Forum Moderators: skibum
Chitika just announced that they are eliminating "curiosity clicks" from our revenues. Great. Who gets to decide what differentiates a "curiosity click" from an advertiser whose site just sucks and can't convert? Not us, that's for sure.
I spent probably a hundred hours putting up highly targeted ads on most of my pages. CTR and revenues were building nicely, then this. Whack! CTR cut in half, revenues by more than that. And just a casual blog post from them to announce it. Ho hum. Just another scam. Back to YPN!
I get spot on ads on 90% of the pages i placed the code on:
Used to get an average of 5 clicks per/day (which is extremely low by any standard - about 0.10% CTR...).
Last 4 days i'm getting 0 clicks for an average 6000 impressions per day. Only one click last night with over 7500 impressions ( that's a CTR of approx 0.017%...).
YEAH RIGHT!
Off they go. Not even worth the time reading their blog...
What's in it for us publishers.....this is what it is all about. I kind of liked the ads but the income really suck.
Bye Bye Chitika. I really feel sorry for all the suckers out there that keep on running your ads.
I wonder what's Chitika's real motive or plan is?
ipod and dell free name branding on publishers expense. This is the motive.
They, chitika are probably being paid by impression and NOT by clicks (by the big guns).
Do you see the irony here?
Whatever their “plans” are.....if they continue with this BS they are doomed to disappear very soon.
You can fool pepole somtimes but you can not fool them all the time.
I think this needs to be said so others don't automatically write Chitika off. If it doesn't work for you, remove the code. But at least give it some time, find the right balance between Chitika and other types of ads you have on your site. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Remember, too, this is a beta program. I like the ads and hope they succeed. I'm sticking with them.
I'm making 3-4 times the money with 75% less clicks than I'd need from Google to make the same amount
are you sure you're making anything at all? I've been running chitika for over a month but i have no idea what I'm making. i see unaudited stats which are worthless.
so, after 50 days of running chitika i know nothing. absolutely nothing. i may end up earning $5 per month instead of $XXXX sum shown in unaudited stats.
I'm getting more and more suspicious. after clicking chitika ad (i don't click my own ads of course) i land on shopping.com (or whatever it was) page selling $5 product. but chitika reports about $0.5 per click! ... assuming they pay 60% of their earnings, it's almost $1 per click that advertiser has to pay. this is crazy, i don't believe there are such advertisers willing to fund this crazy game
looks to me like big bubble that is going to burst.
"redesigning ads" was the first step in approaching to the "real world" ... expect second huge step down on November 30
So, if you're making more with Chitika than you do with AdSense there's something wrong. AdSense is objectively better network and advertisers behave rationally so they wouldn't pay 3 times more to Chitika if they can get the same thing much cheaper from AdSense.
I believe Google would be glad to pay you as well 3 times more than it does now (remember the more you earn, the more Google earns) but it simply can't because what it gets from advertisers is the most it is able to get from them
As I stated: (hope I don't have to revise this statement after the audit, which is still an unknown)
>>I'm getting more and more suspicious.
OK, I think I see where you're coming from. You're doubting if we'll even get paid when audited. Hasn't anyone using Chitika received payment? If this is the case, then there is cause for concern.
I've been only using Chitka for about two weeks.
> So, if you're making more with Chitika than you do with AdSense there's something wrong.
No I am not making more money with Chitika than Adsense. What I said is the for the unaudited amount I make each day, it would take 75% more clicks on AdSense ads to make the same amount.
I can't wait to be done dealing with this company.
Another major change? Gosh... I hope the change would increase our CTR again, not bring it down further.
bernis: "...expect second huge step down on November 30"
no, i was just meaning the audit
I tweaked my code and my CTR shot up. now it is higher than before Chitika's last change. I'm getting double digit CTR that is close to my AdSense CTR.
I do understand that it's unaudited revenue, but I also remember a time when Google used to periodically adjust AdSense clicks and revenue several weeks after the numbers were displayed in the google reports.
eMiniMalls is in a new product that is still in Beta, so i don't expect it to have everything that a mature product like adsense has just yet.
Nor do I expect that I understand the optimal way to implement eMiniMalls on my sites in order to maximize revenue. Since Chitika implemented channels, I've been able to experiment and the results thus far have been very promising. It took months for me to figure out a decent layout for adsense on my sites.
I tweaked my code and my CTR shot up. now it is higher than before Chitika's last change. I'm getting double digit CTR that is close to my AdSense CTR.
I do understand that it's unaudited revenue, but I also remember a time when Google used to periodically adjust AdSense clicks and revenue several weeks after the numbers were displayed in the google reports.
eMiniMalls is in a new product that is still in Beta, so i don't expect it to have everything that a mature product like adsense has just yet.
Nor do I expect that I understand the optimal way to implement eMiniMalls on my sites in order to maximize revenue. Since Chitika implemented channels, I've been able to experiment and the results thus far have been very promising. It took months for me to figure out a decent layout for adsense on my sites.
Problems I see ahead.
1) Being limited to only a DealTime/Shopping.com feed limits them to only one basic feed from one main merchant. If something goes wrong between them and DealTime/Shopping.com, then the publishers could be the ones up the creek.
2) No growth. Basically only having one feed does not seem to provide much hope that any other merchant or feed would go live with them.
3) End of month audits. Most ad networks (at least the major ones) do any type of audit a few days after any day in question. Having to wait a whole month before seeing their audits. They really need to work on this.
At the beginning, I liked the Chitika service a lot. Since this last change, my earnings have been cut by a good amount. I do not know how they can stamp out clicks 30 days later w/o any reasoning. I do not know how long this program would be able to stay afloat. It seems a lot of publishers (including myself) are having a tuff time with their rules. While it is in beta, there should be some sort of oversight when it comes to their audits.
16698 1 0.01% $0.13 $0.01 $0.13
I've changed some things and will give it another week. But, so far it seems to convert horribly for me.
"Reports are updated on a daily basis. Every day, at 3:00 AM in the morning"
You're doing selective reading and/or reporting. If you read the entire statement it goes on to say:
"However, the process usually takes approximately 3-12 hours to complete. So you can expect to see the stats for the previous day after 3:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) or so the following day. We are working on speeding up the process so that we can shorten the turnaround time. We thank you for your support and co-operation."
Hey, folks. This is still in beta. You knew that when you signed up for it, or did all you look at is an expected killing in money?
If the Chitika auditing is fair and reasonable, then I'll be pleased with the results I'm having. If it's unreasonable, I'm gone. If it's fair, then I'm adding more Chitika code. Right now I'm being cautious as I would with any beta program.
Today's earnings are a little better. I disabled a lot of the code from the site, and narrowed my keywords a bit. Still Dismal though. 2795 impressions and 2 clicks for .34 cents.
2795 2 0.07% $0.17 $0.12 $0.34
I guess my site just isn't geared for Chitika. I make about $110 a day with adsense.
Bummer, I had high hopes for Chitika. But, I'm not giving up. I will keep tweaking things and see if I can make it work.
Of course, I can't be certain, but I saw 20-30 cent CPC advertisers pull out at around the time Chit's Curiosity Click mod was announced.
Good. I hope they get those cheapskates out of there! I don't think I have ever gotten a click for 20 or 30 cents. If i did I would be shocked by such a small amount for a chitika click.
They probably do the audit at the end of the month in order to adjust the rates to be more in line (with a small profit) with the offical rates they are being paid for.
Actually as far as I know the audit is mostly to filter out visitors from countries that are not targetted by advertisers.
1) Being limited to only a DealTime/Shopping.com feed limits them to only one basic feed from one main merchant.
I guess Amazon does not count? Not sure how you got into such a deep analysis of Chitika without knowing that. Is your name Joel Comm by chance?
2) No growth. Basically only having one feed does not seem to provide much hope that any other merchant or feed would go live with them.
Between shopping.com and amazon I have found an excellent inventory of products to populate a variety of different sites. Many of which are not gadget/electronics related even. In fact because of being able to customize and pick your own ads, I like Chitika's ad inventory over Adsense, which is bigger, and definately over Yahoo which is neither broad nor targetted.
3) End of month audits. Most ad networks (at least the major ones) do any type of audit a few days after any day in question. Having to wait a whole month before seeing their audits. They really need to work on this.
I agree. Program is still in beta. I imagine they intend to speed things up. I know Ozii has been payed for previous advertising with Chitika before October.
At the beginning, I liked the Chitika service a lot. Since this last change, my earnings have been cut by a good amount.
Personally I have had my best five days since the changes took place. I keep tweaking and adjusting things as well, but I continue to be very happy with Chitika. I think there are placements for Chitika that are good. Anyone who just took all their adsense ads down or all their yahoo ads down and replaced them with chitika ads would have unlikely to experience good results.
I do not know how they can stamp out clicks 30 days later w/o any reasoning.
The same way that Google can do it in a few minutes and Yahoo a few days. They all have their reasons and they all do it.
I do not know how long this program would be able to stay afloat. It seems a lot of publishers (including myself) are having a tuff time with their rules.
Care to elaborate on what rule you are struggling with the most?
While it is in beta, there should be some sort of oversight when it comes to their audits.
Sure, right after Google and Yahoo allow us to oversee their adjustments as well.
Mind you, I only got one click for the whole day across several sites, but wow. A couple of bucks isn't bad!
My theory on Chitika is that it diverts ad blindness from Adsense or YPN. Have one or two small graphic Chitika ads on my site tends to make end users less likely to realize that the YPN or adsense ads are . . . ads.
If chitika is good for anything, it's boosting my YPN revenue. :)
But man . . . I've got to go back and look at my tracking channels to see which site made a $2 click from C!
Like others, after the downfall, I removed a lot of the ads I threw up quickly & took a closer look at how we can customize the ads. I put them up more selectively and w/ those changes I've brought my earnings back up to where they were before & some days slightly above. I haven't beat my best day yet, but it's close.
For me, it's all about not having all of my eggs in one basket - so, if the audit doesn't kill my earnings and they do pay, I'll be pleased. I do wish; however, that they had a wider selection and it was easier to display the items I'd like. Sometimes, it's hard coming up w/ the right keywords to get an item close enough to certain context.
Chitika expands into EuropeGeo-targeting is on, so visitors from UK can now expect to see merchandising offers from UK merchants, while visitors from US will continue to see US offers and promotions.
Next stop Paris. We are ready with offers and promotions feeds from several other European countries. Over the next week we will be expanding the service to the following countries: France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, and Netherlands.
