KaChing: How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays by Mark Victor Hansen, Joel Comm
Authors: Mark Victor Hansen, Joel Comm
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sophisticated and very clever. I had great results from them and so did many other Internet marketers.
But there were two problems.
The first was that the ads were really geared toward products. On a Web page that talked about a specific item, such as a computer model or a make of camera, Chitika would perform very well. The ad looked like a widget providing a summary of the main article. On a page that talked about anything else—your vacation adventures, for example, or what you think about health care reform—Chitika’s limited ad inventory meant that it was difficult to get relevant ads.
If you had a product site, then eMiniMalls were great. If you didn’t, you could safely ignore them.
The second problem was even more serious. Although an eMini-Mall placed on a product site generated lots of clicks—and plenty of CPC revenue for the publisher—it soon became clear that the ads weren’t doing a great deal for the advertisers. They were hearing a KaChing, but it was just the sound of the fee they had to pay every time someone clicked an ad. They weren’t getting the sales.
This is an important aspect of online advertising, and it’s something that’s often forgotten.
Users are valuable to advertisers only if they do something when they reach the advertiser’s site. Usually that means buying something, but it might also mean signing up for a newsletter—which will lead to future sales—or clicking an ad on their own site. Advertisers won’t want to continue paying for users if those users aren’t going to pay their way. That’s one of the reasons that Google introduced Smart Pricing back in 2005—and it was the problem that Chitika ran up against with the success of its eMiniMalls units.
Users just weren’t buying, and advertisers were growing unhappy. If the advertisers went away, then publishers already struggling with Chitika’s limited ad inventory would start going away, too.
Google’s response was very sophisticated. It began to measure the performance of web sites’ users and pay less money to sites with low-value readers. Chitika’s was very simple. The company stopped supporting eMiniMalls and created a completely new kind of ad: one that would be shown only to users with the greatest interest.
This is revolutionary ... and a little unfair. It’s as though a store were to close its doors, hang up a sign saying “No time wasters,” and allow in only people who were actually going to buy. There are stores that do that, of course. Some outlets work only by appointment. The most expensive shops are designed in a way that puts off people who can’t afford the products. Night clubs have bouncers who help create an atmosphere of exclusivity. But on a web site, it’s not that simple.
That’s because your site isn’t the one being exclusive. Your site is still open to anyone who wants to read it. The exclusivity is falling entirely to Chitika and Chitika’s advertisers.
Chitika’s Premium units appear only to users in the United States and Canada who reach the site from a search engine ( Figure 3.7 ). A user in India or Great Britain who visits your site won’t see your Chitika ad. Neither will a regular user—even one based in the United States—if he or she reaches your site directly, instead of visiting it after a search. Those users may see nothing in the ad spot, or they may see an “alternate ad”—a secondary ad that you choose to show when the Chitika ad isn’t available. That can be an AdSense unit.
Figure 3.7 Chitika’s Premium ads come with pictures and a highlighted search term that make them hard to miss.
If a web site is like a giant mall with cash registers scattered around the floor, ready to pick up money from different kinds of shoppers, then Chitika is the exclusive, posh section at the back of the store. The best shoppers will find a great-looking spot waiting for them; regular shoppers will find a
But there were two problems.
The first was that the ads were really geared toward products. On a Web page that talked about a specific item, such as a computer model or a make of camera, Chitika would perform very well. The ad looked like a widget providing a summary of the main article. On a page that talked about anything else—your vacation adventures, for example, or what you think about health care reform—Chitika’s limited ad inventory meant that it was difficult to get relevant ads.
If you had a product site, then eMiniMalls were great. If you didn’t, you could safely ignore them.
The second problem was even more serious. Although an eMini-Mall placed on a product site generated lots of clicks—and plenty of CPC revenue for the publisher—it soon became clear that the ads weren’t doing a great deal for the advertisers. They were hearing a KaChing, but it was just the sound of the fee they had to pay every time someone clicked an ad. They weren’t getting the sales.
This is an important aspect of online advertising, and it’s something that’s often forgotten.
Users are valuable to advertisers only if they do something when they reach the advertiser’s site. Usually that means buying something, but it might also mean signing up for a newsletter—which will lead to future sales—or clicking an ad on their own site. Advertisers won’t want to continue paying for users if those users aren’t going to pay their way. That’s one of the reasons that Google introduced Smart Pricing back in 2005—and it was the problem that Chitika ran up against with the success of its eMiniMalls units.
Users just weren’t buying, and advertisers were growing unhappy. If the advertisers went away, then publishers already struggling with Chitika’s limited ad inventory would start going away, too.
Google’s response was very sophisticated. It began to measure the performance of web sites’ users and pay less money to sites with low-value readers. Chitika’s was very simple. The company stopped supporting eMiniMalls and created a completely new kind of ad: one that would be shown only to users with the greatest interest.
This is revolutionary ... and a little unfair. It’s as though a store were to close its doors, hang up a sign saying “No time wasters,” and allow in only people who were actually going to buy. There are stores that do that, of course. Some outlets work only by appointment. The most expensive shops are designed in a way that puts off people who can’t afford the products. Night clubs have bouncers who help create an atmosphere of exclusivity. But on a web site, it’s not that simple.
That’s because your site isn’t the one being exclusive. Your site is still open to anyone who wants to read it. The exclusivity is falling entirely to Chitika and Chitika’s advertisers.
Chitika’s Premium units appear only to users in the United States and Canada who reach the site from a search engine ( Figure 3.7 ). A user in India or Great Britain who visits your site won’t see your Chitika ad. Neither will a regular user—even one based in the United States—if he or she reaches your site directly, instead of visiting it after a search. Those users may see nothing in the ad spot, or they may see an “alternate ad”—a secondary ad that you choose to show when the Chitika ad isn’t available. That can be an AdSense unit.
Figure 3.7 Chitika’s Premium ads come with pictures and a highlighted search term that make them hard to miss.
If a web site is like a giant mall with cash registers scattered around the floor, ready to pick up money from different kinds of shoppers, then Chitika is the exclusive, posh section at the back of the store. The best shoppers will find a great-looking spot waiting for them; regular shoppers will find a
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