Chitika — Keeping Us Busy... And Wealthy [Archive]

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Joel Comm

10-07-2005, 01:33 PM

There’s a big misconception about contextualized advertising. Too many people feel that it’s a hands-off way to make piles of cash. All they have to do is build their site, optimize their ads, set up their traffic streams and... head off to the beach. Maybe they’ll have to update the content every now and then but as far as they’re concerned, a month later, a year later or even five years later, those dollars will still be pouring in and they’ll still be spending their days soaking up the sun.

If only.

We’re probably working in the most dynamic environment in the world. Nothing changes faster than the Internet. A revenue system you set up today could easily be overtaken by something new tomorrow. If you aren’t keeping up with the latest developments, the only time you’d know about those changes is when your income suddenly starts to fall and you’re left staring at your stats, scratching your head and wondering what’s going on.

A few weeks ago, I talked about Kontera. They’ve got a system that looks pretty impressive to me. I’m still testing them out on some of my sites and think they’ve got a system to watch. But they aren’t the only ones I’m watching.

I’ve also got my eye on Chitika (http://chitika.com/mm_overview.php?refid=jcomm)... and so should you. They’ve got some of the smartest looking ads I’ve seen. You get a picture of the product, a list of places and prices to buy, and (here’s the best bit)... tabs that give more information about the product when the user mouses over. Without leaving the page, the user can get a summary of the product, user reviews and a search box to look for similar products.

That’s a heap of information packed into one ad. And users love the fact that they can interact with it.

These “MiniMall” ads are contextualized (and Chitika also offers traditional contextualized ads too) but you can turn off the contextualization and pick your own ads so you can combine them with AdSense or YPN. That’s a huge bonus.

Again, I don’t know yet if Chitika can bring me higher revenues than AdSense but I’m certainly not going to ignore it!

I’ve already started playing around with Chitika and looking at ways to use their ads to maximize revenues. After all, if they do turn out to be the next big thing, I wouldn’t want to be left behind. I’ll let you know how I get on.

To apply with Chitika, click here (http://chitika.com/mm_overview.php?refid=jcomm)

http://www.adsense-secrets.com/minimalls.gif

leaseboy

10-07-2005, 03:05 PM

Does putting Chitika minimall ads on the same page as AdSense or Yahoo contexual ads violate the TOS of any of them?

nick

10-07-2005, 03:39 PM

Does putting Chitika minimall ads on the same page as AdSense or Yahoo contexual ads violate the TOS of any of them?
this had been discussed in a few other blogs,

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/09/28/chitika-mini-malls-review/
http://www.jensense.com/archives/2005/10/everyone_is_tal.html

and the answer is yes but with some additional javascript:

ch_non_contextual = 1;
ch_nosearch = 1;

nick

mdcom

10-10-2005, 01:17 AM

As mentioned in my original post, good to see that Joel has picked up on the huge potential Chitika's new "eMiniMall" ad program offers.

Google customer service has confirmed the use of the "eMiniMall" ad blocks are OK on web pages which also show their Adsense blocks.

Here is the correct javascript code to use for eMiniMall ad blocks which also protects you from infringing on Google's TOS for both "Adsense for Content" and "Adsense for Search"

<script type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="http://scripts.chitika.net/eminimalls/mm.js"
type="text/javascript">
</script>

More details on how to correctly alter this code for your own use is included in my original Post on Chitika, earlier in this Forum at:http://www.adsensechat.com/showthread.php?p=4022#post4022 (the details are in post no. 5 in this thread, made my mdcom)

BTW. they also plan to include "all" publishers in their affiliate "referral" program as of 15 October, 2005. If they have not invited you to join as yet, then be sure to write in after that date and ask for your referral code. -- Christmas is around the corner, and I'm certain every extra penny counts.

Cheers
Roseanne

dragonsage

10-11-2005, 08:26 PM

I just started using Chitika eMiniMalls on my computer tips site yesterday -- and got it on all the pages and archived newsletters before publishing this week's newsletter. Also, effective this issue, I changed my emailed newsletter into an announcement and table of contents for the issue (a teaser), instead of an all-email newsletter with occasional links to old/other articles.

Result: double my normal daily site visitors, Adsense income about 5X norm and Chitika income that beat that by a tiny bit. Whee! Looks like the change to an online newsletter was a good move. Still not too much in the absolute dollars, but this is becoming fun!

Today I visited one of our local computer shops. I've sent him a lot of referrals in the past, both for machines and for maintenance. In this case, I suggested a win-win for he and I. He would provide his customers with links to my computer tips site and newsletter, perhaps even preloading my site as a favorite and/or desktop icon. The idea is that he may avoid some hand-holding that way, since my site and newsletter are focussed on computer tips, and I may get visitors and subscribers. We may also do reciprocal links between our sites.

intelliot

10-12-2005, 02:03 AM

Maybe I haven't been using it long enough, but I haven't seen any revenue from using Chitika on my blog (http://www.intelliot.com/blog/).

Joel Comm

10-12-2005, 03:13 AM

Maybe I haven't been using it long enough, but I haven't seen any revenue from using Chitika on my blog (http://www.intelliot.com/blog/).

That doesn't surprise me given the nature of your blog. Chitika is product driven, so it will perform best on product-driven sites. I am testing in a few places and hope to report back in a couple weeks when I've got some hard data.

Joel

Joshua

10-12-2005, 03:35 AM

Nick can u clarify what you meant by
and the answer is yes but with some additional javascript:

ch_non_contextual = 1;
ch_nosearch = 1;

are you saying by adding that its okay?

After reading the blogging links above, in order for chikita to work with adsense, it must be set to non contextual (meaning it can't scan your page for relevant keywords).

Am I correct in saying that you can set the keywords for Chikita? ...hope so as this would just have the same result as having contextual just a little bit more time consuming.

dragonsage

10-12-2005, 08:41 AM

Nick can u clarify what you meant by

are you saying by adding that its okay?

After reading the blogging links above, in order for chikita to work with adsense, it must be set to non contextual (meaning it can't scan your page for relevant keywords).

Am I correct in saying that you can set the keywords for Chikita? ...hope so as this would just have the same result as having contextual just a little bit more time consuming.Despite the apparent conflict with their Terms and Conditions (which must not have been updated for eMiniMalls), Chitika's FAQ tells you how to set ONE keyword phrase.

You have to search around (no, you don't, because here's the link http://www.chitika.com/blog/ ), Chitika's blog has a full example on how to disable contextual ads (which you have to do if you are using Adsense on the same page) and specify multiple keyphrases and have them used randomly.

Worst thing for me -- I use Google Search on my site, so I have to add ch_nosearch = 1;
to disable the Chitika search function. This is the word on several blogs and is supposedly from both Chitika and Adsense. I'm now looking for a good, free site search tool so I can use the Chitika search also.

They are also in the process of implementing "channels." Their email to me, in response to a question, advised me that you can add a
ch_sid = 'XXXX';
statement to the script. I don't know if this is restricted to 4 characters or whether they just used 4 in the example. I'll probably try it both ways on different sites. Reporting by channels is not yet operational, though.

BTW, day 2 of Chitika was 2x my Adsense earnings, with Chitika only on 1 site. :D

mdcom

10-12-2005, 06:23 PM

Joshua
Read the answers to your questions below, and then go to this thread where the Chitika program is discussed in depth, and offers some other handy tips as well.
http://www.adsensechat.com/showthread.php?t=909

You have the entire code written clearly for you in the above posts. All you have to do is to insert the extra "tracking" line in the above block of javascript.

In short - to comply with Google's TOS for not only Adsense for "content" but also Adsense for "search" you need to add the two lines of javascript that are provided in the block I have given you above.

Yes that in effect denies Chitika from offering Seach and Contextual ads but their eMiniMalls are not considered Contextual if you provide the keyphrases.

So you then can legitimately show Adsense on the same page.

You may leave Google Search out altogether, and
get a good "Search" script - for example, I use "Zoom" which I am just about to put up on my site. This way you can use Chitika's Search if you really want to. In either case you have the option to add or subtract those lines in the javascript code.

And as "dragonsage" says, Joel has already provided the "channel" or "tracking" line to add in the javascript -- but Chitika is not offering stats on this as yet -- I did include this extra tracking line in my webpages but it is not showing up in my Chitika stats as yet (Michelle from Customer Service indicated around 15 October -- but they are in Beta, and we have to be patient).

BTW. what has really worked for me personally, is after increasing the number of "minimalls" on my blog's home page so that one block appears above each post -- my CTRs shot up (it is very exciting stuff, especially with Christmas coming).

It took me a lot of hard work and months to get little with Adsense, and with Adsense unless you have a huge amount of webpages, and equally huge traffic, the return is disappointing.

And Adsense Customer Service stinks - 3 days for a reply! Shocking -- and they are a publicly listed Company. I hope Chitika gives them a damn good scare. The Chitika customer service is EXCELLENT so far.

I suspect I will have to be little less ambitious and have some of the "minimalls" showing more "kiddie" type products in the "xbox" "nintendo" "video games" category -- but constant tweaking and watching stats. is proving encouraging. Just think of how good this will get, when we have accurate channel tracking, they offer all of you an affiliate payout for referrals and they come out of BETA.

I highly recommend this Product. They have been nominated for a MITX award -- they certainly have my Vote!

Roseanne

eminimalls

10-27-2005, 08:48 AM

mdcom

10-27-2005, 11:10 AM

Since you can't use the contextual mode of Chitika eMiniMalls alongside Adsense, it's always good to first check what kind of ads Chitika will display with the keywords of your choice.

Here is the tool for you to check the keyword:
...URL removed

Not bad your first post to the Forum, and you manage to sneak in your Affiliate i.d. and then masquerade as an employee of Chitika. Your very existence appears to be a violation of Chitika's TOS... but heck, who knows you might be a relative of the CEO.

To all new Chitika users, the original company is www.chitika.com (not eminimalls as this person is masquerading as) and Chitika has an excellent comprehensive list of allowed keyphrases in the Chitika resource section (https://chitika.com/catalog.php) which will cost you nothing to access, and it is direct from the company itself.

Oddly enough I wrote about this very topic "Chitika fraudsters play on the uninitiated" on the Marketing Defined blog a couple of days ago. The key to longevity on the w.w.w. is to educate with a sense of "ethics"

Roseanne

potentialgeek

11-25-2005, 09:56 PM

Yesterday. :D Am I good or what? :o

p/g

Chuck Brown

11-26-2005, 01:38 AM

Yesterday.

PG,

That's been roughly my experience as well...but with a lot more pageviews.

Terribly disappointing.

I've read Joel's ebook and implemented everything I could find there...only to watch the very limited success I had had dwindle to nothing (due to Chitika's new, more-conservative approach of making the product title non-clickable, not Joel's ebook, of course).

I do hope they get things turned around. And, if someone discovers some great secret, I'd love to hear it. But, for me, the bottom line is this:

When a pay-per-click ad is performing at roughly the same CTR as a CPA ad converts in sales (less than 1%)...there's something VERY wrong with the ad model.

I can't talk CTR specifics for Adsense (and probably wouldn't even if I could), but I have rarely seen an overall CTR as low as 10% on Adsense since implementing the kind of formatting stuff that Joel teaches.

But when Chitika is converting at ONE ONE-HUNDREDTH of even THAT low rate...that's a problem. Because that tells me that over 99% of the people on my site don't care enough to click on that ad in a way that Chitika considers "qualified".

So either the stats are skewed (as in bad reporting), or the model is flawed. I am speaking for myself...I only know what I have seen on my own sites. Some of you might be seeing a much higher CTR.

But, no matter the cause, if 99.9% of my site visitors couldn't care less...neither could I.

Here's the problem, as I see it, with Chitika: They have now changed their ad model so that the only clicks that count are those where it appears that you are going to make a "buy" decision (no "curiosity clicks" allowed). That's not the way Adsense does it...and that's part of why I believe Adsense is a valid business model, and Chitika is not (for me). I have other issues with them... but I believe they are covering their rears by leaning heavily toward a CPA model at this point. And that's a very bad strategy for a click-based model, in my view.

c-

eyecaredr

11-26-2005, 07:15 PM

I read Joel's book, employed strategies etc.

I have found the following:

CTR is awful, even on clicked site still awful

The greatest amount of clicks are generated on product related sites.

I personally get pennies from my content sites

Comments for other publishers?

dragonsage

11-26-2005, 09:17 PM

I'm enjoying Chitika. It has been a rare day that my Adsense earnings have beaten my Chitika's.

Their change on the ads can be easily offset by using the
ch_default_tab = 'Best Deals';
variable and value. My CTR has jumped appreciably with the change to displaying Best Deals instead of Description.

I'm also displaying the Search tab. I don't know if this helps or not, as I can't track whether someone uses the Search tab and then clicks on a result, or not.

Granted, neither my Adsense nor Chitika are really worth writing home about, but that's because I need more traffic.

Chuck Brown

11-29-2005, 07:29 PM

Malachim

12-16-2005, 05:05 AM

Chicken Chitika Masalla... Got to love the foreign dishes, eh...

... at the end of the day, you are never truly sure what's gone into the cooking pot :eek:

That's about where Chitika is at nowadays.

I can't give a true picture because the a*****'s hosting half my websites are incompetant. 2 weeks - 2 solid weeks - downtime on a server last month, never right since :mad:. Sorry, off topic rant.

Anyway, I'd put in the CTR at a healthy 1 in 2,000, under 0.2% - at which point I can earn more looking in the gutter for bent coppers - literally.

Even that's not the true picture - all the clicks were from one tighly focused site. For a general content site, forget it! Zip, zilch, nada, regardless of how many tens of thousands of impressions. Needless to say I took the thing off most of my sites, including the referral banners. $0.05 cents on the downline for 2 months isn't worth my time to add the code to a ruddy page, let alone promote them!

When I first saw it, I though, Great...

The reality is you need to laser target Chitika to your site or it's just not worth squat. In fact I think I only have it on one site now. It's got like 3 pages and isn't promoted. However, that one has a CTR of 2.5% (and a rather healthy Google CTR too :) ). It's not that I don't think Chitika can generate us revenue, it's just that it only works when people are activitely looking to buy a specific item. Not merely the curiosity clicks factor, but the will and intention to buy, credit card at the ready. Meantime, all they appear to be doing it driving publishers away. And without us, the advertising pool starts to shrink.

Having a page on laser hair treatment and seeing ads for Dell laptops because it can't think of anything better, well...

Having a site dedicated to digital cameras and Chitika set for compacts, well, that's another matter.

That too it the reason it works for you, Dragonsage. For computer hardware sites it can be a darling.

Because of my eclectic nature there's loads of places on my sites I /can/ use Chitika, and use it well. But due to the crappy returns and the amount of work to optimise it, I just can't be bothered. If it had the intelligence of Google and the range of served ads to match, it would be a different matter.

Hmmm...

:D Wouldn't it be great if Google bought them out and let you use one MiniMall to a page. If it couldn't find a suitable advert, use the 'alt' to regenerate a regular Adsense block. Woot!

.

gamiziuk

08-06-2006, 04:09 AM

The newest feature of Chitika - Multi Product Units:

http://www.chitika.com/blog/

I have sprinkled Chitika thoughout my sites as an alternative to Adsense. I make a pittance with the ads, compared to Adsense, but it seems to help. To be more specific, the Chitika ads seem to help with Adsense CTR!!! Not a bad effect to have.

Here is a site I have implemented the multi product units. The ads seemed to fit in the best with this site for me:

http://www.golfwithall.com/georgia/augusta.lodging.html

Your mileage may vary.

wm8c

08-06-2006, 11:25 AM

gamiziuk

08-06-2006, 06:11 PM

Chitika support recently sent me this URL to use for checking keywords to see what ads pop up for me:

http://www.chitika.com/preview.php

Add this to your bookmarks if you are a Chitika user.
:D

gamiziuk

08-09-2006, 05:48 AM

Did you join a Joel Comm "look alike" contest? I had to take a second look lol! No offense meant, but it caught my eye :) Good luck with the Chitika program too!

:eek:
No, I just wish I had *half* of the money he does! I've been told I bear some resemblance to Steven King, however. (Book sales are down, gotta get this internet money machine going...)
;)

medicman911

07-29-2007, 11:03 AM

How did you guys get an act I told them just like Joel said If you tell Joel sent you they would wave the 10,0000 hits but they told me to go suck an egg !
Your application for Chitika's services has been received
Based on past experience we found that our eMiniMalls program works best with (but not limited to) websites that have:
- significant traffic, preferably more than 10,000 impressions per month
- rich in content that relates to product merchandising, i.e., product reviews, product-centric discussions etc.
- family friendly content in English
- target audiences from US, Canada, UK, France, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, and Spain. As we expand our merchant base we will be able to cater to traffic from other regions as well in the future.

Also, in order to properly determine the effectiveness that our Chitika | eMiniMalls will have when placed on a particular site we need to see all content. Therefore, we cannot accept sites that are new or under construction.

(***PLEASE NOTE*** all of the above stated reasons may or may not pertain to your website. The above list summarizes the set of representative factors that are taken into consideration during the review process.)

In an effort to bring value to our publishers, we carefully consider each submission. During our review process we have determined that Chitika | eMiniMalls might not be a good match for your website.

We wish you the best of luck in monetizing your website, and thank you again for your interest in Chitika | eMiniMalls.

Regards,
Chitika Customer Service

Jean Costa

07-29-2007, 03:39 PM

What website did you send them? when you applied.