Why is VeriClix doing this? Is it out of the goodness of their hearts? Is it to help the world? I think they have to have a way to make money from this.

Why We Do It
You already pay for pay per click campaigns - you shouldn't have to pay to monitor for fraud. VeriClix is fully sponsored by relevant industry advertisers which allows us to provide a full featured, professional service at no cost to the user. VeriClix gives you the knowledge of exactly how your advertising dollars are being spent up to the second - the way it should be.

I don't know if I but that. My first impression is that they plan on using it in one of two ways:

1. They are gathering and selling the information. Do you want to know what keywords your competitor is bidding on? There are other forms they can repackage the data that aren't as bad but they won't make the news.
2. They are gathering and using the data. They can look at your click data and see what types of sites they should build and the keywords they may want to use. It is more useful to get the keywords aggregated into clusters (most likely logical since advertisers pay for the clicks and should have themes to their sites).

I could easily debunk my own theories by reading the terms and conditions. Those should tell me how the information can be used. The only problem is, I can't find T&Cs on the site.

I've seen a little online about the founders, Jeff Martin and Mike Waltman. I may get a lot of negative comments.

I think that the best improvement that they can add to VeriClix is to add a Privacy Policy and T&Cs so that it is clear how they plan on using the information. Until then, I don't know how anyone can sign up for this.

Posted to SEM and PPC on June 23, 2005 at 03:38PM

I asked.

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=51944#post51944
Posted by Jonathan (Trust) at 04:58PM on Jun 23, 2005

We burned the midnight oil and have published our privacy policy. We aren't lawyers, but I think we covered most people's concerns.

"Why is VeriClix doing this? Is it out of the goodness of their hearts? Is it to help the world?"

VeriClix was built to try and level the playing field for the advertisers. No, we don't think we're curing cancer but we are trying to help support our industry which has been very good to us.

"I think they have to have a way to make money from this."

Sure, if many sponsors want to advertise on VeriClix then I presume we could reach a point to where all of the costs for keeping the services running are covered and there is enough funds for R&D that perhaps one day Mike and I could do VeriClix full time. Now thats a reward.
Posted by Jeff Martin at 10:42PM on Jun 24, 2005

Jeff, thanks for your comment. I was about to commend you on your efforts until I looked at the sponsor sites.

CPA Pro and SBD Pro are virtually identical sites (in look-and-feel and navigation if not content). The funny thing is, they are registered to different people in different parts of Florida. The two people named on the registration are Pete Townsend and Jimmy Jones (sound fishy yet?) The sites have no contact information. The blogs on both are written by Lisa Banks, a freelance copywriter (she does have a link for that on the bottom of one of the sites).

I have found that when things don't add up, there is something wrong. This is one of those cases. You are planning on making money off of your service (or at least break even) I am forced to stick with my original conclusions that it is through the data and not sponsorships. The partners listed won't be able to support this service if it gets any volume and bettter sponsors won't sign up if they do this simple analysis of the existing sponsors.

As I always write, pick your partners wisely.
Posted by David Lewis at 04:36PM on Jun 25, 2005

David, sometimes a [insert item here] is just a [insert same item here].

If you don’t want to use this free service that’s fine. We aren’t out to get people to pay us money to use VeriClix and we aren’t out to underhandedly make a buck by selling out people and their data (as noted in our official privacy policy; which could lead to nasty lawsuits like the PPC networks are involved in).

CPA Pro and SBD Pro are sites that Mike's full time gig owns and I’m keeping them there because I like Mike’s boss. The freelance copywriter, Lisa, works for Mike’s boss as well. People have donated time and effort into getting VeriClix up and running and this is us saying thanks (Thanks!).

If you want to wear the tinfoil hat, that’s your right and God bless you. However, we have stated why VeriClix exists. You focus seems to be money (as well may be other folks trying to sell a click fraud service) while ours is: (1) giving something back to an industry that has been good to us and (2) to help many of our friends who are in this industry. As I said, if VeriClix gains many, many sponsors that allow Mike and I to do it full time then that’s a reward we would look forward to.

This will be my last post here as I have stated who we are and why were doing what we are doing. Anyone still focused on a conspiracy theory probably couldn’t be swayed from that ideology (after all who really shot JFK??). If our privacy policy and public statement aren’t enough, then why would anyone else’s be?
Posted by Jeff Martin at 10:50PM on Jun 25, 2005

Jeff, thanks for stopping by. While a rose may be a rose, a cigar often isn't just a cigar.

What you fail to note while flinging insults at me is that you took action based on my article. Your site was deficient. It had no privacy policy. This left your motives open to interpretation (BTW, I'm wearing a Cal baseball cap) as you and Mike are experienced enough on the Internet to know that you need a Privacy Policy if you are collecting information. It was obviously important enough that you and Mike "burned the midnight oil" after reading Revenews and you used your privacy policy as your link twice above. All I can say is "You're welcome!"

Note that transparency (not just a Privacy Policy) will always help and avoid tinfoil hats. Your partner's boss' lack of transparency (I'm guessing his name isn't Pete Townsend or Jimmy Jones and that he doesn't live in both Miami and Tampa) doesn't reflect well on your site and leaves your site open to questions (especially when combined with the former lack of a Privacy Policy or apparent business model). If all is as you say (and I hope it is), I wish you and Mike the best of luck. As I said in the original article, transparency in paid search and the truth about paid search will be a great thing for all of us in the industry.

Since you asked, it was the Mob who killed JFK. Ballot boxes were stuffed in the 1960 election. The US did land men on the moon. There are no aliens among us (although Mark Jeffrey did a great job writing about them in "The Pocket and the Pendant" (www.pocketandpendant.com)). Oh, and watch out for the Illuminati... or was it the Discordians?

Posted by David Lewis at 09:10AM on Jun 26, 2005

http://www.revenews.com/davidlewis/archives/000766.html