Posted by Karla On May 26
The Chitika Mega Unit, launched exactly one year ago, due to a custom request from a publisher, and went on to do very well for other publishers.
The Mega unit is a non-conventional ad size, and Chitika is the only company that offers it. Because the ad unit did so well for a test group of publishers, we made it available for all. The Mega Unit comes in sizes: 550×250, 500×250.
We realize that some sites do not have the space to place such a wide ad unit, but you still would like to receive the benefits from it. So, now available is the Mega Unit Jr., size: 468×250:
This will give you the large, successful size of the Mega Unit for those who do not have a 550 or 500 pixel space.
To try this size out, simply edit the ad code on your page, or generate a new ad in your code panel:
This all began with feedback from you, please let us know what you’d like to see!
Posted by Karla On Jan 20
Isabel Isidro and her husband, Nach Maravilla, reached what Isidro calls a “turning point” for their website, PowerHomeBiz.com, in the summer of 2009. That’s when they found out about Chitika’s newest ad unit, the Mega Unit – an ad unit that would go on to increase their site revenues by 450% in the first month alone. We sat down and spoke with Isidro about her experiences as a web publisher, on running Chitika ads, and on how their earnings have been impacted over the past six months.
How did PowerHomeBiz.com get started?
“We started PowerHomeBiz.com in December 1999. We saw the tremendous growth potential of the Web and knew that we wanted to start an online business. We both were scammed by work at home business opportunities advertised in magazines, and we knew that there is a huge market of people out there looking for ways to earn money from their homes. We decided to start an information resource site to help people start, run and manage a home-based business the legitimate way.”
Do you currently own any other websites?
“We have since added two other sites to our network – WomenHomeBusiness.com for women entrepreneurs; as well as Learning from the Big Boys showcasing lessons that small businesses can learn from big businesses.”
What were your first experiences with online advertising?
“We tried several CPM ad networks, but we’ve always been so disappointed with the earnings. While our traffic increased through the years, our income from these ad networks stayed at the same negligible levels – even after giving them prime “real estate” in our site.
Our mistake was in assuming that Chitika will perform just like the CPM ad networks we have joined. We joined Chitika in 2005, and we basically didn’t expect anything from it. We just joined Chitika, and promptly forgot about it. We barely displayed the Chitika ads, and if we did, we placed it in less visible pages and in less visible part of the page. As a result, income from Chitika was negligible.”
..the way Chitika emphasized that their product is compatible with Google AdSense caught our attention.”
“We were doing extremely well with Google AdSense and direct ad sales at the time we joined Chitika, and all our premium real estate were given to AdSense and to our own direct advertisers. There was no question as to which ad network we should be focusing on and giving our prime real estate.
We started thinking about Chitika when Chitika Premium was announced. Our main priority has always been Google AdSense, but the way Chitika emphasized that their product is compatible with Google AdSense caught our attention. We already know from our experience with Google Adsense that our visitors are highly responsive to ads. Plus, PowerHomeBiz.com receives a huge amount of search engine traffic. Still, Chitika remained in the backburner.”
So what changed your mind about keeping Chitika in low prominent placements?
“The turning point was when a Chitika email newsletter announced the availability of the Mega Units 500×250 and 550×250 in the summer of 2009. The newsletter also demonstrated the best practices for these new ad units, again emphasizing that these ad units are compatible with AdSense and how these units could work with AdSense on a page. I think that was the first newsletter from Chitika that I really paid attention to and read.”
The first month alone of implementing the mega units saw an increase of 450% in revenues – and that was only for a handful of our pages!”
“After reading the newsletter, we implemented the Mega Units at the bottom of a few articles to test it out. We were greatly pleased with the results. The first month alone of implementing the mega units saw an increase of 450% in revenues – and that was only for a handful of our pages! We knew that the time of ignoring Chitika was over. We are now in the process of adding the Mega Unit in all our pages.
We’re looking forward this year to seeing Chitika become a major revenue source for PowerHomeBiz.com. And we’re off to a great start – for the first half of January 2010, our unaudited earnings is already equal to what we earned from 2005 to 2008!”
Would you like to be featured as Chitika’s next Success Story? Contact us here.
______________________________________________________________________________
Read more Chitika Testimonials and Success Stories here.
View Chitika’s Mega Unit & other ad sizes.
Login Here to get your Mega Unit Code | Sign up for Chitika
Posted by Daniel Ruby On May 29
Rule 1 – Only show ads WHEN the user really wants it
Or: Thou shalt never annoy thy visitors
As you know, the Chitika | Premium units only show up when Chitika is sure about user intent (because we know what search term the user used to find you). For all of your regular users who are simply browsing your site, the intent is much lower. In these cases, the Chitika ad does not show, and you are not blasting another ad into their face. Due to this, you are not annoying your users with yet another ad unit.
Rule 2 – Tell your user WHY they’re seeing this ad
Or: Thou shalt respect thy visitors’ experience
As you can see from the example below, the user keywords are highlighted in gold yellow. This is to explain to the user that the ad is about what he is looking for (Psychobabble Joe says: Since the age of 2, the human brain has been taught to pay attention to that specific color of yellow). When you respect your visitors’ feelings and intent like that, they are more likely to look at the ad and read its contents (and, of course, click on it).
Rule 3 – Only show users WHAT they want to see
Or: Thou shalt give thy visitors what they want — in a way they want it
Chitika | Premium ad units have been designed to be hyper targeted, as the ads are almost always completely targeted to the exact keyword the user typed in the search engine. And in the new Mega Unit, ads flow naturally from top to bottom, rather than left to right. “Why is that,” you ask? Its because for the last 10 years, the Internet has worked very hard to train people to read its pages from top to bottom, not left to right. With the Mega-Unit, people’s tendency to read in that fashion helps your second and third ads get almost as much attention as the first.
Put all these three reasons together and you as a publisher/website owner will get from your visitors what you really want — i.e. clicks. More clicks equal more revenue and everybody is happy. By giving your visitors what they want in an ad unit, they’ll give you what you want in return! Isn’t sharing nice?
You can get the code for the mega unit here or signup if you are not already a Chitika publisher.
Posted by RyanT On May 18
Hey everyone – I want to introduce the newest addition to the Chitika | Premium lineup – the 550×250 MEGA-Unit. Across our network right now, the MEGA-Unit’s CTR is 4 times higher than our other Premium units – so you can see why we are excited about it! I want to answer some important questions about it here on the blog:
What is the MEGA-Unit?
It’s our newest Chitika | Premium unit, and it’s really BIG! Take a look:
Why should you use this?
Across the board, our new MEGA-Unit is adding a massive increase in clicks and revenue:
- AskDaveTaylor.com increased his Chitika earnings from $85/month to $2000/month by adding the new MEGA-Unit to his site (Dave talks about this in greater detail on his site).
- ArticleAlley.com added the new MEGA-Unit and reports that “The result was a massive 721% increase in income - without any noticeable knock on effect to our other income providers.” – Adrian from ArticleAlley.com
- Couponmom.com added the MEGA-Unit to just 1 of her pages, and immediately doubled her eCPM and revenue.
How do I get it?
If you have a Chitika account, you can get the unit by clicking here, then choosing the 550×250 “MEGA-Unit” from the drop-down.
If you don’t have a Chitika account, click here to sign up.
Where should I place the MEGA-Unit on my site?
We are seeing it work best placed directly above or below the main content. For example, you can see where ArticleAlley.com put it on this page (scroll to bottom of article).
Try the new Chitika | Premium MEGA-Unit now!
What do you think about this? Leave us a comment below!
