PPC [Pay Per Click] is a huge market. There are many advertisers and business houses that make use of PPC. As an Internet marketing professional, you must be aware that under PPC, the advertiser has to make a payment when a person clicks on the ad. These ads are displayed in search results as well as on third party websites. The webmasters of these third party sites receive payments whenever the ad gets clicked. Hence, many a times site owners incessantly click on the ad so as to generate more revenue. In other words, it will not be wrong to say that the very operating premise of PPC has given a rise to click fraud.
A report that appeared in Marketingvox.com states that there has been a rise in the incidence of click fraud. The report states that, “Pay-per-click (PPC) industry fraud figures for the second quarter of 2007 increased a full percentage point from the previous quarter, reaching an average of 15.8 percent, according to Click Forensics, Inc.’s Click Fraud Index, MarketingCharts reports. The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 25.6 percent. That’s up from 21.9 percent in 1Q07 and 19.2 percent in 4Q06.”
The above report seems to have created an impact on Google AdSense. Hence, they have initiated something known as CPA [Cost-Per-Action]. Here the advertiser has to pay only if the person who clicks the ad performs an action specified by the advertiser. For instance, if the advertiser states that anyone who clicks the ad should register for a newsletter, then that particular advertiser will make the payment only if someone who has visited the site by clicking a CPA ad, subscribes for the newsletter.
Experts feel that CPA might help to rein in the rising rate of click fraud. According to a report that appeared in CNETnews.com, “On the morning of day three here at Search Engine Strategies (”SES”) San Jose, Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search product and user experience, gave her keynote presentation. She said a lot of interesting things, but of particular note to me was that she deemed cost-per-action (CPA) “the Holy Grail.” According to Marissa, Google is making moves towards cost-per-action as a more ideal auction-based pricing model, but she also pointed out that it’s a long way away.”
Thus, CPA might be the model of future. In addition, if you are one of the many advertisers who have had a harrowing time with PPC and click-fraud, then CPA might help you to get some relief.

Frankly speaking, there are many forms of internet marketing and advertising. In other words, as an internet marketing professional, there are many options available to you. You can decide to give info of your products and services via the emails. On the other hand, you can choose to display them via banner advertising. Then, you have the choice of including them in a PPC [Pay Per Click] campaign. In short, today’s internet marketing professional has a galore of choice before him.

However, have you ever given a thought to video games? Yes! Yes! Those same video games that are loved by millions, worshiped by billions and cursed by a few thousands. Now, you are likely going to question me about the logic behind including a talk on video game in a blog that mainly focuses on search engine optimisation and Internet marketing.

Well, advertising in a video game might just be the next big thing, especially, if this particular report from ClickZ is to be believed. The report states that, “A recent study of approximately 600 video game players found that those gamers exposed to in-game ads while playing displayed an increased brand recognition compared to those who were not shown ads. The survey was conducted by Nielsen Entertainment, a unit of The Nielsen Company, and undertaken in Q1 of this year on behalf of in-game advertising network Massive, a unit of Microsoft. As part of the survey, respondents from Massive partner Electronic Arts’ “Need for Speed Carbon,” racing game were placed into a test or control group based on whether they played on an Xbox 360 or PC system and were shown ads, or played on another system and were not shown the ads. The survey found that on average the test group’s brand familiarity increased by 64 percent, its brand rating increased by 37 percent and its purchase consideration increased by 41 percent over the control group that was not shown ads. It also found that average ad recall increased by 41 percent and ad ratings increased by 69 percent.”

The above report proves that you can establish a successful communication channel with the audience, if you can place your product in a video game.

Now, you will ask, “why does the target shows such a high degree of involvement?”

Hmmmm. the answer is simple. Have you watched people playing a video game? You can sense that they are completely involved in the game. Now, compare the scene when a person is seated in front of TV. There is every chance of him moving away from the TV set when ads are being broadcasted. In other words, there is every chance of your target audience missing out your advertisements. However, such a scenario does not comes fore in case of video games.

The advantage of video-game advertising is perhaps best summed up by Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive, “”When you play the game and you see how the ads are rendered you get a huge sense of the engagement and that backs up the data more than anything. This will start to validate the direction we’re headed. It’s validating for advertisers and marketers the value of the engagement in the game.”

So, including the ad of your product in a video game might jus work wonders for your sales.

In-game advertising on next-generation gaming systems is expected to grow to $852 million by 2011, fueled largely by connectivity enhancements in the consoles. The projection is part of a forecast released by ABI Research. The $852 million spending forecast for 2011 represents a more than ten-fold increase over the $80 million ABI expects this year. Earlier reports placed the category at $56 million in 2005. - The ClickZ Network

Well, if you are an Internet marketing professional or someone who is closely following the trends in internet marketing, then after reading the above-mentioned lines, you must have deduced ‘Oh! So this is the latest avenue for marketing my products and services.”

Large section of the population enjoys playing games. And, some of us might even be die-hard game addicts; though, being one is nothing to boast about. But, if you happen to be a cunning Internet marketing professional, you will say that there exists a large market that can be targeted by simply placing the ads in the video games.

According to Michael Wolf, research director, digital home, at ABI Research, “The growth and interest in this generation [of game consoles] is in part because the number of connected consoles are much, much greater. Attach rates for consoles are around 50 percent for this generation. When you have that many consoles connected to the Internet, it delivers a much wider base to deliver advertising to.”

In-game video advertising also allows you to reach out to your target market in an interesting manner. For instance, you can create an advert revolving around the game itself. This allows you to create a powerful message. In addition, since the advert is based on the game, viewers do not view it as ‘obstructive’. Moreover, the use of animation and latest video techniques adds an extra zing to your ad.

You can also create ads wherein they form a part of the game. For instance, you may create an ad in the form of a puzzle, wherein the player receives extra points or extra life after solving the puzzle. This will make the ad more attractive to the viewer.

So, if you are into Internet marketing, you can surely look forward to in-game advertising as the next big thing.

If you are Internet marketing professional, chances are that you will be looking for a new avenue to reach out to the audience. Most of us are interested in finding new avenues and vistas that will help us to establish a channel of communication. This is because most of us hate traveling down the beaten path. And beaten path, in case of Internet marketing refers to tried and tested forms of Internet marketing such as banner ads, email marketing and PPC [Pay Per Click] etc.

Well, the virtual world is dotted with a countless number of banner ads and then there are thousands of emails being sent on a daily basis, that it is difficult to guarantee success. That’s the reason why I say that, ‘If you are an Internet marketing professional, chances are that you will be looking for a new avenue to reach out to the audience’

Now, can I ask a question? Have you ever encountered the term ‘B2B website’?? All of you reply in unison, “ Of course yes! B2B website stands for Business- to- Business website and it is a platform wherein one business can communicate with the other.”

Well, that’s correct. Now, can I put forth another question, “ Have you ever thought about advertising on a B2B website?”

Hmmm, now advertising on a B2B site might sound like a strange idea to many. But there are statistics that underline the fact that B2B sites can prove to be an effective medium for Internet marketing and web advertising.

Well, data published by the UK Association of Online Publishers has revealed that 71% of visitors to a B2B website have clicked on an ad that is featured on that particular B2B site. In addition, 64% of the visitors have visited the website of the advertiser who had displayed his ad on a B2B site. The survey carried out by UK Association of Online Publishers has also revealed that 53% of the visitors did place a request for additional information.

Now, the aim of any Internet marketing professional is that a person should watch the ad, visit the website of the advertiser and request for information. Well, if the statistics are to be believed, then you should definitely try out advertising on a B2B website.

The data published by the UK Association of Online Publishers also reveals that 45% of those who participated in their survey state that they did purchase the advertised product online and 38% of the respondents turned out to be offline purchasers of the same product.

So, if you are an Internet marketing professional, who is on a look out for a worthy medium of web advertising, a well-known B2B website might just prove to be the perfect option for you.

Just go through this paragraph that was a part of a report that appeared in Reuters - “YouTube, the leader in Internet video search, said on Sunday viewers have are now watching more than 100 million videos per day on its site, marking the surge in demand for its “snack-sized” video fare. YouTube, the leader in Internet video search, said on Sunday viewers have are now watching more than 100 million videos per day on its site, marking the surge in demand for its “snack-sized” video fare.”

And this is the further continuation of the report, ““YouTube videos account for 60 percent of all videos watched online, the company said. Videos are delivered free on YouTube and the company is still working on developing advertising and other means of generating revenue to support the business.”

Now, if you are an Internet marketing professional, the above mentioned paragraphs will be like music to your ears. Video adverts are being viewed as an interesting prospect. It allows the advertisers to craft a variety of elements such as motion picture, sound and animation into their ads. Thus, the end product is very interesting. This makes it easier for the web advertiser to capture the attention of the netizens.

According to the figures released by eMarketer.com, the video marketing and advertising industry is going to be worth $3 billion by the end of 2010. Similarly, according to Bob Hanna, senor vice president of sales with Burst Media-a group that offers publisher sites to advertisers- “This [online video ads] could very well become the dominant form of online advertising … probably within the next 18 to 24 months”

The rising popularity of broadband has also meant that an increasing number of people are now open to the idea of watching online videos.

So, are you interested in creating a video advert for satisfying your online marketing goals? If your answer is yes, then you ought to keep a few things in mind.

Please do not use the ad that you run on TV for your online marketing purpose. Internet and TV are two different formats and TV adverts appear grainy when viewed on the Internet. Also, you should not exceed the time limit of 15 seconds. Long advertisements are a strict no-no.

So, happy video marketing!!!