We're already discussed the necessity of evaluating a PPC provider's Reputation, the differernt Money variables, and the importance of Bids. In this final post on judging a PPC Affiliate Program's RIP - reliability, integrity and performance - I'll be talking a little bit about the major problem of clickfraud and how it's affecting both webmasters and advertisers in a dangerous way.

Clickfraud - Just say no.

Every PPC Affiliate Program will let you know in very exact terms what type of traffic they accept and, more importantly, what type they will not tolerate. Generally speaking, these traffic parameters are inflexible and non-negotiable. The entire, beautiful PPC industry operates on the idea that the traffic being sent to the advertiser’s is targeted traffic – willing, curious human beings who are potentially interested in a product or service being provided. If serious attempts are being made to fraud the advertisers, they will pull their ads and bids in a nutshell, leaving us nothing but fancy software and empty pockets.

Every affiliate must understand that the advertiser is the bread and butter of the PPC world. They are extremely sophisticated and adept at sniffing out cheating affiliates and will not hesitate to terminate any account who engages in that behaviour. Now, the definition of clickfraud happens to be a bit fluid. Various PPC providers will have their own version of what they will tolerate, and advertisers who are interested in starting a PPC campaign will weigh those differences heavily. As an affiliate interested in partnering with a PPC Affiliate Program, you must familiarize yourself with what type of traffic will be immediately rejected by your provider, lest you find yourself hitting the wall rather quickly.

Before signing any agreement, before shaking hands or forwarding your billing address or counting your chickens, read the Terms and Conditions. I cannot stress the importance of this enough – read it read it read it!

It’s there for a reason. Trust me, nobody enjoys writing these things. It doesn’t help in search engine ranking, it takes up valuable copywriter’s time and it is a tedious, long-winded document to go over. But, it could end up saving you incredible amounts of time and money.

Every single reputable PPC provider will list, in no uncertain terms, exactly what they will and will not tolerate from an affiliate. They will specify the consequences of not abiding by their policies and will surely enact those consequences faster than you can say “Bot”. PPC providers know that it’s much more difficult to secure an advertiser or a feed partner than it is to sign a deal with an affiliate – they will have no qualms or regrets about terminating your account if you engage in fraudulent behaviour.

There are two main types of invalid traffic – bot and incentivized. Bot traffic refers to software that is specially written to click on high-bid keywords and earn revenue for an affiliate at the advertiser’s expense. Incentivized traffic is human traffic that has been encouraged, either with payment or through forced clicks or redirected links, to click on a specific ad. Neither one is acceptable and both are easy to identify by the PPC provider. Other types of invalid traffic include spam, blind links, unsolicited pop-ups and affiliates who install software or spy-ware on a visitor’s computer.

Any affiliate with good traffic coming to their site will never need to indulge in clickfraud to begin with. Simply put, it’s just not worth having your IP blocked forever by all reputable PPC Affiliate programs just to cash in on the short-term.

Well, we are now at the end of our series. I hope these insider tips and tricks will help you make the right choice in selecting the right PPC Affiliate Program for you. My last piece of advice I will offer you is this: the proof is in the pudding. Try out a few affiliate programs to see which one earns you the highest revenue, pays you promptly, provides the clearest and most helpful technical support, and delivers the highest bids. No one PPC provider has it all, and you might find that working with several or more high-end PPC Affiliate Programs who compliment each other in terms of keyword coverage works best for you. But you never know until you try.

RIP – reliability, integrity and performance. Always evaluate your business partnerships using these criteria and you’ll see how easy it is to succeed in the PPC industry.