Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Am I the only one experiencing this?
I feel like I am swimming against the current here... every time I think I'm making progress with more well researched content additions, something knocks me back to square one.
I am working my tail off... not to gain, but to compete with the significant drops in EPC.
I don't think that my "high-dollar" clicks are less valuable - what I have noticed is that more of my "average" clicks are coming in EXTREMELY LOW.
I think that G eliminating the mimimum bid has had by far the worst direct effect on me - far above and beyond any other "tweaking" they have done in the past. I feel that I am not alone here - things need to level out and stop declining or there will be no reason to remain a part of the program.
When someone can offer a $1,000 product on my site for less than .03 per click, or even .01 CPM - there is a problem. There is competition in my area - people just keep finding low ball keywords.
Is this what I should expect to continue? A slow dwindle until there is no real income to speak of?! Forgive my frantic post please, but it really worries me when the economy that is "AdSense" in my niche takes a dramatic dive over an extended period of time.
Any advice, experiences similar or otherwise are greatly appreciated.
Side Note: I am not bashing AdSense in any way. I really enjoy the AdSense program, but I can't feel confident about ANYTHING with the kind of changes I've been seeing lately. I know some are seeing the exact opposite - this makes sense. What I want to know is when, if ever, is it all going to balance out?
I have been seeing a drop in eCPM for months... every single month like clockwork.
I question the accuracy of Smart Pricing if that is what is causing this. I know that a good deal of the clicks convert because I have statistics for the local sponsors who are running ads on my site, and they do VERY well - the same products come up in the AdSense advertisements...
I am not against Smart Pricing - I see it as a necessary evil to keep everything in balance, however something seems a bit off. If my local advertisers are converting on similar ads in the SAME locations, why wouldn't the AdWords folks be converting? I think there is more to this decrease than Smart Pricing.
There IS a direct correaltion between price of product and CPC in most cases.
How many people do you know that own a yacht?
Now, how many people do you know that own a washer/dryer set?
I assure you, that if you make a site about your stamp collection, the ads will pay less than a site about computer monitors. Obviously it depends on "what someone is willing to pay" - but it's common sense to derive from that the fact that products that cost more AND COVERT WELL - WILL pay more.
but it's common sense to derive from that the fact that products that cost more AND COVERT WELL - WILL pay more.
Not always. I am an Adwords advertiser in a specific niche and willing to pay more for specific campaigns if it would be necessary, but there are simply very few competing ads in the same niche. So I am paying most of the time between $0.05 and $0.10 even though the widget sale brings in much more and conversion is good.
Because of the auction system the amount of advertisers for the keywords has a great influence on the CPC.
