Archives for December, 2007
Posted by Karla On Dec 31
The kitchen is often called the “heart of a home”; here at Chitika our mission statement is the heart of our business. We pride ourselves on our mantra, “Engaging Brands, Bloggers, and Buyers” and believe this statement defines Chitika at the most fundamental level.
We identify each participating element of our objective, the brand, blogger, and buyer, as being imperative in the eminence of our business. In accordance, we accredit our success in making advertising work on blogs to our ability to functionally engage brands, bloggers, and buyers.
Chitika often boasts verticals to outline the power of our networks, numbers such as 1 billion monthly impressions and 15 million unique monthly visitors. I argue that these raw statistics steal the spotlight from the pivotal “middle-player” in our mission statement equation; the blogger, or as I have newly-defined as of late, the e-fluencer.
So far I have sanctioned Chitika’s mission statement to be the heart of our business; I will now take this metaphor into the operating room. In dissecting the Chitika heart, our valued bloggers, or e-fluencers, serve as the muscular pump, the ventricles, that keep the blood circulating through the body.
As the left side of the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood (Chitika ad units/brands), the right side receives blood that is low in oxygen (ie; publisher sites without Chitika ad units) from the veins and pumps it to the lungs to be re-oxygenated (ie; Chitika ad unit code placed on the publisher site). The blood then can circulate other organs in the body, or for the purpose of our metaphor, reach potential buyers.
The Chitika heart pumps through engaging brands, bloggers, and buyers; without our valued bloggers this continous circulation, or equation, would cease!
By Tessa Rudd – Account Executive- Advertising Media Division, Chitika, Inc.
Posted by Karla On Dec 27
“Are you an online or in-store shopper?”
It’s been just days since Christmas and MSN is already harping on the “economic gloom and doom” of 2007′s holiday shopping season. Similarly, The Washington Post recently carried the morose headline “Holiday Spending Growth at a 5-Year Low”.
A major—and missing—facet in MSN and The Washington Post’s economical narrative is the analogously reported increase in online shopping and the success of e-commerce this holiday season.
Michael McNamara, Vice President for Research and Analysis at MasterCard Advisors, announced, “online shoppers led the growth in spending, with internet sales gaining 22 percent from Nov. 23 through Dec. 24.”
Forbes.com, Nielsen Online, Time Warner, and BizReports concurrently announced this success for e-commerce; all sources citing ‘convenience’ as being the dominant factor driving online holiday shopping.
Forbes.com’s report on “EBay’s Holiday Season Success,” included a statement from eBay’s Dean of Education, Jim Griffith, describing that “internet shopping has become increasingly convenient and consumers are more comfortable than ever buying products on the Web. Thus, shoppers are more likely to shop online for their holiday needs.”
Nielsen Online further analyzes this determined online shopping ‘convenience’ in a recent News Release, breaking the appeal into four subcategories; the ability to shop anytime during the day, the ability to comparison shop, the ability to find products easily, and saving time.
Examining their online partner AOL, Time Warner reported that “ninety-five percent of AOL shoppers find online shopping easier and more convenient because the cyberstores are always open…The most popular time to shop on AOL is the “prime-time” usage hours of 8:00 p.m to 10 p.m.”
As AOL’s data explicitly indicates, with one third of shopping channel traffic occurring during this evening prime-time, a time in which ‘brick and mortar’ stores are closed, e-commerce can only outshine off-line shopping.
BizReport attributes the overall online shopping experience as being the chief factor enticing shoppers to the Web. Barbara Staid, President of Safe Home Products explains in this December 2007 BizReport that shoppers go online for, “research purposes,” and, “using consumer shopping engines or on-site sections with consumer reviews is a good idea.”
Hat’s off to a great holiday season e-commerce! But with the new year fast approaching, what’s ‘in store’ for 2008 when it comes to online shopping?
E-Commerce revenues have climbed considerably and consistently over the years. This is thanks to an ever-expanding e-marketplace of e-tailers all made possible by improved technological utility and an increasing number of online shoppers. I contend that this trend will continue.
CIBC World Markets analyst Malindi Davies affirms a bright future for e-commerce, indicating, “improvements in customer experience across the e-commerce landscape should ‘spur the ongoing secular shift to online retail spend,’” adding “that under current macroeconomic conditions e-commerce companies may see some margin pressure as competition increases,” (Forbes.com, 11.27.07).
BizReport’s findings that shoppers turn online for “research purposes,” namely the ability to compare one product to another, add meat to Davie’s projections for the future of e-commerce; increased competition of retailers means shoppers have the ability to research and make informed and individually customized buying decisions. E-commerce offers a quintessential platform for comparative, research-based shopping.
Chitika’s ad units emulate this shopping model, enabling comparative shopping through our interactive product search engines as well as with our multi-product ad units.
Competition is certainly crucial in any marketplace. The future for online shopping—in 2008 and beyond—is bright and shines through MSN’s reported “economical gloom and doom”.
Increased e-competition in e-commerce will yield continued e-prosperity!
By Tessa Rudd – Account Executive – Advertising Media Division, Chitika Inc.
Posted by Karla On Dec 26
By: Karla Escolas
“How could you possibly know unless you ask”
Similar to the Nintendo Wii being 2007′s most-wanted item, according to your poll votes, the Chitika | Linx was this year’s most popular CPC ad unit for our publishers.
Linx is an in-text ad unit that automatically identifies key products/keywords on your page to hyperlink (double underline) to interactive paid (CPC-based) product listings. Linx stole the show this shopping season for 3 reasons:
1. Incremental revenue- Earn more revenue without taking up more space.
2. Keyword driven- You choose the ads so it will be more effective.
3. Linx has the the looks- A makeover for the ad unit and it’s code panel made setup more manageable and Linx more attractive on your pages. Love at first sight? Linx before & after.
Last year our RPU ad unit was a huge success story and continues to be. I wonder what it will be next year, we are always up to something 
Product ideas/requests? Jump into our product forum discussions.
Posted by Karla On Dec 24
“You mean Elmo wasn’t the most popular?”
Every year, right before the holidays there’s always one special item that everyone wants. The stores sell out and news breaks of people fighting for the last ones available in the malls.
The iPod family dominated as the hottest gadget that everyone wanted in 2006. But it seems this year the spotlight wasn’t on just one single product, it was more like a group of items all working together nicely for their fair share of attention.
Which of these items do you think lead the pack of 2007′s hottest items?
Posted by Karla On Dec 21
I believe bloggers are powerful efluencers in the new web. Check out my article on efluencers that was featured on MediaPost this week;
Holiday Shopping Season 2007: All About The Blogs
By Tessa Rudd
ONLINE SHOPPERS HAVE AN ENTIRE global marketplace only a few mouse clicks away. Lately, however, online shoppers and those advertiser and marketers who are trying to reach them see guided shopping, like what exists in the blogosphere, as compelling.
The blogosphere offers an unbiased, third-party voice for consumers, while simultaneously empowering advertisers with the valuable opportunity to capitalize on the trust that has developed between bloggers and consumers.
Numerous reports from the Internet advertising industry and market researchers suggest that advertising is working on blogs. This is creating a dynamic environment where branding meets direct marketing… Read more
Posted by Karla On Dec 21
Posted by Karla On Dec 21
Hope everyone is taking some time off from work to enjoy time with friends and loved ones this holiday season, I know we will be!
Monday, Dec. 24th our office will close at 12:00pm EST
We will be back Wednesday, Dec. 26th-28th!
Monday, Dec.31st we will also close at 12:00pm EST to get ready to ring in 2008!!
For any emergency issues with your Chitika ad’s please contact: Holiday911(at)chitika(dot)com
During our normal business hours (M-F 9am-5pm EST) please call:
(866) 441-7203 or email support.
Have a safe holiday!
-The Chitika Family
Posted by Karla On Dec 20
Once a neologism, the blogosphere celebrates a 10th Birthday this week. Here at Chitika we are thrilled to commemorate a decade of blogging. Since its advent, the blogosphere has been loosely defined, which in itself is congruous to a blog’s open and casual nature as a communicative medium.
The word blog was contrived by Jon Barger on December 17th, 1997. Barger created the word to describe his Robot Wisdom web page, and according to BBC News, “the word was an abbreviation of the “logging” of interesting “web” sites that Mr. Barger featured on his regularly updated journal.”
Although many web users already maintained regular journals online, 1997 marks the point at which these ‘web logged journals’ in theory became a particular online pursuit. It is estimated that in late 1998 the blogosphere encompassed only 23 sites. In 1999 the technology arose to make the writing and the maintaining of blogs more user-friendly. And of course a date we all hold dearly in our hearts, in 2003, Chitika was born, making advertising work on blogs and thereby supporting bloggers with advertising generated revenue.
Where are we today? It’s been decade since Barger coined the term and blog-monitoring company Technorati reports tracking more than 70 million blogs. Today common text book definitions of ‘blog‘ resemble, “a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.”
Popular blogger Andrew Lark offers a more intricate and whole-hearted version as he describes, “It’s as if though the blog becomes the center point of your own little opt-in community. You get to fuel it with dialog and if folks like it, they come back and not only share in your views but participate in your little walk through life.”
Today’s plethora of 70 million blogs include subject matter ranging from ‘personal blogs’ of diary-like expressive prose, to specialized industry news (at times referred to as ‘corporate blogs’), offering up-to-date information and commentary regarding developments or breakthroughs in that field.
The Wall Street Journal describes this advancement in diversity of content, explaining blogs have evolved from being “once a smorgasbord of links, [blogs] have evolved into vehicles for fuller, more forceful and opinionated prose.”
The Wall Street Journal further reflects that after ten years, there “are a dozen brief meditations on what the blog has come to mean and on the role blogs play in the usual tussles of any civilized society.
The appropriate question about blogs, 10 years into their first appearance, is not whether they are a form of exhibitionism, or journalism, or theater. It is, instead, this, and I pose it with a courteous apology to Tom Wolfe: What would we do without blogs?”
Regardless of content, blogging offers the unique and powerful opportunity for direct and immediate communication with others who can respond to ideas on a democratic platform. Through this as well as the utility of technology, the blogosphere enables the formation of social communities, or public forums, in which democratic discourse can take place based on shared interest or opinion.
Blogging has accomplished a lot over the past ten years. I contend that the impact of blogs exceeds just offering a platform for direct communication on a global level at best. The blogosphere initiates a new era of trust when it comes to public discourse.
A transcendent quality of the internet in general, is that everyone with a computer has equal access, and with this, and particularly relative to the blogosphere, anyone can say anything.
The question; how do we know who and what to trust?
When it comes to the blogosphere, there seems to be an underlying notion that if an individual is taking the time to blog about a topic, this implies that they are resourcefully, correctly, and intelligently informed on the topic.
Perhaps it is the emotional and almost compulsive persona that bloggers exhume, or the forum-like, and the professionally aesthetic structure of the blogs themselves.
The growth and popularity of the blogosphere over the ten years serves as evidence in itself; people trust bloggers and in many cases assign to them expert status when it comes to information and commentary.
Speaking of trustful sources and to add fuel to my fire, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in his blog, “New Political Prosumers,” equates blogging to the social trend of the DIY movement, referring to customers who prefer to fix their homes themselves rather than rely on professional repairmen.
Gingrich explains, “in our always intertwined media and political culture, blurring the lines between professional producers (news organizations and politicians) and amateur consumers (citizens), creating what Alvin Toffler called “prosumers,” characterized by their desire to play an active role in creating the products they consume and by their distrust of professionals who claim to know what’s best.”
Through enabling a platform for democratic discourse between individuals, the blogosphere cultivates a climate of trust and shared-resourcefulness between engaged bloggers and blog readers. If all members of the blogosphere own equal stock in what they are allowed to say in a public-forum, said members share equal stock in what they are to believe. In this dynamic situation, bloggers also equally enjoy the opportunity of being experts in their relative fields.
The 10th Blogiversary not only marks a successful decade of growth for technology enabled ‘web logging’, but also a social movement of evolved trust and democratically-staged influence.
By Tessa Rudd -Account Executive – Advertising Media Division, Chitika Inc.
Posted by Karla On Dec 20
“There’s so much to do with our ads!”
On my quest to show you— the Chitika publisher —cool tricks with JavaScript, I’ve had to search for things that would be really useful to you. My hope is that you may have not have even thought of the things that you can do with our ads, and more importantly do not violate our Terms of Service. The following gem is one such JavaScript trick that could be useful to every blogger out there who’s thinking about monetizing their traffic.
Thus, part two in this series is: Using JavaScript to show ads to selected users.
Using the correct JavaScript code, you can select which of your users see Chitika Ads. How? Suppose you run a blog or forum, and you want to monetize your traffic (don’t we all). However, you have a group of loyal readers you do not want to upset. Truth is, you don’t have to; most revenue for our ads will come from people searching for what they want!
In this example, I will show you an RPU that only shows itself for traffic from Google, and for no other traffic.
Here’s the example code:
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
ch_client = "demo";
ch_type = "rpu";
/* The rest of your code here... */
if (document.referrer.toLowerCase().indexOf("google.com") != -1) {
document.write("<" + "script type=\"text/javascript\""
+ " src=\"http://scripts.chitika.net/eminimalls/mm.js\"><"
+ "/script>");
}
//-->
</script>
By using the document.referrer JavaScript variable, we can ask all sorts of questions regarding where the user just came from. Using document.write, we can selectively activate or omit Chitika Ads. As you can see, the combination of the two becomes very powerful!
Do you have any ideas or questions of how to selectively show our ads based on anything besides Google traffic? Please share in the comments!
Posted by Karla On Dec 19
By: Karla Escolas
“Need more features?”
The reason a lawyer dresses in a suit everyday is the same reason the average high school student doesn’t; it would be strange if it were not so.
Appearance may mean more to someone than the next person. Some people prefer simplicity because it’s the only way they get things done. The same principle holds true for all our 18,000 publishers who need eMiniMalls to cater to their website needs in different ways.
What we want to know is, what are the most important features your website or blog requires from your Chitika ad units?
Did we miss something? Let us know, comments are open!
