Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Is this a good idea? How do these businesses make money?
I've seen a few of those and have blocked them too.
Some of them are, "zip-code" ads which allow users to enter their zip codes to see if a local restaurant is offering free gift certificates. If their zip code is valid (I think they validate just about any zip code!), they are presented with a survey.
I've never gone through the surveys, so I'm not sure if anything, "free" is actually given.
After buying this item the user is placed into a queue. It's a pyramid scheme. The user may get the iPod but they will have to wait until they are number one in the queue.
Everyone moves up one position when for instance 60 new members apply. The company cashes in (60 * $7) $420 and buys a 'free' $299 iPod for the person in queue slot #1.
So the early joiners may get a 'free' iPod, but after a while thousands of new members are needed.. If you are number 120 in the queue 7,200 new users will need to subscribe before you'll get your iPod. The only ones that really benefit are the early joiners and the site owners of course.
I know, dream on Anne. <sigh>
Incentive based marketing is nothing new at all, and isn't really "shady".
I guess it's up to the publisher to make those type of editorial ad decisions for their site, but it would be a pity to block good paying, relevent ads that your visitors might benefit from just because you don't agree with their marketing method.
To answer the original thread title question:
are these legit?
Yep.
How do these businesses make money?
They make money from advertisers (like we do). The advertisers pay them a kick back (usually a cost per lead) for sending new customers their way.
Is this a good idea?
Not in my opinion, but YMMV.
I know it's anectodotal, but I know lots of people who have gotten "free" gifts from these type of sites (including myself).
Rodney, I guess my assumption is that these ads are NOT good-paying, as well as being shady. Like ads for MFA sites, they can't pay well, or they don't make money themselves....
The thing is, I don't think these companies have the same business model as an MFA site (arbitration). So they don't rely on low paying clicks to generate higher paying clicks later.
Just like any company paying for leads through adwords, they are working on an ROI. If you blocked all companies that worked to getting the best ROI by adjusting their ad prices, you'd have no ads on your site :)
For the incentive based marketing companies, I think the ads can be good payers.
It's worth it to me to filter an ad that's off topic or, in my opinion, not in the best interests of my visitors, even if it is possibly higher-paying than what will replace it.
That's a very reasonable approach to take, and one that I agree with. I do indeed block ads that appear to be fraudulent. Other than that, I'm not really in a position to determine what kind of ads are in the best interest of my users.
In the end, I guess it does come down to what you consider to be acceptable....
Rodney, good point about the difference between a lead-generator and an MFA.
The problem with those free offers is that there are at least two different kinds, as has been pointed out--pyramid-selling schemes and lead generators. I don't have time to find out which is which.
Actually, the description of the pyramid selling schemes for these free giveaway sites isn't correct (from the way I've seen them operate).
That's a whole different discussion for another thread though :) My original point is that they are legitmate.
locking these ads come down to money. I'll filter these URLs and my AdSense revenue goes up. A week of two later, they're back with a slightly tweaked URL, and I'll block them again. I think my site visitors are savvy enough not to click on these ads. If they're not clicking, I'd rather have an ad served they will click on, even if it pays less.
Blocking the ads based on how you think it will effect your revenue is something different all together than the original post.
I've blocked ads based on how I think they effected my revenue before as well, but it just seemed like a never ending game of whack-a-mole so I just stopped and things seem to sort themself out on their own.
If visitors aren't clicking on the ads, I don't think Google will continue to serve the ads (remember, they want interested users clicking as well).
If visitors aren't clicking on the ads, I don't think Google will continue to serve the ads (remember, they want interested users clicking as well).
Which is why they're constantly tweaking the URL so that Google thinks they're new ads.
any so-called "business" that doesn't have a way to contact 'em is bogus, so off to the filter they go :-)
i hate how google lets those turkeys use any keyword they want in their ad, just so that they can target traffic on any site they want.
I've been blocking free give away ads as I think they will just annoy my visitors when they have to fill out all that info for who knows what.
Google doesn't know (or care) who visits your site. You are in a unique position - the only one who knows why people really visit your site.
If it annoys you, it will annoy your visitors. Isn't that why the delete key was invented?
Zap the buggers I say!
