Forum Moderators: martinibuster
People are getting tired of the internet...guess that fad is over!
Are people getting bored with it?
Are people using it for more precise uses these days?
Is the rise of smart phones and smaller devices rendering PCs and laptops less useful?
Have businesses clamped down on personal usage at work by a huge amount?
Personally I do not use the Net as much as I used to for generic purposes, business-wise the same, however I feel the most siginificant factor with my behaviour is my loyalty towards specific online suppliers and especially so when purchasing company requirements.
It has taken several years for businesses to establish themselves with a "brand" and these days when I require something I very rarely perform a traditional search. I go direct to half-a-dozen online suppliers, check specifications and prices and then order.
If none have what I require I may seach further however normally I will wait until one of these has re-stocked. Why do I wait? They have my trust, confidence and loyalty.
I have no idea if my methods are "normal" or not however the significant thing is that for AdWorders and AdSensers alike, I am not a good prospect for their advertisements these days unless I am searching for something for which I do not have a preferred supplier.
Are my actions typical of today's users?
Are my actions causing this generally perceived reduction in AdSense income? Is this why many of us see this reduction whereas those who are experiencing increases have ads for the "one-off/speciality" purchase?
What are your experiences and thoughts about this etc?
I think that people are definitely using the internet more for eCommerce, the Comscore figures indicate that to an amazing degree even in the credit crunch.
For reaearch I also think the internet is being used more frequently but like eCommerce, more selectively.
The rubbish is slowly being filtered out (far too slowly I know) and quality is winning.
If Joe User is in the market for dog toys or printer toner, he might go to a site where I've bought dog toys before--just as he'd probably go to a familiar store if he were buying such products from brick-and-mortar vendors.
If Joe is in the market for something that he don't normally buy, such as a do-it-yourself repair kit for his widget or a vacation rental at Whatsit Beach, he'll probably go to the Web and research a purchase. Or he might even go looking for information (as I did when my widget needed fixing) and end up buying something that solves his problem (as I did, saving myself several hundred dollars by purchasing a repair kit instead of calling a service company).
From an AdSense point of view, the most important thing is what the user's mindset is when he arrives on your site. Is he just killing time or trying to find information on a non-commercial topic, or is he trying to decide where and how to spend his money or how to solve a problem that may be solved with a purchase? The time-killers aren't worth much in terms in terms of pay-per-click advertising; the research-a-purchase and solve-a-problem users are the folks who click ads and convert for advertisers.
