Earlier in the week the WidgetBucks launched (read our first impression review here) with a fair bit of fanfare around the blogosphere.
Since it was announced I’ve had a number of readers ask me why they are not seeing any income in their reports despite there being clicks on the ads (it is a pay per click ad system). I shot WidgetBucks an email on this and the response was as I’d expected – they have an auditing process in place that means there is a 48-72 hour delay in seeing the actual income figure reported.
Why does it take so long? – The reason given is that it takes time to get reports back from their advertisers .
This is the same problem that most similar advertising programs have in one way or another. Chitika only updates all figures once every 24 hours and then audits them at the end of a month (reducing the earnings), AuctionAds have a delayed system too (where you see clicks on ads immediately but it can be days to see what you’ve earned on a given day as a result of it being based upon Auctions that happen over time).
As a blogger I find this frustrating. We’ve become used to systems like AdSense which show us not only impressions and clicks very quickly after they happen – but also the income earned. Of course AdSense is run by Google who have some serious resources to throw at the problem.
As someone who has talked with a lot of these advertising networks personally I also understand the challenge that they have. They need to balance the needs with publishers and the relationships that they have with advertisers (and the systems that the advertisers need to work with). After all – if the advertisers don’t get looked after then the whole system falls down.
I’m not sure what the solution is – but hopefully WidgetBucks can shorten the waiting time in conjunction with their advertising partners – or develop a predictive system that gives publishers an indication of how much they’ve earned to speed up the process. Otherwise I suspect that some publishers will become frustrated with it and give up.
How is WidgetBucks Performing?
I’ve been testing WidgetBucks on one of my blogs and while I’m yet to see any earnings reports I’m pleased to see that their CTR is very similar than other ads in the same position. I’ve rotated it through a split test with Chitika and AdSense in the same position and see both Chitika and WidgetBucks outperforming AdSense on a CTR basis in that position. The real test will be to compare earnings figures. I suspect these results will vary considerably from blog to blog and even based upon ad positioning.
Aha… I figured it was that way.
Ya know. I tried signing up with Chitika a number of months ago and was rejected. I’m glad I found a similar program but isn’t so snooty. Thanks for letting us know about WidgetBucks.
I think it’s going to be perfect for my blog these next few months.
I don’t understand the compulsion to know NOW. Daily figures vary anyway – it’s what I take home at the end of the month thar matters.
I, too, applied and was rejected by Chitika. I have found the WidgetBucks to be promising so far. I’m looking forward to seeing the earnings:)
@Anthony–Because if you are not seeing potential with the program now, sometimes it may be a better idea to NOT keep it for the whole month.
It take too much times to load WidgetBucks ads which I don’t really like.
Anthony – i think the reason we all like to know quickly is that it helps many of us make changes and improve how we use the ads.
For example – with AdSense I can change the color design and know in an hour or two if it’s increased the performance of the ads.
If I have to wait 72 hours then it’s hardly worth testing different variations.
I wrote about my first stats earlier today and so far i have quite a few clicks.
http://www.mboateng.com/2007/10/03/my-widgetbucks-statistics-for-day-one/
I am hoping to get some better results as the days go by.
My Widgetbucks reporting is doing something weird….I looked earlier today and had a few clicks, now it says i have none.
I find my widget loads very slowly and causes the rest of my site to load slower than normal. Has anyone else experienced that?
I have tried widgetbucks as well. Let’s see and wait how it will do in the following weeks.
Yeah .WidgetBucks don’t display their reports instantly. Google is now much more better to provide you instant reports don’t take 48-72 hour .
Thanks for that report Darren! I’m in the process of experimenting (or starting to) with some new advertising programs, and I’m seriously considering joining Widgetbucks!
For me, a delay in reports isn’t too bad. As long as they send a check for all the money you earned at the end of the month, that’s what really matters!
I also don´t understand this need to see results NOW and value NOW. The Darren gave only applies to publishers with LOTS of impressions… most people get a couple of hundred visitors a day. I make over $10000 each month and I don´t care for the hourly or daily results…
Pay per click system is frustrating.as in this process publisher
shows more income but after auditing income generally reduced.
I’ve just got my account verified by a WidgetBucks member. I don’t know why my verification mail was rejected.
Anyway I’m hoping to replace some AdSense ads with these.
Hm.. I hope this widget useful for us amateur blogger..
I don’t think it is 48 to 72 hours… more like 5 to 6 days. Check when your stats were last updated and look at the date today.
Yeah…I am also experiencing delay while loading the ads.
Yes thats true for the CPC ads, the earnings for CPA ads are delayed too, I guess it’s normal for this business.
Can I place WidgetBucks with Google Adsense Ad?
Dear Pro
Can we use widget bucks with adsense ? Please clarify. We can’t find any authority blogger writing about it. Hence need to ask
Tech For Novices and BB – WidgetBucks says you can on their FAQ page. I can’t see anything in AdSense’s pages that would indicate you can’t.
WidgetBucks is good service. And I think that it will be more faster and more money making for bloggers – just give it a shot .
There is only one problem with WidgetBucks and services like this – if visitors are using Flash blockers, then they don’t see ads.
right according the widget bucks FAQ it’s allowed. You need to be carfull with adsense if you place other CPC based ads on your website. “widget bucks” ads are CPA (cost per action) based.
…wondering how about the TOS for Google’s CPA ads :)
Darren,
Bloggers should look around a little bit, when you login and check your earnings on the bottom right side it tells them anyways when the revenue are through:
Like message for today(10-04-2007):
“* Revenue is current through September 30, 2007”
Thanks for the update on the WidgetBucks situation. I have the tool installed on my two adsense-free blogs. Really disappointed by the route AA took since it was purchased by TLA. I’m hoping that WB will be a better alternative.
Keep up the great work..
I just signed up with WB and as others have noticed, there is a bit of a slowdown.
Concerning the compatibility of WidgetBucks and AdSense, I’ve emailed WidgetBucks, but they haven’t replied. Maybe someone else can help.
WidgetBucks offers two choices – “You choose a category of products” or “MerchSense crawls your page and finds relevant products to include in your widget”.
For me, there are no relevant products offered in the first option, so I would naturally choose the second option, and let the WidgetBucks computer place contextual ads on my site.
But is it not breaching the AdSense terms of agreement to have another advertiser’s contextual ads on you site, alongside AdSense ads?
I’d be grateful for any guidance. Thank you.
I have Widgetbucks on my blogs too. I just wonder why I have zero earnings despite the clicks. Like 12 clicks, zero earnings. In Adsense, you can at least see around $0.01 to $0.10 per click.
I added it to our site and the CTR is okay. No revenue so far.
Hi darren,this is from widgetbucks faqs:”How frequently do my Impressions, Clicks, and Revenue statistics update?
Impression and click counts are updated hourly. Revenue reporting occurs within 72 hours. At the bottom of the My Widgets report view we state how current the revenue reporting is. After a couple of days of revenue information, you can calculate a rough estimate of how much your site is earning.”…..Im going to start blogging also,hopefully professionally,thanks for the advice!
Here’s an official update on WidgetBucks reporting: Starting Wednesday, Oct. 10, WidgetBucks begins reporting real-time revenue-per-click (RPC) and revenue, along with existing impression and click-through data. This improves original reporting which left daily RPC and revenue fields blank until vendor auditing requirements were completed (48-72 hours).
To check out the entire post on this, see our blog at http://widgetbucks.blogspot.com
Thanks for the comments…keep’em comin’!
Dean Jutilla
Marketing Director
Mpire Corporation
It’s great to see the stats shows real time.