Direct Marketing, Mail Order, and E-commerce News from the National Mail Order Association

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Click Fraud Victim Fights Back With New Software

John Carreras had always been suspicious that his competitors were clicking on his pay per click ads in an effort to deplete his advertising budget, but when Carreras returned from an industry trade show that he - and all of his competitors - had attended, he was both stunned and furious. While at the show, his daily pay per click (PPC) expenditures dropped by nearly 50%. Why? Because while walking the floor of the trade show and attending sessions, his competitors weren't able to click on his PPC ads!

"I realized how much money had been wasted, and my blood was boiling," says Carreras. Soon after, Carreras founded PPC Audit and set about designing a piece of software that would both detect and deter click fraud. Today the company has seen tremendous success as hundreds of Internet marketers use PPC Audit's "WhosClickingWho?" (WCW) click fraud detection and deterrence software.

Click fraud ranges from Internet publishers using automated tools or human "clickers" in third world countries to click ads, to employees or agents of a company clicking on a rival's web advertising in an effort to drain PPC marketing.

Until now, advertisers have had to rely on the search engines themselves to ensure PPC data was legitimate and valid. With the use of WCW auditing services, web advertisers and marketers can take charge of the important job of protecting PPC advertising from fraud. WCW helps advertisers save money, preserve the integrity of marketing data generated by PPC links, and more effectively market their products and services to legitimate customers.

WCW auditing services offer a comprehensive set of tools to detect, defeat and deter click fraud. WCW collects valid click data to track repeated clicks from the same user. This data can be provided to the PPC company as evidence of clicks as fraudulent or illegitimate that should not be charged to advertisers. WCW detects repeated clicks from all search engines, so that a user who clicks on PPC links in multiple search engines will still be identified as a repeat visitor generating fraudulent clicks.

Perhaps even more important than detecting click fraud is to deter offenders from continuing to perpetrate fraud with clicks on PPC links. To this end, the WCW ClickMinder warns repeat clickers with a warning message that their actions are being tracked. This method of deterrence is particularly effective in reducing fraudulent clicks from competitors and independent web publishers.

Today, John Carreras' PPC expenditures have fallen by $1,000 per month while his sales remain unchanged. "There are a lot of people out there just like me who are losing thousands of dollars per month to click fraud," Carreras says. "They just don't know it yet."

About the Company
PPC Audit's WhosClickingWho? software was the world's first independent click fraud detection and deterrence software.

PPC Audit is a privately held company based in Santa Clara, CA.

http://www.whosclickingwho.com

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Postal Service Stops Questionable Adult Mail

The U.S. Postal Service notified the Los Angeles-based publisher of a national humor magazine today that the image of Michael Jackson on the magazine's back cover is "pornographic", and that as a result, the USPS refuses to mail the magazine to thousands of subscribers.

The image in question is a one-panel color cartoon on the outside cover of the recent issue of RAVEN Magazine, a national humor magazine for men. It depicts the pop singer in his signature crotch-grabbing dance pose. At the same time, Jackson seems to be putting his other hand in the pants of a young boy who wears a shocked expression on his face. The image is captioned, "Michael Jackson, 1993-2003, Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" and seems to refer to the two cases of very similar molestation charges leveled against the singer, one in 1993 and another ten years later.

Post Office Supervisor Heather Ortega in the bulk mail center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida said the one-panel cartoon of Michael Jackson was "sexual" and so the mailing of it is prohibited by the USPS Domestic Mail Manual. She said, "It's right in front of me while we speak. Personally, I think it's hilarious. But just like the Eminem video. That's considered offensive too". Ortega is referring to the recent video by rapper Eminem depicting Jackson chasing after young boys and trying to get them onto his bed.

RAVEN Magazine publisher Zane Valenti responded, "I doubt there's anyone who would feel anything sexual looking at this totally satirical cartoon which is clearly meant to be funny. Who needs to be protected from seeing this cartoon? Nobody. This is totally silly and is a sign of just how far out of hand things have gotten in this country."

Valenti said that the forbidden magazines will still be mailed to subscribers after being placed inside opaque envelopes and readdressed, causing delay and additional cost.

The image of the forbidden cartoon can be found on the RAVEN Magazine website at http://www.ravenmagazine.com/samples.asp

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