Anyone still using the program?

[TammyJo]

I came to see if anyone else saw the drastic drop in revenue today. But it seems people aren't posting in this thread so it makes me wonder if I'm the only one getting ready to leave...or am I the last one on the boat :)

If there are still people using the program...did the drop happen to you today? Scares the heck out of me, I don't think I can be a beta tester anymore.

[wyweb]

I'm still using YPN. I have been since the start. I'm not using it extensively but I do keep it on a few pages just to sort of keep my finger on the pulse... er, to see if a pulse returns, I mean.

Around the 13th of this month my YPN earnings fell to appx. half of what they had been for the past several months. I'm assuming this was a result of their quality based pricing [webmasterworld.com ], but I certainly don't know that for sure. The significance of this, to me anyway, is that now for the first time YPN is actually paying less per click than Adsense. Combine this with YPN's notoriously poor targeting and, well... is there a doctor in the house? How about a hearse driver?

Two years ago YPN publishers were reporting earnings per click 4 and 5 times higher than what they'd been making with adsense. My YPN earnings per click were seventeen times my adsense earnings per click. I was making 50% more money in total monthly earnings and doing it on 75% fewer clicks. My page views went up (fewer visitors leaving via adsense and remaining on site longer). My blood pressure went down. Life was good. That lasted what, three months? It's been downhill since.

I do understand it's a beta test. It will probably go down in history as one of the longest beta tests ever conducted. I suspect the actual testing is finished though. YPN seems to think their targeting is dead on and act surprised when you tell them it sucks. I think in their own minds they think they've got all the bugs worked out. What they're doing now is simply stalling. Buying time in the hopes that their advertiser base will increase enough to accommodate their publisher's ad space. If they can't even supply enough ad inventory to satisfy a limited beta test, what do you suppose will happen when they go global?

Is anyone still using YPN? Sure. It's a second opportunity for click fraud artists to get back in business after adsense shows them the door.

[TammyJo]

Thanks wyweb,

I think that is what puzzles me the most, how can they deduct for "quality" The wrong advertiser is getting exposure to the wrong customer...how can that process work?

Ours dropped in from 5 digits to 4 digits, by more than half and it keeps shrinking at our busiest time of year.

I enjoy beta testing, but this one is now starting to cost me something...I'll only test if there is a benefit. I'm just waiting on an email back from Yahoo, depending on what it says will determine my next move.

The beauty of it is we can keep it on a few pages to test, but know there are other options out there. Awww business....don't ya just love it :)

[WeaselyOne]

Longest beta tests ever? Naw - Google's had stuff in beta way longer than YPN has been.

[ember]

We're still using YPN and actually doing better than we were before the pricing change announced in May. I don't hold my breath, though, and expect the bottom to fall out any day. We've been approaching advertisers directly and are getting a good response so we won't need YPN too much longer. Unless they keep paying us well, of course.

[TammyJo]

ember,

See, that is the thing that stops me!

I've seen what it CAN do, but see what it is doing...trying to figure out how long to hold on before pulling the plug...THAT is the question.

[kkobashi]

Yahoo needs to clean house in the sales and marketing divisions. Its clear to me that they dont have the people in place to cut deals to leverage Panama. Until that happens, YPN will be a second rate PPC carrier and I won't use YPN. After nearly 2 years of being a beta publisher, smart pricing just about took away any edge YPN had against Adsense.

[dlewis23]

I have just about compleatly dropped off yahoo. I'm just keeping them on my forum for now because i have 2 payments worth of money left and i need to keep the account active and open.

I have switched to value click media and i'm back up to making my $120 - $250 a day.

[TammyJo]

Ouch! Stayed a day to long!

Revenue took a huge dive yesterday. Have more than the average clicks too. Strange.

It's offical, I'm out of beta :)

[Skeptic]

I have reduced YPN's presence to a bare minimum on one of my sites, just to keep the thing active. That's about it.

[batcavenet]

Yes mine also took a 50% dive - and less impressions are being counted than before too.

[Lokutus]

Yes, our revenues have dropped to about 25 to 30% of what they used to be last year. Adsense is not much better.

[TammyJo]

I'm finding the same thing. I've switched over a majority of the site and found that Google ads look better, get more clicks, but the revenue is almost the same.

If they are going to be comparable, I'll take the more attractive format and better written content. I'm not ready to switch back to Yahoo.

[ember]

We're still doing better with YPN than with AdSense. I think we're the only ones.

[dbcoders]

Still using YPN but maybe not for long. They seem to take one step forward and 4 steps backward. Was getting one or two highly relevant ads display but now none. Beginiing to look like a sinking ship. They been trying for many months and still in beta test with things not looking a whole lot better yet.

[TammyJo]

I don't know, yesterday I was tempted to change some of the heavy hitter pages because it looked like commissions were going back up, but waited (thankfully) today it's just a dog.

Lack of real time channel reporting makes it too difficult for me to play the Yahoo game for now.

I'll keep watching.