You are currently viewing Can Click Fraud Harm Start-Ups?

Start-ups and small businesses don’t have the same level of resources as established companies and multinational corporations. When it comes to budgets, entrepreneurs and small business owners need to be an innovative as possible to get the best ROI.

Digital marketing has enabled millions of people to launch successful start-ups. With the potential to reach a global audience and access low-cost marketing tools, the internet has undoubtedly revolutionised the world of commerce.

However, the internet has also given rise to a whole new generation of scams and security threats. For new businesses, click fraud is a particularly dangerous phenomenon that can put start-ups at risk and decimate marketing budgets.

What is Click Fraud?

To understand click fraud, it’s essential to learn more about digital marketing, and PPC ads in particular. Pay-per-click (PPC) adverts can be a great option for small businesses because their cost is designed to be dependent on their success. Instead of paying for advertising space, you simply pay a pre-agreed amount when a user clicks on your ad.

For start-ups, PPC advertising seems like a great premise. When a user clicks on your ad, they’re taken directly to your website or landing page. As you’re only paying ‘per click’, there’s no wasted revenue. Or so it would seem.

Unfortunately, not every online action is made by a user. In fact, software scripts, commonly known as bots, are responsible for approximately 40% of internet traffic. This means that the clicks your ads are getting – the same ones you’re paying for – may not be made by a human at all. Instead, it could simply be a bot clicking on the ad, which clearly won’t have any practical benefit to your business.

What Damage Does Click Fraud Cause?

Referred to as ‘click fraud’, these faux clicks can use up a significant proportion of your marketing budget. With some start-ups paying pounds per click for competitive keyword ads, it’s easy to see how entire budgets can be swallowed up without any return on investment.

However, you won’t just lose money on one campaign if your marketing activities are affected by click fraud. The data gathered following your marketing campaigns will be used to influence future marketing strategies. If this data is inaccurate due to bots and click fraud, you could risk losing further funds too.

Take Action Against Click Fraud

If you’re running a start-up or managing a business, you’ll want to do everything you can to prevent click fraud from affecting your marketing. Fortunately, stopping click fraud isn’t as difficult as you might think. ClickGUARD offers a variety of tools and services designed to prevent click fraud from affecting your company’s marketing efforts. By using ClickGUARD to prevent click fraud, you can ensure that the traffic generated by your PPC campaigns is genuine, which allows you to subsequently increase sales and boost your conversion rate.

Although the internet makes it easier for start-ups and SMEs to compete against large companies, it’s still vital for smaller firms to squeeze everything they can from their resources. Eradicating click fraud is one important way of increasing online transparency, boosting your marketing ROI and enhancing your commercial success.

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