Google Adwords

[Dyno Kid]

Can google adwords be trusted?
If i understand correctly you pay per click now whats to stop someone working for google to just sit there clicking all day?

Is there a better cheaper way to advertise your site?

Darren.

[papillon]

People working for Google aren't your problem. People working for Chinese clickfarms clicking through on advertisers sites so those sites make money are. :)

[sgm]

You could disable your ad from appearing on the network sites :)

Asking for clicks seems to be common in game-related sites though, but Chinese people are generally shown Chinese ads. I'd recommend trying it out with a "free adwords credit" package rather than spending your own money at first. Plenty of places offer these bundled with something else they sell.

[Nexic]

Worth noting that Google is incredibly strict on click fraud, I know of people who have had their adsense account banned for clicking on the ads only a few times. Plus you can disable showing your ads on sites, and instead restrict them only to google searchs if you are really worried.

[Matthew]

Can google adwords be trusted?
If i understand correctly you pay per click now whats to stop someone working for google to just sit there clicking all day?

Heh. If you're worried about Google cheating you, what's to stop them from just flipping a switch in their DB and claiming you owe them for X clicks? What's to stop them from charging your bank/CC endlessly?

That's a silly question. A better question is the business proposition of AdWords. Consider this:

- Your game sells for $20
- You profit $18 per sale
- The lowest CPC you can bid is $0.05
- 25% of users who visit your page download the game
- 1% of users who play the demo buy the game

So, for one sale, you need 100 downloads, which is 400 views, times $0.05, which is $20.

Of course, many of these numbers can be improved upon, and it does make sense to earn $0 if you gain a customer (who could tell their friends about the game, buy future games, buy affiliate games, etc).

Anyway, my point is you should be aware of the numbers. Set up systems to keep track of AdWords clicks -> downloads -> sales. If you don't know how many Y sales you're converting from X advertising spend then you're going to have no way to improve anything.

And by the way, if you search the forums for AdWords you'll probably find all of this information. The search is a fantastic resource; make sure you use it!