Sure, the ShopCloud is not contextual (you specify either the category or the query). The ShopCloud does not "sense" the content of your page, you provide the targeting yourself just like through the Chitika eminimalls.
good thread! - I wondered that myself.. Re: ShopCloud! I saw it all last night on my recently activated account.. at this stage I'm not quite sure on it but how's it working out for people? Are visitors to your sites intrigued by this new ShopCloud and using it? Some live examples would be good too actually - I like to see what others are doing. Regards, Rich.
haha...I didn't even know about this shop cloud option before this post! I have chitika but hadn't looked into their admin in a while...pretty cool!
ShopCloud$ is an interactive tag cloud which finally, offers you paid CPC revenue from it. You can choose to display hot products from one of our 44 categories, or even better, publishers can select their own set of favorite products and create their own cloud$. (Holiday gifts, etc) It also has interactive (AJAX) searches. You have to test it out to fully appreciate it, you can do that here. Any Chitika member can have their own- just login!
The clouds look very nice, non-contextual (so it is ok to use with YPN and Adsense). How well are the clouds performing ?
I just started running a cloud today. But I'm only specifying one query term at a time, so it really doesn't look like a cloud. But I'll report back tomorrow with my stats from today. I'm giving it about 10k impressions in a pretty decent spot (at the base of the articles).
I'm going to turn it on a few sites of mine too. Anyone recommend placement locations or simply follow heat maps?
Well I'm back to report on my trial run of the cloud. I ran it for about 15k impressions. Of those, I had 300+ click throughs to the "second" page where the products are displayed. Of those I had about a 2-3% click through to an actual payout. With a very LOW EPC, I made just over $1 for the day (unaudited of course). Needless to say I pulled the program (once again). Not sure why I keep getting sucked back in to try these "new" chitika ad options. I'm disappointed EVERY time. In contrast, my Google ad in that same spot earns quite a bit more. Well, A LOT more.
ShopCloud$ should not be considered as a replacement to existing revenue from AdSense. ShopCloud$ is a fantastic second revenue stream to eMinimalls. When using the right integration- taking the time to make features work on your blog/website, you will get the results you are looking for. When one thing does not work, trying another is the best way to go, instead of giving up. That is if you are truly serious about making money from your blog. When you use ShopCloud$ along with AdSense, and/or Chitika | eMiniMalls, they will end up creating a complementary revenue stream! Here are a few examples of changing your revenue stream game plan, when one thing doesnt work: Backup Adsense ads with Chitika Most useful types of ads Chitika has many different features to choose from, eMiniMalls, ShopCloud$, ShopLinc. Each was created to not just work for everyone on every website, but created for individual types of websites. Each were created to easily test and see what will work for you, and if not, we have fantastic optimization experts that are helping other Chitika users as we speak to increase their Chitika revenue for the holiday season! We are known for rocking on product related websites, why is this? It is because eMiniMalls gets visitors excited using actual product pictures, its visual. And your visitor is not going to be exciting about the latest in digital cameras unless they are reading about the hottest products of the season for his/her sons birthday or christmas gift. Which is why these features were designed to especially give you that extra $ for the holiday shopping season.
Because you are able to show the hand selected products YOU want to show in your ShopCloud$, you can use your ShopCloud$ to feature cool topics like: “My favorite holiday giftsâ€. Or you can choose from our 44 hot product categories. The interactive AJAX drop-down menu guides your visitors in finding the products they are looking for. Ex: my grandfather searches for a digital camera, its new and he cant quite remember the exact brand name that sells it. As he types digital camera, a drop-down menu will appear with the latest in digital cameras. "THERE IT IS!", he says. He easily found what he was looking for without having to search anywhere else. He also will click to a ShopLinc showing the best prices on his product, be given the option to search for other products and read real product reviews all right there! That makes my grandfather happy. Test it out for yourself.
why is the link "Chitika | ShopCloud$" no using the color of the tags? is it possible to change the colors for that link to better match my site?
I am not using the Chitika Shop Clouds but i finally got a click from a user with the normal Chitika. How is the revenue for the publisher calculated? According to value of product sold? Thanks in advance.
Great question. The whole cloud should be customizable. I'll pass this onto the engineers and see if we can change that!
The great thing is you won't have to wait for someone to buy something, you are paid per click (PPC) not action. You are paid for any clicks on all results merchant listings!
I like the Shop Cloud and my users click on it, however it does not convert into clicks on the following page - so I get no money and I loose those who click because the page opens in the same window... so in short, I like it but it does not convert well for me...