Forum Moderators: skibum
Contextual mode - chitika tries to target the ad to your page's content.
Non-contextual mode - you must specify keywords for the ads.
The end result is exactly the same except for what products are advertised.
Today is my seventh day in displaying Chitika ads. And I would say, as many others have noticed by now, that the CPC is really much higher than in Adsense. But the thing is, the CTR in Chitika ads is much lower than in Adsense.
I like the non-contextual in Chitika, though, wherein I can specify the ads that really fit the other contents in my web page. Now I just have to work on increasing the CTR.
I just don't know why Adsense ads receives a higher CTR. Do you think it's because of the ad format?
Hold out and keep changing things up, eventually you will get a site and layout that works.
This will definitely bring down the CTR further. Well, Chitika probably did this to protect its merchants from curious clicks.
I guess we'll know on the next stats update how this change affects our CTR, and consequently, our revenue.
edit: read chitika blog. they did it to protect their advertisers. and as they realize it will lower publishers earnings they are issuing 10% bonus. which is no big deal if your earnings drop to 1/4 of the previous
I hope Chitika is just testing this method. They'd need to keep a balance between what would keep both publishers and advertisers happy. They need them both. Google Adsense became immensely successful precisely because they were able to maintain a good balance.
Yep I think you're right, two negative changes in the space of a week.
This move seems a little too soon, especially after they removed the clickable image option from the ads. Unless they really up the cpc I can see an exodus of publishers leaving the program.....Time will tell.
I really hope Chitika can keep the eminimall program afloat, and find the balance between keeping publishers happy, and advertisers, because the program is very promising, and there seems to be friendly folks at the helm.
Anyways, can anyone tell us how to change *just* the product text's color? Right now, it's still the same color as all the links, since up to yesterday that's what it was. I'm thinking that people get frustrated trying to click on something that looks like a link but isn't.
I'll stick with Chitika as long as they work for me and I'll try to find some winning combination...if I can. I work too hard at this, like the rest of you. Now, back to replacing some Chitika code!
The stats from yesterday have rolled in.. CTR is about 30% lower than yesterday
30% would still be ok but i think yesterdays earnings are affected only partly ... because changed ads were running only about half a day (my estimate)
my yesterday's ctr is down by 30% too ... assuming new ads were running half a day ... it would be 60% for a full day ...
and assuming we don't know how much they subtract after audit (i fear that in addition to invalid clicks ... which could be clicks from the same IP ... they will also subtract ads from outside USA and Canada) ... that would be ending up with real cash of 20% of what we used to see in our unaudited stats until today
And why do you think it was your best? Several of us have experienced down days since the recent changes.
I've been talking with them, and have been arguing this is too much a "drastic" swing.
The compromise they are testing looks better. The text is now "Best Deal at MerchantX" and is currently running on the 300 x 250. (Visible on the Chitika homepage - you may need to hard refresh.)
If this tests ok, expect it to switch the other formats as well.
Andkon, are you referring to the (now unclickable) descriptive product title? Mine has automatically changed to black. Only the few clickable links remain in blue. I'm just using the default colors.
My ctr didn't go down as bad as I expected. Though maybe the change wasn't yet reflected completely on yesterday's earnings. Maybe the whole of reality would set in by tomorrow's stats for today. But unexpectedly, a few of my chitika ads' ctr went up, and the cpc of some of the others went up, too. So there seem to be some offsetting going on. So I think Chitika is indeed trying to find a win-win situation between advertisers and publishers. If Chitika succeeds in this, then we, as publishers, would likely succeed, too.
Andkon, are you referring to the (now unclickable) descriptive product title? Mine has automatically changed to black. Only the few clickable links remain in blue. I'm just using the default colors.
Yes. Chitika apparently forgot to take away the linked styles of the now unlinked product links. There's no way around it, although I know exactly where I'd have to change the code. Frustrating.
The linked text at the top does look better, but I'd rather see "product name - price" at the top instead of "Best deal at walmart, merchantx" etc.
Give visitors the price, and if they like it they'll click. "Best deal - Merchantx" is too hazy. You're more likely to get "curiosity clicks" from best deal than listing the actual price - IMO.
A "best deal" is descriptive, easy to read, and draws the eye better than a price IMO.
"Best deal at walmart, merchantx"
I personally think that's terrible, even if it's linked. I mean look at the prices (currently on the chitika's frontpage): $89.99, $79.99, $104.99. The "best deal" is the $89.99 yet there's one that's ten bucks cheaper! Wouldn't the customer get suspicious about that?
Well spotted. On Chitika's homepage the best deal is displayed as Albee baby, yet underneath there is an offer from Elite Car Seats for 10 bucks less?
Err, aren't most people looking for items that are rated very good, above average, the "best" or excellent? If not, then comsumer magazines are wasting their time rating products.
To beat a dead horse, they confuse best deal with featured store.
