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How Much Are You Worth To an Online Lead-Gen Site?
jfruh writes "You may remember the tale of the blogger who found that an infographic he'd put on his site was the front end of an SEO spam job. Well, he's since followed the money to figure out just who's behind this maneuver: the for-profit college industry. He discovered that the contact info of someone who expresses interest in online degree programs can be worth up to $250 to an industry with a particularly sleazy reputation."
the contact info of someone who expresses interest in online degree programs can be worth up to $250
How much is the contact info of someone who wants to enroll in a 4-year institution worth? They charge hundreds per course...
That there is such a market for sleazy colleges at all should be a wake up call. I hope MOOCs will kill off all these "colleges" that are more reliable producers of debt than education.
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Is that as opposed to an Offline Lead-Gen Site?
Does somebody want my lead? I have a few old car batteries, and a UPS that no longer works. Quite a bit of Pb there.
I would have to pay to take them to the city recycling place.
Lead is the element
Words can have more than one meaning. Try: Lead Generation.
So online schools are hooking you up wih loan officers for easy-to-get loans to dump cash into their pockets and leavr you, most likely, without a degree, or if you get one, essentially worthless.
Nice.
The student loan bubble is still bubbling. Easy loans are (knowledge is power, folks) helping people get educations but also driving the cost increases the past two decades. They nickle-dime you each year because they can.
It's the same wih a car loan. No way you'd buy a $2000 car nav radio. But add $23/month to a payment? Sure!
So they add $23/monh to your college loan each year because they can.
Meanwhile politicians and administrators throw up their hands and say, "Doh! We don't know why!" If you don't, you should be fired.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
How much is a lead worth? Is this a serious question?
It depends entirely on the industry, and the propensity for that lead to convert.
Someone expressing interest in a mortgage for instance is worth quite a bit. Someone expressing interest in a toothbrush, less so. I don't understand why this is news or even anything of interest.
I'd sell my info and put it towards college. Since I'm already attending it would be legit!
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
It's a big business, some of these degree lead gen firms employ hundreds of people and rake in millions of dollars.
But.. it might be sleazy, but in the end it's just marketing. However, some players in the market (not OnlineSchools.org) push the boundaries even further, and attract visitors to their sites with fake job offerings. When the visitor tries to apply for the job, then they get the hard sell for these for-profit universities. The job never materializes of course as the whole thing is a fraud in these instances, but consumer protection agencies aren't bothered.
Now, of course if those job offerings (or whatever bait is used) don't exist then it's fraud, because the lead gen company is getting something of value (you) by deception (a fake offer). Repeat that hundreds of thousands of times and you have a BIG fraud.. but with lots of individual victims who may not even realise that they have been scammed.
See: Heteronyms
This was a really great submission and the other links within the TFA were interesting as well. I always had a wary eye cast towards the for-profit educational sector but I honestly had no idea that taxpayers were responsible for a significant amount of their profits. At one point, I was thinking about the University of Phoenix because I suspected that they were at least legitimate. Now, I'm glad I did not!
Get a degree today from Westwood college and have an exciting degree in the game industry!
although it is usually the other direction, turning lead into gold, rather than generating lead from other elements.
He's clearly monetizing these stories on Slashdot.
State schools aren't much better, on average; they just cost more.
Hey guys! Check out my awesome site to see what your lead is worth!
sleazybusinesscollectingleads.com
We're 100% accurate! Find out what your lead is worth TODAY!
So you think the article is about small electronic light bulbs???
And you call *us* dumwads...
Yes, there are lots of other false come-ons for lead generation. The other standard one you see near the side of cash-registers at pizza places (at Little Caesars in Kearny Mesa) or other restaurants or at the entry/exit of gyms: little entry boxes that you stuff with your contact info and email and cell phone number in the hopes of "winning a cruise!" or of getting "a free vacation!". Of course, the only thing that really comes out of this is that your contact information which you've willing released is sold on to marketers everywhere. One friend of mine XX filled out another friend's (YY) contact info on a slip just to annoy YY.
Ok, but I do not see how light emitting diodes pertain to the discussion...
So some for-profit company compiles research creating a graphic that you decide you want to link to, and you are concerned that the for profit company is using their work to generate profit. I don't get it. I imagine that the research that the graphic is based on is our there if you want to compile your own. How much " there may be strings attached" text is needed to make you feel like this isn't overly nefarious. Are you behind the McDonald's warning that their coffee is hot?
the blogger who found that an infographic he'd put on his site was the front end of an SEO spam job.
Accuracy counts. The blogger linked to a spam job. The spammer didn't do any evil trickery, the blogger linked to the spam.
The bloggers supposed detective work is, well... unimpressive.
But, it's good to know that Slashdot has now done TWO stories that essentially promote this blogger and the spam that he linked to. Great job! I hope you got paid for it. Perhaps you could promote my website next.
You can generate lead if you want, I prefer to generate gold.
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
It's operator overloading, except for words!
Oh, for fuck's sake. "Led" is the past tense of "lead" (as in "leader") and the verb "lead" is spelled the same way as the mental.
Free Martian Whores!
I worked for Gragg Advertising in Kansas City awhile back. They do pay per lead for the for profit college industry. They could source leads for as much as $600 per lead. But, in their defense, they only source leads from credible sources, because those are the leads that are actually worth something. They also hold webinars that feature topics like, "How to get around not being accredited," and similar. Working for them was a fucking nightmare.
I regularly get calls from companies saying that they are from the state Business Development Bureau or some other fictitious group asking when our company is moving so they can update their records. Last summer I said we were moving in a month and and gave them a fake name to see what would happen. We've been getting calls for the last 6 months from moving companies, telephone providers, and office supply companies asking for the fake name and looking for business.
The things that bugs me the most is that the telemarketers tell such bold lies to get the business info. Another common scheme is companies pretending to be our service company asking for our photocopier and fax machine model numbers so they can try to sell us toner.
if someone has a need they will find a way to fill it
if they don't have a need then usurping their nervous system to plant a thought into their head that leads to money in your pocket is high villainy
much like we look at the previous generations tolerance of slavery and human sacrifice our descendents will look upon our tolerance for advertising, with a mixture of contempt and pity
If you sign up to a site about online schools, and fill out online school applications, and they call you, that's not spam. Scam, maybe, but not spam.
Insurance leads (Health, Auto, Home) can go from $7 to $20, Life Insurance/Annuitities can climb close to $100. Payday loans can go from $5 to $75.
These are for 'primary' leads, not counting resells, HTTP Redirects, mailing lists, etc.. etc.. on the long-tail side of things.
PPC Campaings generally run 50-60%+ conversions and can cut margins as close as 7%....
(coming from a former soal sucking leadgen arbitrage employee)
I got my BS degree for free. My state, GA, offers free tuition and fees/books to anyone going to a public university with a HS GPA of >=3.0 for 120 credit hours.
It wasn't financially based, so it didn't matter that my parents had money (even though I did not).
Why can't more states do this?
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.