Cheat Your way to $1000 a day
By MoreMerchant on Aug 1, 2007 in Blog Advertising, Blogging, Get Rich, Make Money on Web, Misc
Read to the end. I do not like Cheating. You have tried blogging. You posted daily for over a month. Shoot sometimes you posted 2, 3 and even 4 times a day. You commented on other sites, you did whatever 
Darren Rowse said to do. You even paid for some reviews.
You check your Adsense and see $4.98 and you think back to the 2 times you clicked your own ads when you were at RadioShack and a friend’s house.
So you tune into a little John Chow and decide it is time to take action.
You start clicking your ads from computer to computer. You go to school and click some ads, get your friends to click ads, and when you get home you click. You only click once so to not get caught.
Before you know it you made $100 and are now going to get a check when the time rolls around. SAWEET!
You have made the bigtime! You continue this for a few days. You will be at $1000 in no time! Nobody is hurt and you are going to get a fat check for $1000 soon!
Do you know what this is doing? Does it hurt? Hell yes it does. You are stealing. You are stealing from advertisers like myself. That’s right I advertise, but that is not all that I am talking about. I am talking about stealing from me as a publisher.
You drive down what advertisers are willing to pay. You drive down what all decent publishers make for each click. Is this a problem. It is, and publishers should be pissed at people who fraudulently click their own ads.
Then one day you try to log in, and access is denied. You never get your check. The damage is done.
Do you Stumble?
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Levi Blackman | Aug 2, 2007 | Reply
Of course, if the account is closed then no damage is done (since the advertiser isn’t charged)…unless of course Google keeps the difference.
Save Money | Aug 2, 2007 | Reply
You don’t get the point.
They hurt us.. the publishers that want to use ads to make money on legitimate sites.
You see I also advertise and pay less knowing that there is fraudulent clicks.
So if I was going to advertise on your site and was going to do $2 a click, now I will only do $1 a click because there are people doing fraud and some of it gets through.
kheruc | Aug 2, 2007 | Reply
I think google eventually discovers cheating and returns money to advertisers
cooliojones | Aug 4, 2007 | Reply
The problem is people who don’t do this and get banned with no explanation. Very few people probably do this, but the innocent ones always get caught in the crossfire.
Save Money | Aug 5, 2007 | Reply
I am sure there are innocent people out there you get caught. I know a guy who clicked someone’s ads hundreds of times thinking that he was helping the website owner.
Google banned the website owner.
Unfortunate.
What I hate though is that my earnings are ultimately affected by those that cheat, even if they get caught they have hurt what advertisers are willing to pay.
DerekBeau | Aug 5, 2007 | Reply
As an advertiser, I don’t worry about click fraud. One reason is that Google regularly refunds me for fraudulent clicks that they have detected. Another reason is that I use the new “placement performance” reports.
If I am advertising on your legitimate site and am getting good conversions, I will either continue advertising or increase my bid in an attempt to get more traffic. The sites that send fraudulent traffic, or poorly converting traffic, get “blacklisted” from my campaign.
Save Money | Aug 5, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Derek for the great comment from an advertiser’s point of view.
I also advertise but don’t put as much time into it as I should.
I believe my traffic is top notch and wish that everyone was honest in this business. The more honesty there is, the more advertisers will pay because there will be more advertisers willing to give it a shot.
Dee | Aug 7, 2007 | Reply
Nice post. Advertising dollars are precious.
Tantowi | Aug 8, 2007 | Reply
Google team is getting better and better. I hope they ASAP solve this kind of problem.
I also pubisher and advertiser.
Aaron Amos | Aug 9, 2007 | Reply
That’s why I always avoid touching my ads even I’m adding or taking stuff out of my blogs!
Michael from Pro Blog Design | Aug 10, 2007 | Reply
I agree. Cheating is never worthwhile in the long run, but it’s a shame that not everyone can see that…
Save Money | Aug 10, 2007 | Reply
If we all fight to get the word out and police our own we can have some impact at least.
From time to time I post on the subject to do my part.
Dave | Aug 13, 2007 | Reply
I agree 100%. Even if i didn’t, this post’s opening was still good for a chuckle … lol
efe | Nov 17, 2007 | Reply
It is really sad for people to click on their own ads cos at the end we publisher suffers the penalty. Please fraudulent clickers, stop the act
eumaledictio | Dec 6, 2007 | Reply
I have to agree. Good to hear someone say it so those that are guilty of it might feel a little bit of shame.
Brad Nay | Dec 7, 2007 | Reply
Do you know how google will tell? I’m pretty sure they track the IP address of every person that clicked one..
If they see 50 clicks from one IP address, somethings up.
Commentee | Dec 17, 2007 | Reply
But when you feel like the urge to bring someone down, all you have to do is click on their ads a couple hundred times. It doesn’t take much to write a script to do that. In that position, the attacker wins.
al | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
I’m guessing everyone…author of this article on down…has at *least* 1 mp3 on their hard drive that they didn’t duly pay for.
“Let he who has no sin cast the first stone.”
Oh and…all that “cheating” you’re whining about? Yeah…welcome to “The American Way.” Lift your eyes up out of your little Internet blubble for just a moment. Look around you, friend…we live in a society who rewards those who are willing to screw anyone in any way to get what they want.
MoreMerchant | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Well Al, I will not cheat. Also I own a music review site and get sent more music than I could ever listen to.
If I had to cheat to get ahead, I would rather be behind. At the end of the day I have to live with myself.
Honest and hard work has paid off for me. I am in the top 1% of earners and have not cheated or lied to get where I am.
Keith Cash | Dec 27, 2007 | Reply
What tangled web we weave.
I took me a year to get my first $100.00 thank you very much.
Now I am about $1.00 a day. Yep Yep Yahoo.
It will get better. It must.
You are right they steal from us.
Lets hope `
fak3r | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
great post, people are all jumping in to make a quick buck, but ruin things for everyone in the long term. It’ll only lead to more restrictive ways for less people to make less money.
cheaters never win, winners never cheat.
bond | Mar 28, 2008 | Reply
well said buddy.
bond | Mar 28, 2008 | Reply
well said