ls click numbers

[skibum]

Assuming this program continues, the next issue may be the number of clicks that show up on the bill.

What are (or will) you be using to check the accuracy of clicks delivered and how does it stack up so far?

[pmac]

I had my listing removed, so I topped up my account on the 20th. The listing still hasnt been restored, yet according to the L$ reporting tool, I am still getting traffic from them, and at a higher rate than when I actually had my listing. My logs certainly don't reflect this.

How can I be billed for clicks if my listing is not active? I filled out the "customer service" form and tried to explain the issue in detail (hard to do when they restrict enquiries to 400 characters.)

<added> Paraphrasing the auto email from L$, I should expect a wait of 5-10 business days for a response.</added>

[skibum]

We inquired about, among the things how they intend to deal with discrepancies and have heard nothing back. The TOS basically says the numbers they provide are correct. That won't be good enough, especially for the kind of click numbers they are coming up with.

[skibum]

Well, we finally got a response. We specifically asked about using re-drects (ad-serving) to track clicks and ROI from the Look$mart network.

They replied with a page extolling the virtues of their "fraud proof" tracking software Almost as if there had been no question asked.

Apparently Look$mart doesn't feel that customers have any need to verify clicks to evaluate the numbers.

An upgrade that removes the listing and does not provide a method for verifying thousands of dollars in new charges. Some upgrade.

[eljefe3]

>>My logs certainly don't reflect this.

Neither do mine. The numbers that they report as coming from L$ and their members are more than my logs are showing for all traffic. Where their numbers are coming from I do not know.

>>How can I be billed for clicks if my listing is not active?

What they did to me is charge me later for clicks that occured after I had used up my "free clicks" while the listing appeared in the db. Basically they gave me a "credit line" of clicks and when I paid more L$$$, the stats showed that I had used up the newly paid for clicks also.

As far as tracking they are using some sort of redirect from MSN as here's what a copernic result URL looks like from MSN search:

[r.lksm.com...]

[angiolo]

>>My logs certainly don't reflect this.

>Neither do mine. The numbers that they report as coming from L$ and their members are more than my logs are showing for all traffic. Where their numbers are coming from I do not know.

I think that there is enough proofs to sue Looksmart.

Logs are something that can be certified.

If I were eljefe3 I would sue Looksmart. It smells as a fraud.

[markd]

Can I just ask:

Do YOU set the amount of money (=clicks) and your credit card is billed ONLY to this limit. After this, is your listing completely dropped, meaning you have to go through their initial 'Pay For Review' process, or does it stay 'inactive' until you add more money to your account?

Obviously, this would give you the facility to add more should you want to.

They don't bill you in advance, or carry on billing you after your set number of clicks/budget has been used to they?

[cherryl]

markd, whenyou reach your dollar or click limit the listing is suspended until the next monthly billing cycle starts or, presumably, if you up your limit at any time it becomes active again. I got an email when the $15 worth of clicks was used up. It suggested how much I should have as a monthly limit to keep the clicks coming, based on the time it took to get through the first 100.

I agree with the comments above about the number of clicks they report. I'm not paying and it doesn't look like I'm losing hundreds of referrals as they would have me believe.

[tlacaelel]

What amazes me is that LookSmart really believes in this outrageously expensive model. How do they think the customers will feel when at least once or twice every month, they'll receive a 'Traffic Interruption' email from LookSmart saying 'please deposit more funds to avoid losing valuable traffic.'

Doesn't L$ realize that going to their customers 20+ times a year and saying 'more money please' will drive their customers absolutely crazy? Or perhaps they just expect that the average customer will put in a $4,000 monthly click budget to 'ensure that no valuable traffic is missed'.

Given all of the click-accounting issues which have arisen, LookSmart's CPC technology definitely looks half-baked. GoTo/Overture had many similar problems early on as well. But Overture has made many improvements in click-accounting integrity. (Now if Goverture would just ditch garbage-traffic partners like Oingo/DomainPark we'd all be better off).

[skibum]

Overture really airs on the side of caution when counting clicks. Occasionally their numbers will be above what our measurements show but most of the time they are dead on or below.

Another issue with Look$mart click tracking is the billing. When they tell you that all traffic to your listing has been stopped, they should stop charging for it. Either the traffic is flowing or its not.

When more funds are deposited in an account, those funds should not be applied to clicks that were generated after the owner has been notified that traffic has stopped. Otherwise the notice should provide fair warning that:

"We are trying to remove your listing(s) because funds in your account have run out. Because the listing is not immediately removed when you get the notice that it has been removed you will continue to get clicks for a while. When you deposit more funds those fund will first be applied to the clicks that were detected between the period when the notification went out that said your listing had been removed and the time it actually was removed."

[eljefe3]

>>Another issue with Look$mart click tracking is the billing. When they tell you that all traffic to your listing has been stopped, they should stop charging for it. Either the traffic is flowing or its not.

I couldn't agree more skibum. Nothing like adding more $$ only to find out you've already used those clicks.

[Rugles]

I love this quote from L$ earnings report released yesterday.
"To date, we have had to acquire 10,000 new small business customers per quarter just to generate flat small business revenues," "With this new product, our customer base will generate recurring revenue, enabling our small business revenue to grow rapidly from second quarter levels."

I doubt that will happen with the discussions I have been reading here.