Do you tell friends and family not to click PPC ads on your sites?

[john5000]

I think most of my friends and family who are savvy enough to know how adsense works would know that invalid clicks are bad and easily detected.

But I think I'm pretty smart and I do mindless stuff with regularity.

If emailing a friend about a new site you launched, do you say "hey, please don't click any ads because I don't want this precious revenue source suddenly cut off from me". Or how do you handle this?

[Play_Bach]

Sorry netmeg, I wasn't clear in my comment. I didn't mean to infer that you were a premium publisher, I was trying to say that if I was, then I could see how that could change things.

[signor_john]

At least you get press.

Press coverage (even national or international press coverage) is like a shooting star: It fades quickly, although--if you're lucky--you'll get a useful backlink out of the coverage.

To get back on topic, if you're interviewed by THE NEW YORK TIMES or THE GUARDIAN, should you ask the reporter to include a line in the published interview that reads "Family and friends, please don't click on the ads"? :-)

[wyweb]

Press coverage (even national or international press coverage) is like a shooting star: It fades quickly, although--if you're lucky--you'll get a useful backlink out of the coverage.

I understand that EF, er.. signor.

I'd like to get at least a little bit of it though. Even a tiny amount.

[netmeg]

Actually I hate it. If they'd just write about the site it'd be one thing, but they always want interviews and no matter *who* it is, they make you sound like an idiot. I finally put something up that said I'll tell you anything at all you want to know about the site via email but no interviews, no pictures and no quotes.

(One year they also interviewed my then 11 year old godson, because he was the inspiration for parts of the site, and even HE was disappointed - after it came out in the Detroit papers, he says to me "She made me sound like I was EIGHT!" I guess that's the ultimate insult to an 11 year old.)

[wyweb]

but they always want interviews and no matter *who* it is, they make you sound like an idiot.

Yeah, I can see how that might be a problem.

I'd take those, ummm.. problems.

Yup... sure would...

[signor_john]

but they always want interviews and no matter *who* it is, they make you sound like an idiot.

Hey, it works for Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. :-)

[tangor]

My hobby site has no adverts so no worries. My commercials sites I don't speak about... no worries there either! When I want to "show off" to the critters I send them to the hobby site. If they find the commercial sites they are an ordinary clicker... if they click at all.

Don't tell.. don't worry!

[koan]

All that press has probably earned me tens of dollars.

Gotta admit I laughed at that one. $10 in the bank makes you what... a tenonaire?.

I think there's an Adsense club for that.. at the end of each year, instead of a gift, you get smacked on the face.

[JStubblefield]

Yep, I'm with everyone else, hardly anyone I know REALLY knows what I do to make money (exactly that is). They know I build sites and they know to call me when their computer takes a dump on em but that's about it.

My BIGGEST fear is being up LATE at night and seeing one of those god forsaken infomercials talking about how YOU TOO can make money just by putting google ads on a website!

I SWEAR I think that is how EBAY went down! I mean all there is on there now is DROPSHIPPERS changing up prices and making up for it with SHIPPING... My god I hope I NEVER see a Google adsense money making infomercial or else we may all be in TROUBLE! I've worried about that for YEARS now..! Anyone else ever secretly fear this scenario?

Like nutmeg, I too run a popular LOCAL site that gets in the local paper a few times a year, but not ONE Google ad in sight on that one.. I'll gladly give up a FEW dollars to keep making more dollars.

[JS_Harris]

JStubblefield: Anyone else ever secretly fear this scenario?

No, whatever the masses are doing becomes the bar that I need to clear so when people actually use those (often funny) informercial suggestions the bar does get lowered making it even easier to clear.

I don't think anyone in my family could name all of my sites and I own less than 10. They know what I do but aren't overly interested in the topics, I don't go out of my way to tell them or to hide them either way. It's worked well so far.

The trick is to secure your sites by avoiding anything shady and by using solid practices. Keeping regular backups and being religious about reviewing server logs helps too. If someone becomes a problem they're leaving a mighty big footprint in your log data, legal action is always an option.

[koan]

Anyone else ever secretly fear this scenario?

It takes considerable talent and knowledge to make a successful site... much more so than selling stuff on Ebay.

[filbiz]

Do you tell friends and family not to click PPC ads on your sites?

In the family, that was one of the very first commandment I impose. To friends, what they don't know won't hurt me (in short, don't ever tell them about your websites and don't tell them you have Adsense).

[BillyS]

I rarely talk about my website and even fewer people understand how we make money. If I happen to tell the whole story (this has happend two or three times - max). Then I continue with the story of click fraud and how Google has very sophisticated ways of detecting fraud and protecting themselves from fraud.

[trader]

In my experience much of the general public has no idea the ads pay based on clicks.

Some people have said the ads are there only for free information purposes and to offer assistance to the site visitors. Others believe G or Y pays the site owners a monthly fee to display their ads.

[Juan_G]

This only really becomes an issue for me if someone comes to stay and wants to use my wifi connection. I then just tell them not to click on any ad, on any site, anywhere.

Apart from the already mentioned "hosts" file editing, in the case of your wifi connection, it's of course advisable to have it password-protected, to prevent neighbors from clicking AdSense with the same IP you use to login to your only-one-chance AdSense account... It seems also advisable to use only your home connection to login, and the email report option during travels.

[mike73]

If they ask how I make money, then I tell them, and tell them not to click.

[FourDegreez]

A lot of paranoia in this thread! Not disclosing your sites, avoiding discussion of clicks=money, or telling someone not to click... that's all good. But anything more, such as worrying about your neighbor using your wifi, is wasted worry. If your site is popular enough that a neighbor is going to independently find it and click an ad, it will be a statistical blip amongst your thousands of clicks. If your site is obscure, what are the odds your neighbor will find it?

[Juan_G]

If your site is obscure, what are the odds your neighbor will find it?

In many cases very small, naturally. However, it depends on how much casual conversation you have with some neighbors, on how much they know about your work, etc. Passwords are just additional precautions, not the main ones about preventing invalid clicks, of course.