I have noticed this trend over the last couple of month. It may have been lomger than that but I only kept records on it for that timescale. For the first few hours of the day I get an average CPC in excess of $1.35 and then as the day goes on it falls to around $0.25. At first I just assumed it was coincidence but it happens every day - the first few clicks of the day are ALWAYS a much higher CPC than the later ones. It is possible I am "gaining" (by the higher clicks) as opposed to "losing" on the lower ones but I would very much like to "understand" what is happening. Anyone have similar experiences? I know its not my mind playing tricks as I have monitored this closely now for the last three weeks.
I see this every day. These are people who are bidding high and using up their entire ad budget in the wee hours of the morning. After they get their clicks, the rest of the advertisers get their clicks for less.
Will - thats good info' thanks. Now I need to find a way of taking advantage of this situation. If you have noticed the same have you any strategies to get higher visitor numbers in these time frames? The only one I can think of would be to use very low cost MIVA (or similar) ads early in the morning but that doesn't sit very comfortably with me. Legal - yes, Ethical - debatable. Any ideas from other members?
My most valuable clicks are usually in the early evenings. I guess the type of industry/market also plays a role in CPC.