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Enter To Win a Free IPod (Or Why Incentivized PPC Ads Won't Die)

Yahoo and Google have both tried to take firm stances against unsavory companies that run search and content network ads offering "free gift cards," "free iPods" and other incentives--only to wrangle users into giving up their personal info, or worse, end up spending money to get the deal. And while the FTC has even attempted to crack down on these kinds of incentivized ads, David Rodnitzky shows that they're still quite plentiful on both companies' networks.

Rodnitzky searched for "free Xbox" on Google and got 31 advertisers in the results, while his search for "free iPod" returned 15. In the iPod example, one of the landing pages is TopConsumerGifts.com, which offers up the coveted media player in exchange for completing a total of eight sponsor offers.

The sponsor offers come from various companies like NetFlix and Columbia House, and while many of them offer 30-day free trial periods, Rodnitzsky's scrutiny of TopConsumerGifts' fine print reveals that to receive the iPod, you actually need to purchase something in six out of the eight offers. Renege and the agreement is forfeited. And at an average cost of at least $30 per offer, the unsuspecting searcher has just spent $180 to get his or her "free" iPod.

Read the whole story at Search Marketing Standard »

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