Chitika – is it any good???
Is Chitika any good? Does anyone really make money with their ads on their web sites???
OK… I have to admit that I have not recently tested putting Chitika ads on my pages with Adsense. So I can’t honestly say whther it will make you any money or not. But it has been brought up in many conversations and usually when I ask if the person who mentioned it is making any money with it – they say no – or not really.
So today I became curious when I found an email in my gmail spam folder from Chitika, Inc. that proclaimed:
New! Free eBook- Maximizing Revenue from AdSense & Chitika
I clicked the link and grabbed the free eBook. You’ll find the PDF linked HERE by the way (no reg required).
As I read the PDF I was interested to see a testimonial from the AskTheBuilder site that read:
“I just wanted to reach out again and tell you how pleased I am with Chitika.
The revenue has really been strong. The best part is there is no erosion of
AdSense. My biggest mistake is not listening to you sooner. That cost me
about $25,000. And you can quote me on that.†– Tim Carter, AsktheBuilder.com
So I decided that as a public service I would send out an email to my Words Equal Money subscribers and post here asking you to help me find out if Chitika really does make money when placed on pages!!!
Have you ever had any success with Chitika??? If so – please be so kind as to comment below and let us know what you know about Chitika!
I’d love to find something that can easily coexist with Adsense ads and possibly even replace them!
Comments
By E-Cig Harvey on November 17th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I never had any luck with chitika.
It was like pulling teeth to make a dollar.
I will check out the pdf and maybe give it another go.
Thanks for the info, and interested to see others answers also.
By ouss on November 17th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hi
I began to test chikita and other platforms for advertising. Look at my blog: http://blog-money.orwebsite.com
For now, there has AdSense running My websites
Thank you
ouss
http://articlesdirectory.orwebsite.com/
http://blog-money.orwebsite.com
By Olan Butler on November 17th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I make about $20 bucks/month with approximately 14,000 impressions. Hope that helps.
By John Erwin on November 17th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I have not tried Chitika, but am also interested in hearing about others’ results. When my Adsense account was cancelled for no apparent reason (no, I did NOT click on my own ads) I switched my attention to affiliate marketing. I place affiliate banners and text links on my web pages and I make a lot more money that way than I ever did with Adsense and its ilk.
I just signed up for Perfect Traffic Storm (free signup to get access to their innovative system for displaying ads, yours on other people’s sites and other people’s on your sites) last night and am pleased with it so far. I have three ads running and have already gotten some eyeballs onto them (no sales yet, but . . . ).
By Foreclosure Queen on November 17th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I just started my adsense sites but I definitely would like an alternative that actually makes money just in case my adsense account gets terminated as I hear rumors that they cancel you just because… Are there any others besides Chitika?
By Graham in UK on November 17th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Hi Mike
If I remember rightly- it must have been about 2 years ago, Joe Comm hailed Chitika as the “best thing since sliced bread” saying he was making a fortune from this – he even wrote a book about it.
At the time there was so much hype about it but I thought it had ‘died a death’ not hearing about it since.(and Joe Comm was still plugging his Adsense stuff?).
Jury’s been out a long time – I guess they are trying to relaunch it?
My own view is that Google Adsense has been around some time now and is a proven concept and it still works for a lot of sites.
regards
Graham in UK
By Paul on November 17th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Just from a “customer” viewpoint – these double-underlined “landmines” make it a challenge to dodge when trying to read. Even though they might not annoy me enough to click off, others might. BTW, I’m very laid back when it comes to these things – spam doesn’t annoy me much, I don’t get bent out of shape about little things. So it might be that the ads do work in that an accidental activation of one of them might produce a sale. (They haven’t piqued my interest enough yet though…) It would be interesting if they do shove a reader over to the Adsense ads (if that were a desired outcome) – not sure how to test for this more accurately than by a split.
By Wayne on November 17th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Hi Mike:
Sorry that I can’t help you out.
Never heard of Chitika before your post.
Wayne
By mc @ mcrapu on November 17th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Never heard of Chitika before. Maybe I could use it for my blog. hmm … but i dont even hv adsense on my blog. Thanks for the ebook Mike. Might try this.
By Anatoly on November 17th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I started with Chitika several months ago.I never made any money with it and do not suppose it could be considered as a revenue stream.
If somebody has another opinion, I am very interested to hear about their experience.
By Graeme Eastman on November 17th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I have been using chikita on a number of my sites for some time now and I think its a useful addition to adsense and other affiliate programs I use.
I can give you an example of one of my sites which is http://www.nflfootballstuff.com
This was an expired domain that had some existing traffic so I just put up chikita premium and a banner to a relevant affiliate program.
The chikita results for the last 30 days shows
59 impressions, 40 clickthroughs, $3.88 earnings.
Its not alot of money but it does cover costs and beats parking revenue for a domain.
The problem I find with chikita is that they dont have the range of advertisers that adsense has so there are many topics that just wont work well with them. I think they are best at physical products like electronics, toys, etc. They are also very USA focused so foreign traffic is no good for them. I find just about every click is worth 10 or 11 cents so I never get the high value clicks that I sometimes get with adsense.
There are several alternatives to adsense and you can view from my affiliate directory page at http://www.affiliateguide.com/search-ppc.html which lists a number of search and PPC affiliate programs.
By Online Running Gear on November 17th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Hi Mike,
I have had an interest in Chitika for some time now so I was happy to see you surveying for input as to other webmaster’s results. Judging by the response so far, I think that I will stick with adsense. I also share the concerns of a previous comment stating that the ads block out the article text which can get frustrating if trying to read the article.
Cheers,
Jacquie
By Lissa Jannini on November 17th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I have tried Chitika more then once. Honestly I did not have any success with Chitika. I made no money with it. If this guy makes that kind of money with it, more power to him. I wish he would share with us his secret. Personally I have not found a better alternative to Google Adsense and I have tried many. I will check the ones recommended by Graeme Eastman on his affiliate directory page. Thank Graeme.
By Espresso Coffee Machines on November 18th, 2009 at 5:01 am
I tried Chitika on several of my sites when it first launched. I only made a few dollars in 4 months so I pretty much gave up on it. Now that the adsense revenues are dropping it may be worth looking at again. Thanks for the info and the pdf, I’ll see how it goes….
By Eric on November 18th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Have been using Chitika Premium for last 6 months.
Pros:
1. Highly targeted contextual ads. Works best for product type sites
2. Easy integration. Better ad sizes and more flexible in placement than Adsense.
Cons:
1. Ads will only show for US and Canada traffic
2. Ad revenue depends on Traffic quality score. 1 is lowest and 10 is highest. Problem is my account can’t seem to go above Traffic Quality score of 1. So revenue per click never went above 12 cents no matter what kind of site the ads are placed on.
3. Low CTR ranging from 5% to 12% even when placed above the fold just below the title. Definitely lower CTR than Adsense ads in the same position. Not sure why.
Hope this helps.
By internet specialists on November 19th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Hey Mike
Thanks for pointing out the guide. As some of the others above commented I tried Chitika when Joel mentioned it but didn’t have much success. Now after reading the guide and seeing some of the placements in their examples, not to mention the useful tips offered by Eric and others above I’m looking to test it on a few sites.
One thing we all are afraid of sometimes is trying something new, especially when something is working you don’t want to mess with it…”Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke!” right? I guess I’m going to have to bite the bullet and test much more because one never wants to have all their eggs in one basket. Yes, Adsense is pretty reliable, but with Google closing many Adwords accounts due to scams (which is good for those of us who promote legitimate offers), I’m sure there are plenty of people wondering the future of Adsense
Anyways, thanks for reminding me about Chitika. I guess testing is the only way to truly know if it works for you and that’s what I’ll be doing. Good luck to everyone that’s going to try!
Mark
By Matt|make money with dofollow blog on November 20th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Mike,
Thanks for the PDF link. Not tried Chitika yet but I did start a dofollow blog after seeing yours about 4 months ago. Adsense is doing really well for now but I will be looking to supplement, not replace Adsense soon.
By Ken on December 2nd, 2009 at 12:03 am
Hey Mike,
I’ve been using Chitika for a couple months. My biggest day was $3.39 for 5 clicks between two websites, but that must have been a fluke because every other day has only been about $.25 cents/day. It’s been consistent though. My total so far for two months is $5.96. I use it with Adsense on a couple product sites. I have it on a photography site but it’s never made a cent. I noticed that the average CPC isn’t as high as Adsense, not sure why. I guess it just depends on the niche. I’m going to continue using it because it seems to be a good backup to Adsense. Hope that helps.
Ken
By Charles brooks on December 14th, 2009 at 3:08 am
How To Make money with affiliate programs Today. Affiliate marketing is the easier and probably the most effective method to make money from the internet. It is basically, a kind of selling technique where potential buyers from your website are directed to the websites of sellers. For every click, the website owner gets a small commission.
http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com
By the truth on January 19th, 2010 at 8:30 am
i am a advertiser and i have used chitika and i would have to honestly say that they are a waste of time they pay less than any other ad company i have tried.
The best company is tribal fusion then google then burst the adbrite then clicksor. chitika is a a rip off company. they talk a good talk but pay there publishers nothing and keep 99% of the money they get from advertisers for themselves. dont bother with them, anyone on here who said they made money with them is lying or works for the company. my websites get over 2 million hits a month so i know what im talking about
By Harald on February 1st, 2010 at 6:35 am
No luck with chitika here.The revenue stinks, the company pays very little.I`m going to try some other companies.Tribal fushion will be my next project.
By Bruce on May 19th, 2010 at 6:59 am
I just started my adsense sites but I definitely would like an alternative that actually makes money just in case my adsense account gets terminated as I hear rumors that they cancel you just because… Are there any others besides Chitika?