More than CTR?

[wkpride]

Checked stats last night & made mental note of a normally low-paying page earning $.03. Very normal. Checked back an hour later and it was at $1.18 (3 clicks). MUCH higher than normal.
I've also seen normally $.50/click ads get only $.15/click.

It may be common knowledge on this thread, but I'm thinking that the clicker has MUCH to do with earnings. If they click ad and then close page, I get minimum payment. If they click and then look around, I get much better payment. If they purchase product, I get jackpot.

That's my theory. I read alot about smart pricing, which would only affect initial click? User would then decide additional earnings, based on their actions?

Also would like to reinforce CONTENT. I finally hit a personal goal of $20 in a day. The next 2 days I tanked! But, I did hit the $20 mark. Now, I'll work on averaging $20. Probably take another year?

KP

[Thaparian]

My CPC varied from 0.01$ to around 2$

I think CPC decreases if ad is blended, and i think its different for different ad units and different placements.

[Pengi]

wkpride

Adsense is not cost per action - it is cost per click (or cost per 1000 views as an option)

The actual ads shown on your page varies - perhaps from impression to impression even. Some Ads pay very much higher than others.

Even for the same ad - what you receive may vary from click to click as advertisers adjust their bids.

Smart pricing could affect you if the traffic you send to some sites adverising on your page do not convert well for the advertiser - if this happens from your site you may find what you receive is reduced - although I don't know how you would know this is happening for sure.

There are theories that the better your content and site, and the longer it is around, the better the ads on your pages will become - I've certainly anecdotal evidence of this for my site.

[hunderdown]

If they click ad and then close page, I get minimum payment. If they click and then look around, I get much better payment. If they purchase product, I get jackpot.

That's not the way AdSense says it works, and I don't think it's possible. You're assuming conversion tracking, which many advertisers do not use. If they don't use it, there's no way AdSense could work as you suggest. Over the longer term, conversions, if available, do get factored into smart pricing, but only as a "discount" applied across your account.

FWIW I see even more variation than you do, but I have no reason to believe that it's due to anything other than AdSense everflux.