The dark side of mobile traffic
Especially for Habr, we interviewed a representative of the “dark side” of the mobile traffic market.
“Do you think that working with CPA agencies you get at least some live traffic? Do you believe in the CPI model? Guess the proportion of live traffic in such networks? In fact, the share of “gray” traffic is much more than you might think. "
Interesting?
Hi Alex! For starters, tell me about yourself. What exactly do you do, what do you earn?
My business is built on traffic. I buy traffic very cheaply, I sell it very expensively, that’s actually the basic concept. To sell traffic is expensive, it must be whitewashed, made attractive.
')
For you to understand what is at stake in the figures: the purchase can be equal to one dollar per thousand clicks, the selling price is one hundred dollars per thousand clicks. Naturally, traffic is not sold by thousands of clicks, but rather by millions. That is, in fact, the basis of the business in which I have been engaged for quite a long time.
What was your first experience in the "gray" sphere, and how much are you already in this?
I have been working in this field for 14 years. I started practicing road construction. I bought 100 domains, wrote a simple engine and screwed a text generator to it. It all took literally two weeks. After the sites were indexed and traffic went to them, I installed banner banners. He turned a hundred sites into a thousand and within two months he locked in at eight hundred dollars a day. For me, it was absolutely cosmic money, considering both time and Russia.
Then Umax appeared and the money became much more. So it all began ... Now, of course, all the algorithms have long been smarter, but the principles remained at the same level. And I'm still developing systems that allow me to collect and sell traffic.
Tell us about the current mobile market, does it have any weak points?
The mobile market is my favorite at the moment. In the mobile market, the situation is now the same as 14 years ago was on the web - complete chaos. Using the example of the mobile market, I will talk about the principle of my work, which I partially apply in the web:
The clearing / washing of traffic is the transformation of bad traffic into good. What is bad traffic? These are clicks from hacked computers, various exchanges of clicks, in general, anything that costs a penny.
How to wash it? We create for him a set of characteristics corresponding to the reference, good traffic, namely:
That is, the advertiser will look at these three indicators. From which site the user came, whether the conversion was normal from a click to an installation, and what the user did next (if he left the money, or immediately deleted the application after installation).
We just need to fake these three indicators. There is nothing complicated about it.
As a result, the advertiser in statistics sees quite a beautiful story.
We have the XXI century, 2014, do they really in their powerful systems analysts do not see the substitution of “white” traffic for “black”?
In fact, the web analytics system does not see the substitution. What to say about the mobile market, which is very, very underdeveloped at the moment. Google Analytics can also be fooled, however, this is laborious and costly work, because they already had fire and water on the same doorways in the 2000s. But in the mobile sphere a huge number of unfinished tracking systems, or rather, there is not a single completed one. Therefore, everything becomes much easier.
I must say that I, of course, do this kind of thing on the web. But there it is orders of magnitude more difficult, the work becomes much more elegant and serious.
In mobile everything is much easier and more profitable.
Source substitution is the easiest method of cheating.
It is necessary to show that our “black” traffic actually works, that is, into something converted, for example, into installations. There is such a thing as motivated and unmotivated installations. Motivated - this is when a user is asked to install for some kind of bonus, for example, for a bonus in a game or for a bonus in the form of a cash equivalent. Accordingly, there are sources of these motivated installations. Job exchanges, for example.
There is a huge amount of CPA networks where you can buy motivated installations. How do they differ in characteristics from unmotivated? Unmotivated tools are users interested in the application who clicked on the banner and downloaded it. Motivated is when people get paid to download the application. Schoolchildren make money, and advertisers get set up, everyone is happy!
After this, the picture is transformed from motivated installations to unmotivated (“live”). Traffic turns from black to white. Mixing in black “motivated” traffic with motivated one can achieve “normal” conversions, give beautiful transitions from the search to your website and from your website further to the advertisement banner we need.
Motivated installation can be bought at 20 cents and sell for $ 2. We talked about mobile installations, but the principle is the same on the web.
Then you “merge” this traffic and transfer it to the affiliate program, right?
Exactly. The bottom line is that now there are a huge number of networks with payment for the installation on the market. These networks, in fact, exist on one single engine and use the same tracking system.
From another point of view, it is by no means unprofitable that such people like me disappear from the market. As soon as we disappear, there will be very little traffic. Thus, the main customer is a pay-per-action network that connects suppliers like me, without even asking for a last name.
Are you saying that all these networks, paid for actions that go to conferences and exhibitions, are ineffective in terms of promotion and the lion's share of traffic from people like you?
Yes, that is right. Of course, you can work with them, but you should be perfectly aware that you are mostly buying “black” traffic. You know what the funny thing is, CPA networks even pretend to be struggling with people like me. They write on their websites that the rules prohibit the sale of “non-live” traffic under the guise of “live”. Well, thanks for writing!
After all, at the very beginning, you can show some activity in the application, make a few internal purchases, that's enough. They do not think that someone will “bleach” traffic manually, although it is not at all difficult. For me it will make the job exchange.
Do you work with click grids in the same way?
Of course, they are no different in essence. The system is the same, we give the traffic “normal” conversion rates from viewing to click, and that's it.
What advise advertisers, so that they do not run up against people like you?
In order not to run up against people like me, it is necessary, of course, to work with reliable sources of traffic, that is, with the final sellers of this traffic. These are sites like Facebook, Mail or Google AdMob.
Here the question is deeper. The advertiser wants to work on the CPI model, and wants by all means. The reverse side “I want to pay for the result” is obvious - they are being thrown in garbage. Until the advertiser digs deeper and realizes that there is no CPI on the market, the scheme described by me will flourish. Well, think, where does CPI come from? 95% of the traffic from large players, but they do not sell installations, or sell, but very expensive.
Now on the Web is the same "chernukha", and is it possible to earn there?
Yes, there you can earn on the same CPA grids. All this I do too. The technological principles of traffic whitening are slightly different, but the technique is the same. We are trying to sell all sorts of rubbish, under the guise of good and white traffic.
In the web, CPA grids sell a person who buys something? How will you imitate it?
In fact, in such grids, “actions” or actions are completely different. Such as registration, filling out forms, sharing in social. networks and stuff. And to robotize 20-30% of an action is generally simple.
In addition to virtual action games, there are so many ways on the Web to cheat on real purchases. Example: a CPA network generates orders for an online store at the initial stage, the store is happy, and then goods returns are suddenly coming ... orders are left. The shop turns to the grid, the grid accuses unscrupulous webmasters of everything, says that webmasters are banned and severely punished. But the money will not return.
The question that froze in the minds of our readers: why did you come to us? What is your motivation? You burn schemes!
Well, this is both easy to explain and difficult. By and large, of course, I burn the schemes, but they are very simple and lie on the surface. Unfortunately, they very well spoil the market.
On the one hand, I just want to earn more, on the other hand, I want the work to be interesting and creative. After all, any changes and improvements will lead to the fact that there will be less schoolchildren in the segment. This is useful for the market, it is useful both for me and for professionals. We cannot be eradicated by such methods, but schoolchildren can be filtered out.
How much do you earn?
At least $ 25,000 per day. On the peaks it happens that up to 50.000 dollars a day. Very different. Naturally, not only on one on mobile traffic.
With a surcharge of less than 1000%, on the whole, nothing leaves me. After all, I buy traffic from substitutes and viruses. Only from them you can get 1000 clicks for $ 1.
What do you advise our readers?
Do not be fooled and work only with trusted sources.
“Do you think that working with CPA agencies you get at least some live traffic? Do you believe in the CPI model? Guess the proportion of live traffic in such networks? In fact, the share of “gray” traffic is much more than you might think. "
Interesting?
Hi Alex! For starters, tell me about yourself. What exactly do you do, what do you earn?
My business is built on traffic. I buy traffic very cheaply, I sell it very expensively, that’s actually the basic concept. To sell traffic is expensive, it must be whitewashed, made attractive.
')
For you to understand what is at stake in the figures: the purchase can be equal to one dollar per thousand clicks, the selling price is one hundred dollars per thousand clicks. Naturally, traffic is not sold by thousands of clicks, but rather by millions. That is, in fact, the basis of the business in which I have been engaged for quite a long time.
What was your first experience in the "gray" sphere, and how much are you already in this?
I have been working in this field for 14 years. I started practicing road construction. I bought 100 domains, wrote a simple engine and screwed a text generator to it. It all took literally two weeks. After the sites were indexed and traffic went to them, I installed banner banners. He turned a hundred sites into a thousand and within two months he locked in at eight hundred dollars a day. For me, it was absolutely cosmic money, considering both time and Russia.
Then Umax appeared and the money became much more. So it all began ... Now, of course, all the algorithms have long been smarter, but the principles remained at the same level. And I'm still developing systems that allow me to collect and sell traffic.
Tell us about the current mobile market, does it have any weak points?
The mobile market is my favorite at the moment. In the mobile market, the situation is now the same as 14 years ago was on the web - complete chaos. Using the example of the mobile market, I will talk about the principle of my work, which I partially apply in the web:
The clearing / washing of traffic is the transformation of bad traffic into good. What is bad traffic? These are clicks from hacked computers, various exchanges of clicks, in general, anything that costs a penny.
How to wash it? We create for him a set of characteristics corresponding to the reference, good traffic, namely:
- Traffic sources For the advertiser, this is almost the main characteristic. Advertisers believe that if traffic comes from a “clean site”, then it will definitely be of high quality. They are wrong :)
- Traffic efficiency If we are talking about the mobile market, then this is CPI (installation), in the web it is CPA (user activity). In any case, the advertiser is interested in what the traffic will lead to after installing the application (passing a certain level, internal purchases, etc.).
- Conversion percentage. Imagine you are buying traffic on the CPI model, and you can see that everyone who clicked on your banner downloaded the application (with an average conversion rate of 20-30%)
Of course there is a chance that you have made the perfect landing page, and the clicked user can no longer download your application! Hardly...
That is, the advertiser will look at these three indicators. From which site the user came, whether the conversion was normal from a click to an installation, and what the user did next (if he left the money, or immediately deleted the application after installation).
We just need to fake these three indicators. There is nothing complicated about it.
As a result, the advertiser in statistics sees quite a beautiful story.
We have the XXI century, 2014, do they really in their powerful systems analysts do not see the substitution of “white” traffic for “black”?
In fact, the web analytics system does not see the substitution. What to say about the mobile market, which is very, very underdeveloped at the moment. Google Analytics can also be fooled, however, this is laborious and costly work, because they already had fire and water on the same doorways in the 2000s. But in the mobile sphere a huge number of unfinished tracking systems, or rather, there is not a single completed one. Therefore, everything becomes much easier.
I must say that I, of course, do this kind of thing on the web. But there it is orders of magnitude more difficult, the work becomes much more elegant and serious.
In mobile everything is much easier and more profitable.
Source substitution is the easiest method of cheating.
It is necessary to show that our “black” traffic actually works, that is, into something converted, for example, into installations. There is such a thing as motivated and unmotivated installations. Motivated - this is when a user is asked to install for some kind of bonus, for example, for a bonus in a game or for a bonus in the form of a cash equivalent. Accordingly, there are sources of these motivated installations. Job exchanges, for example.
There is a huge amount of CPA networks where you can buy motivated installations. How do they differ in characteristics from unmotivated? Unmotivated tools are users interested in the application who clicked on the banner and downloaded it. Motivated is when people get paid to download the application. Schoolchildren make money, and advertisers get set up, everyone is happy!
After this, the picture is transformed from motivated installations to unmotivated (“live”). Traffic turns from black to white. Mixing in black “motivated” traffic with motivated one can achieve “normal” conversions, give beautiful transitions from the search to your website and from your website further to the advertisement banner we need.
Motivated installation can be bought at 20 cents and sell for $ 2. We talked about mobile installations, but the principle is the same on the web.
Then you “merge” this traffic and transfer it to the affiliate program, right?
Exactly. The bottom line is that now there are a huge number of networks with payment for the installation on the market. These networks, in fact, exist on one single engine and use the same tracking system.
From another point of view, it is by no means unprofitable that such people like me disappear from the market. As soon as we disappear, there will be very little traffic. Thus, the main customer is a pay-per-action network that connects suppliers like me, without even asking for a last name.
Are you saying that all these networks, paid for actions that go to conferences and exhibitions, are ineffective in terms of promotion and the lion's share of traffic from people like you?
Yes, that is right. Of course, you can work with them, but you should be perfectly aware that you are mostly buying “black” traffic. You know what the funny thing is, CPA networks even pretend to be struggling with people like me. They write on their websites that the rules prohibit the sale of “non-live” traffic under the guise of “live”. Well, thanks for writing!
After all, at the very beginning, you can show some activity in the application, make a few internal purchases, that's enough. They do not think that someone will “bleach” traffic manually, although it is not at all difficult. For me it will make the job exchange.
Do you work with click grids in the same way?
Of course, they are no different in essence. The system is the same, we give the traffic “normal” conversion rates from viewing to click, and that's it.
What advise advertisers, so that they do not run up against people like you?
In order not to run up against people like me, it is necessary, of course, to work with reliable sources of traffic, that is, with the final sellers of this traffic. These are sites like Facebook, Mail or Google AdMob.
Here the question is deeper. The advertiser wants to work on the CPI model, and wants by all means. The reverse side “I want to pay for the result” is obvious - they are being thrown in garbage. Until the advertiser digs deeper and realizes that there is no CPI on the market, the scheme described by me will flourish. Well, think, where does CPI come from? 95% of the traffic from large players, but they do not sell installations, or sell, but very expensive.
Now on the Web is the same "chernukha", and is it possible to earn there?
Yes, there you can earn on the same CPA grids. All this I do too. The technological principles of traffic whitening are slightly different, but the technique is the same. We are trying to sell all sorts of rubbish, under the guise of good and white traffic.
In the web, CPA grids sell a person who buys something? How will you imitate it?
In fact, in such grids, “actions” or actions are completely different. Such as registration, filling out forms, sharing in social. networks and stuff. And to robotize 20-30% of an action is generally simple.
In addition to virtual action games, there are so many ways on the Web to cheat on real purchases. Example: a CPA network generates orders for an online store at the initial stage, the store is happy, and then goods returns are suddenly coming ... orders are left. The shop turns to the grid, the grid accuses unscrupulous webmasters of everything, says that webmasters are banned and severely punished. But the money will not return.
The question that froze in the minds of our readers: why did you come to us? What is your motivation? You burn schemes!
Well, this is both easy to explain and difficult. By and large, of course, I burn the schemes, but they are very simple and lie on the surface. Unfortunately, they very well spoil the market.
On the one hand, I just want to earn more, on the other hand, I want the work to be interesting and creative. After all, any changes and improvements will lead to the fact that there will be less schoolchildren in the segment. This is useful for the market, it is useful both for me and for professionals. We cannot be eradicated by such methods, but schoolchildren can be filtered out.
How much do you earn?
At least $ 25,000 per day. On the peaks it happens that up to 50.000 dollars a day. Very different. Naturally, not only on one on mobile traffic.
With a surcharge of less than 1000%, on the whole, nothing leaves me. After all, I buy traffic from substitutes and viruses. Only from them you can get 1000 clicks for $ 1.
What do you advise our readers?
Do not be fooled and work only with trusted sources.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/225409/
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