White Hat Tips to Build Quality Backlinks

2012-06-23

In the post-Panda/Penguin world, building high quality inbound links to your website isn’t easy. It takes consistent work on your part while focusing on delivering value.

A lot of webmasters/bloggers still continue to indulge in the least effective ways to build links such as forum spamming, blog comment spamming, etc. But the fact is, these methods are no longer necessary as they give bad results.

Effective SEO does not require you to demean your website through spammy tactics. You can increase your ranking using white hat link building methods that aren’t looked down upon by people or search engines. Here are some white hat link building tips that work:

Tip #1: Do some newsjacking – If your website targets an industry where there is a chance of breaking news, try to look for opportunities. Newsjacking is nothing but a way to be the first in bringing the latest news to your target audience. Due to the freshness factor of the news, you’ll not only boost your rank in Google, but also get others to link to your story.

Tip #2: Become a go-to resource – Regardless of the niche you’re targeting, you can earn targeted links from relevant sites by becoming an informative resource. This can be done by offering unique research based content, doing trend analysis and providing intelligent opinions that spark new discussions. When you provide such high quality content, you will not only gain links but your website will also become a reference point that people come back to again and again.

Tip #3: Stir controversy – It’s a fact that controversial content attracts a lot of attention, and inbound links. It also encourages social sharing. Your aim here is to create content that starts a debate and gets others involved. Even though some of your audience will not agree with you, it’s fine. You just have to stick to your point and support it. On the other hand, there will be a portion of your audience that will totally agree with you. So what you’re trying to do here is pick a topic that has equal votes on both the sides.

Tip #4: Develop real-world relationships – A lot of webmasters forget that consistently attracting white hat links requires you to build rock solid relationships in your industry. That’s right, you have to connect and create a relationship with the ‘linkerati’ crowd. This includes bloggers, webmasters, entrepreneurs, authors, etc. By slowly and steadily growing your relationship with the known crowd, you will have a higher chance of gaining backlinks to your future content.

Tip #5: Create and give away case studies – Growing your inbound links naturally without breaking any ethical SEO rules boils down to providing real value. But to do that, you have to think out of the box. While others are busy giving away free reports, you can actually do case studies of your clients or customers and give them away. This way, you’ll also get your customers to link to you and drive back traffic to your site.

What tactics do you use to build backlinks ethically? Do share your ideas in the comments section below.

Fraud Protection or Die

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-22

Fraud has been an issue since online performance marketing’s inception. When I first started in the industry in 1997, it wasn’t always called fraud, rather “innovative business practices.” From banner farms to click fraud, the industry has been rife with serious issues of fraud. The performance marketing and affiliate industry has always stood up during these instances, saying: “That’s why you must do a pay-per-performance model.” However, in the last few years, as the performance marketing industry has grown by leaps and bounds, our industry has become the target of sophisticated fraudsters.

Brian McLevis, CEO of ScrubKit, one of the main fraud protection systems used by affiliate networks, says fraud comes in all forms and from all factions within the industry. “There are dozens of different fraudulent tactics currently running rampant within the industry and fraudsters continue to try and push the envelope by innovating new ways to defraud companies,” he says. “There are actually many different types of fraudsters, from the flying-under-the-radar-guy that defrauds by trickling in a couple fraudulent conversions per day, to sophisticated fraud rings that utilize constantly evolving techniques ranging from stolen credit card or identity information acquired from hacked servers.”

Businesses that do not invest in a fraud protection system for use in conjunction with their online performance marketing efforts are easy targets, McLevis says. It is a requirement for almost all marketing companies to have a cutting-edge, legitimate system in place, whether in-house or third-party, that partners can rely upon. “Companies are no longer looking at a fraud management system as an additional monthly cost,” he explains, “but instead as something that will ultimately save them countless amounts of time and money while ensuring strong, long-term relationships with their business partners.”

Companies that don’t engage in fraud protection are now seen as rogues in the industry and often destroy relationships. They change their names frequently and are seen as confederates of the fraudsters. While they are not always actively engaged in the fraud themselves, their unwillingness to prevent fraud is seen as a huge detriment to advertisers and the industry in general.

Richard B. Newman, a well-known New York Internet marketing law attorney agrees, and says that “the consequences are many, both as it pertains to disputes amongst advertisers and publishers, to consumer-based fraud. With regard to the former, failing to deal with professional colleagues in an equitable fashion, despite shared business interests, undermines long-term viability and growth.”

The impact to the industry is clearly far reaching. “Consumer-based fraud devastates the industry due to increased regulatory scrutiny that ultimately chases off big advertising dollars,” says Newman, who represents numerous interactive advertising companies. “A proactive, self-regulatory culture that implements best practices and aggressive fraud prevention solutions, while dealing with associates at arm’s-length, is essential for the long-term survival of the industry.”

It’s obvious that companies like ScrubKit and CPADetective, another fraud protection company, are going to be gaining more and more clients as time goes by. However, for whatever reasons, there are companies in the industry that still feel that they can “get by” by not making an investment in fraud protection. Those companies that continue to operate in his manner are going to find they are being perceived as pariahs due to their lack of proactive attention and aggressive fraud prevention.

Mobile Apps add Facebook Likes

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-21

One of the most familiar symbols in today’s technological world is Facebook’s Like button. The little thumbs up with a blue shirt cuff makes an appearance almost everywhere we look. Every advertisement we see gives the option to like on Facebook. It was one of the greatest innovations for brands and advertisers, as it became easy to get consumers involved with their advertisements instead of just looking at them. The Like button gave brands an opportunity to get their name out by way of the new word-of-mouth, and they could now put themselves in a place that has been the center of attention for a long time.

Needless to say, the Like button spread like wildfire after it was first put out as an opportunity for brands and advertisers. However, now the like button will be making an appearance in all of the world’s favorite mobile apps. However, instead of a button, Facebook refers to it in their blog as the, “Like action,” for you can now create a wide range of your own like buttons across apps to influence a large distribution across Facebook. This new feature tied in with the Like button will make for a more interactive experience that ties in the web and mobile devices with apps like foursquare and Instagram.

Instead of having to share a story on Facebook in order for somebody to Like it, they can now Like it directly from the separate app, and it will still appear as a notification on Facebook. Basically, what is happening is, just as they have done with the web on desktop computers, users can now Like things on Facebook, even if they aren’t on Facebook.

This new feature may be a sign of an important advertising idea. There could be something to come with this new innovation in the Like button. For example, if a brand were to make an account on one of the social media sites that is less populated by business and advertisers, such as Instagram, they could then have an advantage and still use Facebook to advertise. It would be killing two birds with one stone, in a sense, because not only would the person that is Liking your post on Instagram learning more about your product, but all of the people they are friends with would see it as well.

The Like button was created for the purpose of helping people share what their interests are and see who else Likes the same things. “Unlike the Like Button, people must authorize your app to publish like stories,” Andrew Rothbart writes on the Facebook Developer Blog. So, the Like action is exactly the same as the Like button, but it broadens the horizons of it. Facebook is continuing to take the Like button to high places, creating many great opportunities with it. Since it is now available for apps on mobile devices, though, it’s hard to imaging what they could possibly do next. Although, Facebook never seizes to surprise it’s users.

Raj Parekh joins leadership of ActiveProspect

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-21

ActiveProspect, a web based provider of Cost Per Lead Advertising solutions, today announced that Raj Parekh has joined the company as Executive Vice President of Business Development. In this role, Parekh will be responsible for growing ActiveProspect’s roster of Fortune 500 advertisers and evangelizing the value of independent lead certification. For the past 3 years, Parekh has served as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for LeadPoint. Prior to LeadPoint, Parekh founded and sold LeadROI, a lead management company, which is now part of MediaWhiz.

Parekh, a well regarded industry veteran, joins ActiveProspect to lead its efforts to increase trust and transparency in CPL advertising with TrustedForm Certified Leads. “Raj is a person of great integrity and is passionate about advancing best practices in online lead generation. He is a perfect fit and I look forward to him joining the leadership of our company” said Steve Rafferty, ActiveProspect CEO and Founder. “I am impressed by how ActiveProspect has established themselves as a true innovator in this industry by introducing the concept of lead certification. I have long admired their efforts to make CPL advertising safe and effective for big brands.” said Parekh. “I’ve spent the last ten years contributing to the evolution of marketing lead management in an attempt to solve the inefficiencies of the lead generation industry. I believe this team has created a comprehensive solution that makes that goal achievable and am happy to be a part of their quest to rebuild trust in the industry.”

About ActiveProspect, Inc.
Founded in 2004, ActiveProspect is a privately held B2C marketing automation software provider located in Austin, TX. The company provides a suite of web based applications designed to address the challenges of Cost Per Lead Advertising. ActiveProspect processes millions of Internet leads per month through their LeadConduit platform and also pioneered the practice of lead certification through the patent-pending TrustedForm technology.

Mobile: Higher Conversions, Lower Costs

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-21

Mobile platforms have very clearly taken over as the prominent way for people to surf the web. As anyone can see, many advertisers and marketing firms are taking quick advantage of this rather young form of advertising. Some businesses are reluctant, however, for they are worried about how much they spend on PC advertisements already. Until recently, not much of a difference could be seen between the cost to drive conversions in PC platforms and the cost to drive conversions on mobile platforms.

For those who aren’t familiar, a conversion refers to each time a consumer converts a simple, casual visit to a website into the desired action of the advertiser. For example, when a consumer visits the website of a hotel, if they book a room then their visit has been converted to desired action. Now, what has been discovered through marketing research is that mobile optimization will bring in conversions at lower costs than the PC platforms can. Apparently, the conversion rates on the iPad have doubled the rates on desktop computers. In Affiliate Window’s M-Commerce White Paper from last year, it shows that the conversion rate for the iPad in May was at about 3.5%, while in the same month, desktop computers were at 1.4%. The iPad was even beating out other mobile devices significantly, with the Blackberry, Android and iPhone all around 2.0 – 2.1% in May, last year. Regardless of what platform, the mobile traffic rate shot up in the late months of 2011 from 2.4% to 3.5%.

A case study explains this new cost-effective way to get a higher amount of conversions. Greg Sterling, a writer at MarketingLand.com, writes of a case study that shows that there are certain optimization steps that need to be taken in order to achieve this cost effectiveness. Greg explains in an example about Fidelity Investments that the advertising agency cannot always be at fault, “but also blame to company for not paying attention and demanding a better campaign.” Their mobile advertising campaign consisted simply of a display banner on the bottom of a news stream that lead to the desktop version of their website. This lack of well planned mobile optimization will not lead to the desired conversion rates.

However, in another example that is given in the case study, Starwood Hotels does things correctly and efficiently. Using Google’s click-to-call, their advertisement on Google can either lead customers to their mobile optimized site or with a simple touch, smart phone users can call their call centers. Optimizing a website for mobile is quite cost-effective, and can bring in a much higher conversion rate.

Mobile marketing is the new way, with the sudden explosion of mobile devices. If you aren’t advertising on mobile platforms, then conversion rates will continue to decrease. People need it to be easier for them to view the important things that advertisers want them to see. Without mobile optimization, people will get lost, and your company will lose conversions and possibly even customers.

Spy on Your Competitors

Mustafa Khundmiri

2012-06-21

Let’s face it, knowing your competition like the back of your hand is crucial. It allows you to devise a better online marketing strategy and actually improve your own standing.

Many online marketers tend to ignore competitive intelligence and miss out on ideas they could have adopted themselves. It always makes sense to understand what your competitors are doing so that you can do it better or at least do something similar.

Spying on your competition online doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. In fact, it’s will help you get better returns on your investments in the long run – regardless of what you’re selling. So how do you really go about the competitor spying game?

In the following article we talk about a few things you can do to successfully do a background check on your competition.

#1: Begin with their Website

The first place that you start your little research is your competitors website. This is where you’ll find how professional they are, what kind of content they have and if they’re doing anything smart that you can add to your own site.

For example, you can analyze how they are serving their customers and if they are using any new ideas to serve them better. If you see something unique or creative, you can steal the idea and customize it for your own site. But make sure you aren’t blatantly copying anything – be original in your approach.

#2: Study their Blog’s Content

If your competitor has a blog then it’s an opportunity to learn about their content marketing strategy. Start off by subscribing to their RSS feed so that you can be regularly updated.

What you basically want to look into is how engaging their blog is and what they’re doing to differentiate themselves from others. Is the blog getting enough positive comments? How actively new posts are made on the blog? Does it have a strong readership and the required stickiness?

If you wish, you can even join the conversation with a nickname to see how they are interacting with the readers. The idea is to watch and learn so that you can get a thorough understanding of their blog.

#3: Look into their Social Media Activity

How active are they on social media? How are they using Twitter and Facebook to build and nurture relationships? What tactics are they using to leverage social media to the maximum?

There’s a lot of experimenting that you can do with social media to grow your online presence. By spying your competition, you’ll know what they are missing out on or what you can do better than them in terms of creating an engaging fanbase.

Don’t just limit yourself to Twitter and Facebook. Go beyond that and see how your competition is using other social media sites such as LinkedIn, Pinterest and Foursquare. Remember, if you want to dominate the social media scene then you will have to do something radically different from your competition.

What do you do to effectively spy and learn from your competition? Do share your experience in the comments section below!

The Right Way to Pitch a Guest Post

Mustafa Khundmiri

2012-06-21

Writing good guest posts is one thing, but getting them accepted is something else. Guest blogging has always been popular. However, after the Google Panda update, the value of guest posts has increased.

Today, there’s a lot of competition when it comes to guest posting and getting published on top blogs has become even more difficult. This is exactly why it’s so important to pitch your guest post the right way to make sure it gets accepted.

So how do you really go about building a relationship with other bloggers in order to get published? What does it take to make your first contact successful? Here are a few effective tips that will help you reach out to bloggers and strike new partnerships:

Do your Initial Homework

Before you go out there and pitch a guest post to a blog, see to it that you’ve done your homework. In other words, you should be familiar with the type of content this blog publishes. And know what kind of audience it has.

This is essential because the more relevant your post is, the higher chance of it being accepted. Bloggers don’t like publishing guest posts that look “general” or are vague. They are looking out for posts that can effectively contribute to their blog. So your guest post has to fit in with the other posts published on the blog.

Pitch More than One Idea

Your aim here is to convince the blogger that your post will be a good contribution. However, in order to do that, you should share multiple post ideas beforehand. You can’t really depend on guesswork.

When you pitch different post ideas, there’s a higher probability that the blogger would like one of them. Many bloggers make the mistake of assuming that a certain post idea would be great. But when it gets rejected do they realize it that it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Stay Concise in Your Approach

Emailing a blogger with a pitch for a guest post doesn’t have to be complicated. As long as you practice brevity in your approach, you will find that getting a response is fairly easy.

Writing lengthy emails to impress the blogger can actually backfire. Because most of the A-list bloggers are busy people. They don’t have the time to read through your long email. If your time is precious, so is theirs. The key is to keep it short and to the point.

Attach Your Best Sample Work

The attention span of the blogger you’re getting in touch for guest posting is probably gonna be short. You have to grab his attention by showing him that you can do justice to their blog with your post. And you do that by pointing him to your previous sample work.

Showing your samples gives the blogger a fair idea on your writing style and also the quality you can offer. But don’t just link to all of your samples – only link to the best. You want to make a quality first impression so that the samples you attach have to be good enough.

How to Create a More Engaging Facebook Page

Mustafa Khundmiri

2012-06-21

There’s something about Facebook that makes it so popular. Which clearly means that as an online marketer, you have to leverage the social platform to reach out to your target audience.

A lot of web marketers trying to use Facebook to reach out to their market are doing it wrong. And the reason for that is – they’re trying way too hard to promote themselves when they should be spending most of their time gaining a stronger, more loyal fan following.

That’s right, getting a higher number of likes to your Facebook page is not about marketing – that’s something which comes much later. You not only want to build your following on the social site, but build a following that’s loyal and active.

If your Facebook page does not have enough activity going on with meagre number of likes, it will die a slow and painful death. And I bet you don’t want that to happen.

So instead of worrying about how you’ll pitch your offer to Facebook users, work on growing a loyal fanbase that helps you take your online business to the next level. Here are a few tips to help you get more people to “like” your Facebook page:

Tip #1: Produce Interesting Content, Lots of It

There’s not one reason as to why someone would like your page – there could be many. But the basic reason will always remain the same, which is to connect to your brand and learn more about your products.

Every person that likes your page is looking out to get educated. They will dislike you if you try to sell them. And the only way to educate them is to produce lots of interesting content that is relevant.

Now, when we say content, it’s not just about updating your status or sharing a note. You have to diversify your content creation and include pictures, charts, video, audio, research data, etc. The kind of content that actually gets your fans involved.

The more content you provide, the more it gets shared and spread across the social network. This in turn gets you more fans that are actually interested in what you’re offering.

Tip #2: Get Your Fans Talking to Each Other

Social media is all about conversations – two sided conversations that actually make things social. When you’re trying to grow your presence on Facebook, you should aim to build a thriving community of loyal fans.

And in order to do that, you need to encourage conversations between fans. How do you go about doing that? No, it’s not rocket science. As long as you know how to put the spotlight on your fans and get them totally involved, you will see them talking.

Your fans also want recognition, which is why they will respond back when you give them a reason to. For instance, you may spark a discussion on a hot topic and ask their opinion. The key is to keep the conversation going by being involved yourself.

What do you do to make your Facebook page more engaging? Do share your tips/ideas in the comments section below.

Windows 8 Brings Promising App Ads

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-21

At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Microsoft gave its advertising partners a peek at what they can expect for advertising opportunities to come. Windows 8 will be a brand new and innovative platform with creativity in its roots. With its all new line of apps, Windows 8 will bring a huge potential for advertising in new ways.

“When developing Windows 8, Microsoft re-imagined it with a focus on the consumer experience,” Jennifer Creegan wrote in her company blog post. She then mentions how they had the same attitude toward the development of ads within the Windows 8 apps. People will now be, “at the center of the experience.”

Apparently, Microsoft is taking steps to ensure that the new and improved advertisements are as much of a breakthrough as they expect. The people of Microsoft have enlisted the creativity of some of the best advertising agencies known and are partnering to develop the Windows 8 advertising formats. These new partners include names like Big Spaceship, Team Detroit, AKQA, Razorfish, UM, and Y&R. Jennifer writes, “With these partners, we will look to create a new standard for what ads within Windows 8 apps can and will be, as well as ensure that experiences will be engaging for consumers and effective for marketers and publishers.” Microsoft wants more than anything for Windows 8 to be their most successful platform yet, be it for marketing or for the everyday consumer.

In her blog post, Jennifer gives readers a good example of what can be expected from Windows 8 in terms of its advertising opportunities. The example given involves an Adidas advertisement placed perfectly within an app for the Seattle Sounders FC. It sits in right side of the screen, but is integrated with the rest of the app’s features perfectly.

The blog then continues to show where clicking the ad would bring the consumer. After clicking the ad, the consumer is brought to, “a rich brand landing experience that offers Adidas merchandise.” The new app ads are efficient as well, for with just a click the customer is brought back to the app where they began. The advertisements in this new Windows 8 format promise to be sleek and user friendly. Also provided in the blog is an image showing the same Seattle Sounders FC app in full, panoramically. It shows the little amount of space that ads will take up in the app, but how effective they evidently will be.

Windows 8 was announced long ago and it definitely seems like it will be something huge. Microsoft is very excited about the new possibilities to come with Windows 8 in the line of the advertising experience for advertisers and consumers alike. According to Microsoft’s blog, there will be more announcements in coming months regarding the many new features and marketing opportunities that will come with the development of Windows 8. It is expected to be a breakthrough software, and anyone who decides to try it out will definitely be amazed.

HitPath Drops Lawsuit Against Cake Marketing

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-19

Almost a year ago, HitPath (aka WebApps) went to war against several of its former clients and the new tracking system that they moved to, Cake Marketing. They had claimed, among other things, that Cake had helped these networks illegally move from HitPath to Cake, and as part of that transferred data without permission. HitPath seemed to believe that this was basically nothing more than a version of hacking, and sued Cake Marketing for millions of dollars. PMI has learned that the lawsuit has been dropped, with HitPath accepting a settlement of $50k for legal fees related to the lawsuit.

Cake has dropped their counter-suit against HitPath in return.

The networks, in their defense, said that all they were doing was moving data from one tracking system to another, and that HitPath was doing everything in their power to make the transition impossible.

PMI received the following statement from Cake when asking about the lawsuit, “Cake and Hitpath have settled their lawsuit against each other and we are excited to put this in the past and continue to innovate and provide the best solution for the industry.”

We spoke briefly to Ricky Ahuja of Affiliate Venture Group, one of the networks also sued by HitPath about the lawsuit, and he was more than slightly excited. He pointed out that Cake Marketing covered the legal costs of the lawsuits, “Jeff and his team of attorneys were absolutely amazing and went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure we were protected.”

Cake has been in the news lately as more and more networks, including Clickbooth have left their long term tracking solutions to move to Cake.

Sponsored by the #1 Gaming Network out there, Ad4Game

(PMI-TV) Stop Drinking the Google Cool-Aid

Murray Newlands

2012-06-19

In this episode of Performance Marketing Insider TV, Murray Newlands interviews Bryan Gissiner about CPC tips for online marketing for advertisers and publishers. He is quite sure that we all need to stop drinking the Google Cool-Aid and start focusing on other things. What is going on with CPC and where do we go from here?

Live Inbound aka Vince Loughname aka Vincent K Patrick aka Kevin Patrick aka International Lead Service

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-19

“Recognized by experts as the clean cut leader in “Live Inbound” Conversion Sales and Marketing Solutions. We are uniquely suited to support small, meduim or fourtune 500 companies that are seeking guaranteed safe and effective conversion marketing solutions that are purposed to “REACH” target markets.”

Apps Bring Facebook’s Timeline New Life

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-19

The Timeline feature on Facebook was something that most people were hesitant to accept as the new look. It’s well known that Facebook will often change completely without warning, causing confusion and complaints from users for a day or two, which then subside. Timeline, however, took a harder beating than most of the other changes, being that it was complained of for months. However, there is now more reason to fall in love with the new design, for it seems the people of Facebook had big ideas for Timeline the entire time.

Although the idea seemed a bit unusual and to many, useless at first, Facebook has recently announced in their blog that they will be bringing new apps to the Timeline feature. Most of the apps being included are very well known and well used. According to the blog, Facebook will be bringing Foodily, Ticketmaster, Pinterest, Rotten Tomatoes, Kobo, TripAdvisor, and more to their newer layout. The apps will be there to reflect a user’s specific interests and help them to share the things that they find.

Facebook’s Carl Sjorgreen writes on the company blog, “Soon, there will be apps for all types of interests, as more apps will launch over time. Whether you love snowboarding, gardening, hiking, or knitting, or something else, there will be an app for you.” As if it weren’t interactive enough, Facebook is adding these new apps so that users can share things they love, and maybe talk with others who love them as well. This new addition has brought life to the questionable new feature of Facebook.

People will be able to turn Facebook into a sort of learning experience. People will be able to post anything they find interest in really, and others who see what has been shared can click and see what their friend has shared. Timeline is also being used to teach Facebook users about products and services in a new way.

On the Facebook pages of certain brands, some very creative advertising methods are being used. For example, on the Old Spice or KLM Airlines pages, the new Cover Photo feature is being used with their profile pictures to create one image, resulting in a very creative design to their page. Also, big names like Ford and Call of Duty: Black Ops are using the timeline to note important dates in their history. Ford posts the countless historical breakthroughs in the company on the actual dates they happen. Call of Duty: Black Ops posts the fictional events from the game on the dates they were said to have happened in the plot line. The Timeline opened new doors to brands that hadn’t really been seen anywhere before.

With the constant growth and improvement occurring with Facebook, it’s sure to be around for a while. Keeping the site fresh and exiting with new features helps users stay interested, even if they don’t know it yet. Facebook’s new Timeline apps are just another step in the direction of growth, for Facebook itself, and anyone else that takes advantage of it.

Google Joins Bad Ad Super-Alliance

Pesach Lattin

2012-06-18

Google has joined forces with Facebook, AOL, Twitter, and the IAb to form a new partnership called the Ads Integrity Alliance, according to StopBadware. There are billions of advertisements scattered over the web, which means without some way of weeding out the bad, it would be impossible to avoid them. StopBadware is a company that’s been fighting malware, viruses and phishing since it formed in 2006.

Now, with the help of these big name companies, monitoring ads will be more efficient than ever before. Google states on its blog that they believe, “Ads Integrity Alliance can make a similarly important contribution to the goal of identifying and removing bad ads from all corners of the web,” referring to the contribution StopBadware has made.

Clearly Google’s contribution to stoping bad ads will be a huge one, along with the rest of the partnership. On it’s own in 2011, Google ridded the web of over 130 million ads that went against advertising policies. The real problem is, however, that when any website, including Google, shuts down an advertiser, they can simply find somewhere else to advertise. This is why this new alliance has formed, to keep watch on a large range of websites that bad advertisers target. Google states that, “The best way to tackle common problems across a highly interconnected web, and to move the whole web forward, is for the industry to work together…”

This alliance is very important for the everyday internet user. There can now be a bit less hesitation to learn more about a product or service, because there will be less threat of viruses and phishing when clicking an ad. Many people have started to avoid clicking any ads at all, as there are far too many that cause things like pop-ups and viruses. People have essentially become a bit afraid of advertisements.

With a sort of advertising police force like the Ads Integrity Alliance, people will have less to worry about, as will advertisers. Good, honest advertisers have been hurt by the bad as well. Since people know that there’s a potential risk when clicking an ad, they usually don’t bother. This means that advertisers are spending quite a bit of money on clickable ads on the internet, for no reason. It’s gotten to the point where ads are designed to be for show, instead of to be interactive. Hopefully, with the alliance, this can change in the near future.

“The web puts the world’s information at your fingertips and has given everyone a platform to speak, listen, engage and unite,” Google writes on their blog. It’s true that there is a vast area of opportunity on the web. Advertising is seen more online than anywhere else. When bad ads exist, there can really be no trust in internet advertising. It’s for this reason that the Ads Integrity Alliance was formed, to fight back against rotten advertisements and keep the web clean and user friendly. After all, the internet is where the majority of America spends a good part of the day.

UrbanObserver

ADOTAT

White Hat Tips to Build Quality Backlinks

Fraud Protection or Die

Mobile Apps add Facebook Likes

Raj Parekh joins leadership of ActiveProspect

Mobile: Higher Conversions, Lower Costs

Spy on Your Competitors

The Right Way to Pitch a Guest Post

How to Create a More Engaging Facebook Page

Windows 8 Brings Promising App Ads

HitPath Drops Lawsuit Against Cake Marketing

(PMI-TV) Stop Drinking the Google Cool-Aid

Live Inbound aka Vince Loughname aka Vincent K Patrick aka Kevin Patrick aka International Lead Service

Apps Bring Facebook’s Timeline New Life

Google Joins Bad Ad Super-Alliance

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Data, Dance, and Daring Campaigns: Erin Levzow’s Approach to Building Loyalty

Streaming’s Big Lie: The Future of TV Is Already Broke

How to Narrow the Scope of Information Sought by an FTC Civil Investigative Demand (CID)

Did Your Company Receive a Letter From the FTC? FTC Warning Letters and Notices of Penalty Offense

The Good, the Bad, and the SPO-ly

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