AdSense and Chitika Disappointments

by Sapphire (December 11, 2005)

The article “How AdSense Lowers Site Self-Esteem” by Jason Lee Miller couldn’t have hit me at a better time. My AdSense earnings in November were over pretty decent, but on December 1, then suddenly plummeted. I’ve earned in 11 days what I was earning in one day in November. And I can’t find a reason.

Fortunately, I never intended AdSense to be a serious part of my online venture porfolio. I just wanted to see how it worked. It worked terribly on all but one site. It has context issues on sites that criticize, often bringing up ads for the very things the site is criticizing, and no amount of blocking certain URL’s will fix it. On this one, it just didn’t bring in revenue. People don’t even see AdSense anymore.

I had hoped to get one check from AdSense before quitting it, but now that doesn’t even look likely. We’ll see. But I’ve learned something: I will never think in terms of clicks again. Clicks are money for nothing, and that niggling feeling that it’s too good to be true is accurate. I want to think in terms of people buying paid service. From now on, my main focus on content sites (not my aff sites) will be selling adspace, not clicks. Whether I sell ad space myself - which I think is my longterm goal - or sell it through a third party vendor, it’s still a real service being sold.

You’ve probably already heard a ton of Chikita moaning around the net, so I won’t echo it. I’ve taken my ad units down, and I’m basically writing this one off. I’m sensing a pattern here: new ad network with new look comes in, everybody makes big money for a few weeks, viewers get used to it and tired of it, and the money goes away. That’s not even touching the issue of Chitika’s audits - on which I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But the fact that they’re figuring this stuff out after the fact does tell me they didn’t know as much before the fact as they should have.

Posted in Ad Networks, Blogging
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