Chitika have just announced a new ad format – the Multi-Product Unit.
Basically they are the same as single product units in operation except that they highlight 4 products at once. One is more dominant than others but if you scroll over the other products you’ll see them highlighted live in the ad unit.
Those who are already Chitika Publishers can automatically use them by just logging in and choosing the ‘468 x 180 Multi-Product Blog Banner’ unit from the ‘Select eMiniMalls Format’ drop down menu.
At this point they only come in the one size which might make it difficult for some blogs that don’t have an appropriate space but it’ll be useful for others. Hopefully they add some more sizes down the track (although it’d be hard to do small ones with space considerations).
You can test them at Chitika’s Multi-Product Unit.
PS: Links in this post are affiliate links.
Update: I’ve had a lot of emails from people asking me whether Chitika are ‘better’ than they used to be – let me give a quick response.
My advice on Chitika eMinimalls has never changed. They work brilliantly for me – they earn me a similar amount as I earn from AdSense and do especially well on any of my site’s with a product focus (gadgets especially) BUT they don’t work for everyone.
There have been a lot of “Chitika Hate” campaigns over the last few months (most of them unfair in my opinion) as a result of some problems that they had initially around auditing and one or two months when payments went out late.
Since it all ‘hit the fan’ I’ve personally not had any problems. My payments have come on time and they’ve continue to perform well. My monthly audit is still in the 10-15% range and from talking to others their audits have not really varied month to month. The amount you are audited depends upon many factors including the source of traffic.
My advice is that if you are going to give Chitika a go to go into it like any other ad program – ie with realistic expectations. To do well from it you’ll need decent traffic, you’ll need to be smart about how to place and design your ads and you’ll need a topic that relates to the products that they feature. As with all programs – I advise to enter into them expecting good things but willing to experiment with different placements and targetting to see what works best. If it works – keep tweaking it to improve your results – if it doesn’t and you’ve given it a fair run try something else.
For more on Chitika eMinimalls check out my review on them and my Chitika eMiniMall general tips and tips on how to increase CTR.
