Earnings

[nickys]

So I have two friends who are in the same niche as me. Neither one gets close to the amount of traffic I get, but their rpm's are through the roof (one gets 1/10 of the amount of traffic as me and makes slightly 2/3 of what I get some days). When I get less traffic my rpm was also considerably higher (more than double.)

Has anyone else noticed this phenomena that when you get more traffic your rpm seems to go down.

[ember]

If you see an increase in traffic, you have to wonder where it is coming from. It may not be quality traffic, which would result in a lower RPM. Your friend's traffic may be of higher quality than yours.

[nickys]

It's all organic traffic from google. I'm just wondering if people noticed a trend that when your site got less traffic it had a higher rpm.

[londrum]

i would look at the content of his site more closely.

imagine that his site is full of computer reviews, and your site is about using computers. both sites are in the same niche, but i would expect his site to make more money because his site is going to attract potential buyers. whilst you are only attracting people who already own them. people like that are less likely to click the ads.

[jpch]

Yes, I have noticed that trend as well. If my traffic from Facebook or some other social site spikes then my RPM goes down.

[RedBar]

I'm just wondering if people noticed a trend that when your site got less traffic it had a higher rpm.

Yep I've seen that quite often and conversely a high click volume day can result in average earnings because my EPC is substantially down.

Saying that though I do have to look at my metrics carefully since I have a lot of international traffic and many-a-time, e.g. Slovenian, Chinese, Indian, Turkish and Belgian clicks, can drag down the overall RPM.

[engine]

I wouldn't say it's a trend.

It's really important to understand the audience. Here's an example: Sometimes the visitors are tyre kickers, whereas others are buyers. Who would you want visiting your car lot: 100 tyre kickers, or 10 buyers?

[nomis5]

When I get less traffic my rpm was also considerably higher (more than double.)

If there is limited ad inventory for your niche then rpm is likely to go down as volume increases. It's the law of supply and demand.

[RedBar]

Sometimes the visitors are tyre kickers, whereas others are buyers.

I really would like to know just "how" Google can supposedly determine this, that's stretching their alledged capabilities way too far.

[engine]

I really would like to know just "how" Google can supposedly determine this, that's stretching their alledged capabilities way too far.

I'm not sure Google do know that to a greater extent. I was referring to the type of site and its content.

[RedBar]

I was referring to the type of site and its content.

However that's where sites like mine must create a problem for them. It's not possible to buy any of my products from any of my sites, everything is produced to the customers' requirements.

Likewise with the advertisers, all that any of them can realistically show with pricing to a general degree are examples since, again, most products are bespoke.

I bet there's many a USD 0.50 click producing a USD 10k retail customer order:-)

[child please]

Could also be that there are only a finite number of high paying ads for your niche. Once you exhaust that, the rest are paid with low paying ads that bring down your RPM. If greater traffic was directly correlated with greater earnings (for a given niche), that would imply that high paying ads are also never ending (which they aren't). There comes a saturation point.

[nickys]

@child please
why would they show the higher paying ads to everyone equally why not just divide it equally among all of the page views in that niche?