Reason #233 not to use Google’s content network. Click fraud can come in many undetectable forms including from MySpace.com. IndcrediBill raises to our attention that people are posting on their MySpace accounts telling users to go to their blog or website and click on their ads for them. This isn’t any ground breaking news b/c it happens everyday. People on IM or Email send a link to friends and ask them to click on their ads. It is not big money but enough to buy Joe Blogger a few rounds at the bar on Saturday night. Now, people are doing the same sort of social click fraud with one of the webs most popular and highest traffic sites, MySpace.com. Its a great idea if you are just trying to cheat the system for a few bucks and don’t really have any ethics.
I know that there are a select few users out there who insist that they run successful content network campaigns but I have yet to prove me wrong in my agrument that if you consider the time it takes to manage a content network campaign along with the cost, that it is worth it. There are much better ways to run content network campaigns. For starters, use companies like AdBrite or TextLinkAds that allow you to easily control all your content network type advertising and not be forced to pay on a cost per click basis.
Don’t be a fool. Stay out of the content network pool!