Summary

Chitika has been receiving rave reviews lately, and rightly so. Eschewing the traditional media format (banners, text links), Chitika brings about ‘eMiniMalls’. These malls come in various sizes, including classic IAB sizes like 568x60, 720x90, and so forth.

The eMiniMall is an interactive sales pitch for products. Using contextual algorithms, the mall features products related to your content. Quick tabs let users view product information, reviews, compare prices, and search on their own.

Ad Formats Supported

• 468x60 banner
• 720x90 leaderboard banner (may show 468x60 banners)
• Skyscraper (120x600 and 160x600)
• Rectangle (180x150 and 300x250 and 336x160)
• Square (160x160 and 250x250)
• Blog Banner (468x180)
• Pop-under

All formats are fully ‘filled’ from the matching with your document’s content. In order to keep things fresh, some defaults are occasionally shown (iPods, digital cameras, so forth).

Ad Rates

Payment is click based, but due to the extremely targeted nature, usually pays for better than Adsense and other comparable products. Clicktrhough is lower, but when computing CPM directly on various sizes, we found revenue to be 40-300% higher! Based on the program, we found that it worked best for sites directly related to a saleable product.

Things to Know

Speaking of Adsense, its terms prohibit using another contextual program on the same page. Chitika does allow you to turn off contextual matching and specify your own keywords. Additionally, you can also choose to turn off the search tab.

Since Chitika pays you on a CPC basis, it is important to have the ads properly integrated into your site. Make sure that the ads display relevant to your content. Furthermore, a great way to get clicks is to have your ad appear halfway in your menu – it makes the ads appear more seamless and will result in a lot more targeted clicks.

The admin area itself is slightly weak – it seems like it was cobbled together. Statistics show up roughly 12 hours after the previous day has ended, and no graphing is present.

Unique to only Chitika are audited vs unaudited clicks. Before payment is tendered, Chitika ‘audits’ your clicks and chooses which ones to drop. Common experience states that roughly 10% are dropped. Something to be aware of before you go in. Payment is tendered Net-30.

Lastly, the site keeps an official blog.

Overall

Excellent compliment to AdSense. Does wonders for your sites if it is product based. Can greatly increase your revenue without hurting your other revenue streams.