Low-cost Internet business advertising is often a scam, but background checks can ensure a better ROI (Return on Investment) against scammers.
Scams are everywhere. Internet ads that tout get-rich-quick schemes, flat stomachs, and work-at-home opportunities are commonplace. You read about scams all the time in the newspaper, hear about them on the news, and find out about them on the Internet. In fact, it seems like everywhere you turn, scams are running amok.
So, too, are scammers who target the Internet advertisers themselves. Business owners certainly understand the importance of advertising to draw and drive sales. They are cost-conscious consumers themselves, who want ROI. Small business owners and NFP (Not For Profit) organizations especially don’t have a big budget for ads.
However, believe it or not, there are people and companies who try to steal even those limited dollars from advertisers and business owners by offering cheap advertising packages that do not deliver the agreed-upon services.
Background Checks are Key to Avoiding Advertising Scams
The scam arrives when the advertiser pays for the services, but only some or none of those services are even performed. Just as a good consumer checks with the Better Business Bureau or other sources to check out a business, an advertiser should do a background check on the person or company that wants to handle an Internet advertising campaign, including:
- Past successes through positive customer comments/feedback by objective sources other than the agency’s own website.
- A solid reputation confirmed through references that are provided and who also are reputable—preferably not user-contributed sources such as blogs or wikis.
Anatomy of an Advertising Scam
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns offer solid ROI because an agreed-upon amount is paid by an advertiser to a search engine each time a visitor clicks on the banner ad provided. However, Cyber Punks have developed a computer program to automatically click on the banner, which increased the amount the advertiser had to pay—and a scam was born.
That led to the development of pay-per-action advertising campaigns, which are harder to hack. With this method, the advertiser only pays the search engine a monetary sum each time a sale is realized with a customer.
Affordable Internet Ad Agencies offer benefits that newspapers, TV, and radio cannot. For example, it is interactive and more measurable. TV and radio are unidirectional means of advertising, while the Internet offers a chance for the advertiser and potential customers to interact directly. The same caveat that applies to consumers holds true for advertisers, too: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
* Originally published on Suite 101 October 08, 2010
