, either. Merchants defraud them all the time.

As for their site, Drastic is dead-on. If you can't see how their traffic could possibly fit your demographic, I'd say that an alarm should ring very loudly. Search on some of your key phrases and their domain name, do they even come up?

[stavs]

some food for thought there. I'm involved in a project at the moment (you wouldn't think so by the amount of time I spend in these forums;)). In a couple of weeks I'll have more time to give CX a try. Perhaps I should report back with my progress.

Thanks to all for your input and ideas - much appreciated.

Regards, Stavs

[Drastic]

>Perhaps I should report back with my progress.

Yes, please do. We'd like to know how well it works for you.

[michaelday]

I have been trying to recruit affiliates on Clickxchange for the last three months, I'm offering 8c per click and 25% per sale of my product. I have had hundreds of affiliate requests so far but most of them are sites of very dubious nature. I'm very selective as to who I choose so the number of my PPC affiliates so far has been very limited. At pay per sale program i have had much less requests. All in all mediocre results.

[AhmedF]

Hi,

Im a bit new to these forums, but I am a regular at places like geektalk and freewebspace.net

In the case of paid clicks, would it not be best to go to a PPC search engine? CXC [which I have reviewed on me site] has been facing a battery of problems because of the high number of affiliates frauding merchants and vice versa.

Additionally, goClick [which imo is the best PPC SE] also has a banner program for a pretty low fee.

AhmedF
[no sig urls, please -rcj]

(edited by: rcjordan at 3:46 pm (gmt) on Aug. 25, 2001

[AhmedF]

Sorry about the sig .. didnae know

[rcjordan]

Welcome to WmW, AhmedF.

>Sorry
No problem. As I mentioned in the stickymail (link, top of page) I sent, we're aware that a sig is perfectly acceptable on some boards.