I just logged into my Chitika eMiniMalls reports and found that they’ve finally gone live with their channels feature. They’ve also added some new columns to the stats that they report including CTR (click through rate) and Avg CPC (cost per click).
The CPC is a stat that Adsense have never given (it can be worked out by an easy calculation) but which will be handy. I suspect that their reporting will continue to improve over the coming weeks and months (ie they will probably get more dynamic over time and add more ability to check certain periods of time etc) – but so far so good! Channels is a massive step forward.
When you log into you stats you can view your channels all at once by clicking the date – or by channel by using the drop down menu.
If you haven’t already added the channel code to your Chitika codes it might be a good time – this way you’ll be able to work out what positions, design and keywords are working best.
To implement the channel code insert this mini bit of code into your ad unit
ch_sid = ‘xxxx’;
How do you use channels effectively?
The way I use them is to make every different ad unit on my blogs have a separate channel. ie the ad unit in my side bar has a challel code called ‘Problogger Side Menu’ – the ad unit on my individual posts pages has one called ‘Problogger Indiv Above Comments’ the one on my digicam site’s menu is called ‘DPB side menu’ etc.
This will enable me to track which ad on which blog performs best in terms of click value and CTR which in turn will teach me about what is the best position, design and keywords to target.
So now go experiment – and tell us all what you find!
update: It seems as though they’ve also added some new affiliate banner sizes to the 10 that were released last week. There are now 16 options including some larger banner and skyscraper options.
