[Nupbeaupeteew]

I have a question for you guys ...

I have two cruise related websites that I was for Adsense. I use for them this Wordpress theme: http://howtoloseweightadvices.com/ (This is not my website) .....and I know I should change it...I`m working at this as we speak....but ....

For about a week my earnings per click drop to $0.10-$0.15/click...for both websites. I mean I didn`t see a click of more than $0.50 for over a week. I`m using Adsense for almost an year and this never happen until now.......Since now when I receive a click of less than $0.15.....it was almost a surprise....now it`s exact the other way around...

Now, I red about the "Too Many Ads Above the Fold" penalize from Google....and I`m thinking....could Google starting to penalize websites that have too many ads above the fold in this manner....to offer them low-payings for their clicks......for website that maybe use such a wordpress theme ?

Or maybe do you have another idea for which my clicks are starting to pay so low ?

Thank you !!!

[panholio]

too many ads above the fold penalty is exposed on seo not on clicks

[Qutlsilh]

clicks cpc depends on so many factors like country from which user clicks your ad, targeted audience quality, your content & niche and some times penalize for having so many ads( not so regular)...

[OShellszz]

OK, so many there is another reason for which my clicks are paid with only $0.10 - $0.15 ....Yesterday, I just checked.....the same thing.....Not one click paid with more than $0.20 - $0.30 ....more clicks for United States....There is got to be a reason.....

[ExelePlavisseu]

I think it is only due to online advertising trends. Recession is deepening and so advertising spend is reducing. If you have used other advertising networks than Adsense, you would've known how worst it got in this month. Adsense is no exception, just that it gives still higher eCPM though relative to other ad networks.

[Illirmpipse]

Thanx gopalkr for taking yr time and answer....and it makes a lot of sense.... I guess this will be a temporary issue...?

[AdobebePhoto]

I think it is only due to online advertising trends. Recession is deepening and so advertising spend is reducing. If you have used other advertising networks than Adsense, you would've known how worst it got in this month. Adsense is no exception, just that it gives still higher eCPM though relative to other ad networks.

Yeah. Me too heard about a recession. It may be the reason for this.

[AlissBart]

Thanx gopalkr for taking yr time and answer....and it makes a lot of sense.... I guess this will be a temporary issue...?

Sorry to disappoint.. But this is the general scenario. The good times don't last long and indeed they are the temporary ones. Last time recession deepened through the last quarter of 2008 and since then earning rates (eCPMs) have gone down till 2010, since when they rebounded through mid 2010 till Dec. 2010 and again downhill. In between another sudden jump happened through August 2011 till Jan 2012 and then again downhill. The cycles are getting shorter and the range of eCPM rates between cycles getting narrower.

This has created a new perspective about online business. I used to think this is the new e-age business model and the most opportunistic. But I also see downsides to it. Nevertheless it retains its advantages of low cost setup and maintenance than an offline business. What this means is also that we keep building our online businesses treating it as an asset but we don't expect steady income from it like we can expect from other active pursuit like a job. We prepare our assets to reap the most benefits during good economic cycles and don't worry during downturns.

Even the best CTRs are possible if there is competition among advertisers (as they spend time creating good adverts to compete and get lot of visitors). In recessions we spend time on improving CTRs which should be none of our business but the advertiser or ad-network's (Google's). We would just focus on what we do best, that is providing value to our customers so that value makes our business survive any number of economic cycles instead of tweaking and tweaking our websites for Google algorithms, Google adsense etc.

I am glad that economic trends happen in cycles. So that anytime I see low earnings, I understand and patiently wait for few months or a year or even two before a good cycle starts again. Meanwhile I would also spend time on creating value for free. We will do so much better once we take money out of the equation.

You can just study this interesting thread that I had dug from this same forum that tells historically what happened to eCPM rates just before the recession started:
forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=476724

Sept 2007 was the starting of the wildest bullmarket time in history of stock market. Atleast in the Indian context, though Dow too hit its all time high during that period of time. Economy was in crazy mood with new startups cropping up everywhere just like that. That is when you could get pleasant surprises (even without asking) like those in the above thread where eCPM rate was $1 one day, then $3 next day, then $6 the next and then $9. Even if you don't do anything in the stock market, just study the trends, the insights from them can be applied to any business. The Facebook IPO flopped on the first day when any IPO is historically expected to give a 50% kind of jump in share price on the listing day. The reason was bad timing. Facebook may be a good business idea on the W W W, but it was bad to delay it to list as the recession is deepening. The techno geeks need not be knowing about economic cycles. But it helps to know.

Next time you see these trends, you know when it is a right opportunity to launch your new eBook or a new product or when it is a right time to overprice your products and reduce the prices.

[KignPeeseeamn]

Thanx for yr comprehensive reply....This explains a lot !

[hieklyintinee]

I`m curious...there are others who experienced this...maybe in other niches as well ?