Being on competition with CJ is due to ignorance on the part of publishers and lack of successful communication on the part of AA. There is no competition. AA is CJ (minus the programming problems which appear to be becoming less of an issue) except with CJ you get on the 50% tier and with AA your on the 75% tier. And, for the record, AA has outproduced adsense every month for me, and adsense gets more impressions. Adsense kept its ad spots on my sites, AA was only an augmentation, and as such, incremental income. It also is highly dependant on the website. A webmaster forum isnt likely to do well with AA (or CJ/ebay)
Joey, first off I respect you and any disagreement over Auction Ads isn't going to change that. That said you do seem to be overly defensive of Auction Ads. Your results are totally at odds with just about every one else. Your arguments in support of AA are just not valid, even if they were correct the drop in revenue would only be a few percent, not 90% plus. We aren't really comparing the figures one month over another. I'm looking at three months of solid figures growing each month then suddenly almost nothing. I can even see the day it all fell apart, the 8th July. From that day on it's been a total farce. You say only a few publishers have been commenting on this, well most people don't comment, they just move on. Your only seeing the people here and on your forum, incidentally posts over there have dried up about AA, when AA were doing well there were a lot of posts about AA every day, now that they aren't working people have lost interest. If they were still making money the posts would still be flowing. Mediawhiz by not posting an update on their blog are not helping at all, it looks like the problem has been placed in the too hard basket and AA is going to die off.
Thanks Cyclops - and I feel the same about you. My results may be at odds - but they are real and valid for me. I cant explain your numbers, just my own. If I seem defensive at times its because, and you know this to be true, some people complain and the problem isnt really a problem with AA. For example, some people had complained a few months back that they hadnt been paid, some went so far as to say they were ripped off. Come to find out, they hadnt submitted their SSN and that was why they hadnt been paid. THAT said. I agree with you that around Mid July things went sour. It happened to me as well. They came back for me though 9in August. Ther have been the occasional issues such as the display problems last weekend, but overall its been improving IMO. However, I do really wish they would communicate with the publishers better. I believe that is the single most critical problem they have right now, and I have told them so, several times. For me, the better AA does the better the program will be for all of us. I really and honestly believe in this program, ESPECIALLY for forum owners who usually get crapped on by adsense. AA isnt for everyone however. Some sites just wont convert well. This is true for most ad programs. Those who know me know that I am sincere in what I post.
For the record on comparing numbers. The majority of people that post about a product/service are bound to be those that had bad service, so it's no wonder that there are more complaints then praises. The number of people posting in forums is an inaccurate measurement, and to take that as true statistical value would likely be folly. Though, the people complaining do seem to be saying the same thing, so the complaints are most likely valid on some (or many) levels.
A TLA rep posted a while back asking for questions and saying there was problems. He blamed the reporting on a single day of ebay issues then neglected to return to the thread to discuss any further questions or to address any other issues. He did not post it in this forum, but rather general marketing, and now the thread is locked. Nothing was mentioned in their blog, or any other official sites to my knowledge. So I'm sure if they had something to say, they would not bother...
looks like they finally posted something http://www.auctionads.com/blog/auctionads-improving-one-day-at-a-time/
They have no credibility left so regardless of what they say it's practically meaningless. Lack of postings, postings about "upgrades" while there are serious fundamental problems, and removing critical comments - they have demonstrated zero integrity. What's that saying? Money talks, bullshit walks. The only thing that means anything is if affiliates start seeing stats that make sense.
yeah, and think what you want to, I'm sticking with it, it's been going great for me. your loss, not mine.
No truer words ever spoken. Sadly, it's more then just them that are losing. And for those that are losing, it is hard to A) Believe that anyone not working for AA can turn some decent numbers and B) that there is any logic in keeping broken ads on their site. I think it's FANTASTIC that you are turning some nice numbers...but you have to understand, you are the minority in this, and up till today, a minority that has been promoted by AA while they have left those with crap reports without so much as a by or leave.
I can't speak for them, but I'm just reporting my experience and what has been happening for me. I can't and won't make decisions for you either, so it is entirely up to you whether to keep it or not. I recommend you give it another shot though, just my personal opinion.
I've not given up yet, in fact, I've actually increased the number of ads I have... though, heh... I've not made a single cent this month. Kinda falls back to the "my loss, not yours" eh?
Hers the relevant part of the article, I think it needs to actually be seen rather than a link most people won't bother to look at.
Thanks! I'd have missed it as I tend not to check links...too much spam here I could not agree more with what you quoted as well! That blog post is likely what prompted this blog entry on AA http://www.auctionads.com/blog/auctionads-improving-one-day-at-a-time/ though oddly enough, "My Account" is not updating with that entry, so I'd have missed it had it not been linked too here (which was a link I did check, as I knew the address). Now let me highlight what I hope to be a typo from that AA blog entry: We want to extend our deepest gratitude to you, our publishers, the reason we are even continuing this service, and want to thank you for sticking with it. We know there have been some issues, we know there have been some downfalls, we know that there have been click-tracking issues, but please rest assured that you ensure that you get paid for every cent you earn. Thanks again! Again, I am hoping that was a typo and that THEY will ensure that WE get paid
When Tearabite talks, people listen! I've pretty much given up on AA.. I'll try them again in a month or two, or whenever the majority of other webmasters agree that they've got all their stuff fixed.. Until then, i'll give my (almost) a million or so impressions per month to someone else..
Yes, BlogRush is very communicative. The hype is perhaps a little over the top. You can't use the headline "...Shocking Changes..." more than about once before it loses it's effect. After all, those changes weren't all that shocking. But they do know that communication is much more effective than the mushroom treatment (keep them in the dark and feed them sh*t).