Post-click marketing

Post-click marketing is a term that refers to Internet marketing initiatives directed at respondents who have just clicked on a search engine link, paid keyword, banner ad, or a "call-to-action" link in an email. These initiatives include landing pages, microsites, and conversion paths.

The focus of post-click marketing is usually on increasing the conversion rate of respondents (where a "conversion" may mean subscribing, becoming a qualified lead, or making a purchase). In contrast, pre-click marketing is primarily focused on increasing the total number of respondents to a particular ad or email marketing campaign.

In the December 2006 issue of Advertising Age magazine, Abbey Klaassen called post-click marketing "...how to finish a web sale." [From Wikipedia]

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Pay Per Click ( PPC )

Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.

Cost per click (CPC) is the amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on its advertisement that brings one visitor to its website.

In contrast to the generalized portal, which seeks to drive a high volume of traffic to one site, PPC implements so called affiliate model, that provides purchase opportunities wherever people may be surfing. It does this by offering financial incentives (in the form of a percentage of revenue) to affiliated partner sites. The affiliates provide purchase-point click-through to the merchant. It is a pay-for-performance model -- if an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant. The affiliate model is inherently well-suited to the web, which explains its popularity. Variations include, banner exchange, pay-per-click, and revenue sharing programs.

Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to or above organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site.

Although many PPC providers exist, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the three largest network operators, and all three operate under a bid-based model. Cost per click (CPC) varies depending on the search engine and the level of competition for a particular keyword.

The PPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and others have implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt web developers.

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PTC ( Paid To Click )

Paid-To-Click is an online business model that draws huge amounts of online traffic from people aiming to earn from home. Paid-To-Click, or simply PTC websites act as middlemen between advertisers and consumers; the advertiser pays for displaying ads on the PTC website, and a part of this payment goes to the consumer when he views the advertisement.

The viability of the PTC business model has been questioned, as fraudulent clicks have ramped up the expenses for advertisers.^[1] With lawsuits filed against the internet search companies, the burden has been placed on Google, Yahoo and others to determine the valid clicks from the fraudulent ones,^[2] although PTC site may just be used as advertising, to direct traffic to one's site. Moreover, many users registered in PTC websites are bots.

Even though advertisement is the most widely known method for PTC to stay alive, most of the profit comes from the direct sales of fake referals which are created virtually by the PTC owner at his will. To cover up all this scheme, PTC owners inject some normal ads from fictional advertisers thereby keeping the system running smoothly.

Some PTCs are also used to mimic mass human traffic which can help a botnet stay undercover and perform click fraud activity in 2nd and 3rd tier ad networks. Many PTC owners also pollute the ads with malware and botnet rootkits.

Scams although exposed on various PTC forums are still heavily used by new-comers who are drawn in to the websites by search engines. Scam PTC sites are known to attract new users with cheap offers for upgrade and referrals and disappear without trace after a short time.[From Wikipedia]

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