Chitika Select is an upgrade to Chitika Premium ads to give you more revenue by more impressions.

While Chitika Premium only displays to search engine traffic, Chitika Select will be displayed to a select group of your non-search traffic as well.

How does Chitika Select work?

Chitika Select will display ads on your site based on user’s intent. When Chitika’s “click prediction engine” says there is a “high probability of a click”, an appropriate advertisement will be displayed. Otherwise, Chitika Select will collapse entirely without leaving any blank space.

The following is the comparison chart of Chitika Premium VS. Chitika Select

Click here to apply for Chitika Select

What you need to know about Chitika Select

• Same as Chitika Premium, Chitika Select still can be used together with Google AdSense on the same page.
• All current Chitika Premium ads will be automatically upgraded to Chitika Select beginning March 8th, 2010. You don’t need to do anything.
• Chitika Select ads will show both Pay-Per-Click and CPM image/banner (pay per impression, whether a user clicks or not) ads.
• You can disable Chitika Select by adding ch_select = "disabled"; to the Chitika code block or vice versa.
• Chitika Select only works for US and Canada traffic.

My two cents

It happened that Chitika announced Chitika Select after my Chitika Premium testing (read “how to make less money with Chitika Premium“).

With CPC and CPM ads, Chitika Select is very similar to Google AdSense, except that Google AdSense is contextual ads but Chitika Select is not.

Since it is not contextual ads, Chitika Select ads difficult to be relevant to your website content. It’s all depends on the Chitika’s Click Prediction Engine to select the best earning ads for your site.

I’ll test Chitika Select and let you know the result.

Click here to apply for Chitika Select

Chitika heavily pushes the Chitika Premium product, does it really make more money than Google AdSense? Read on to find out the simple test result on my own blog.

Info: Chitika Premium search target advertisements which can work together with Google AdSense. Sign up here.

AdSense vs. Chitika Premium

I was using the combination of Chitika Premium (450×90) and Google AdSense large rectangle (336×280) under the blog post title.

The combination seems ok but the earning is not up to my expectation.

With Chitika’s recommendation, I applied the super large Chitika Premium MEGA unit (550×250) just right below the page header. The Chitika earning had a boost but greatly affect the AdSense earning…

OK. How about not apply Chitika Premium at all?

As soon as I removed the Chitika Premium from my blog, the AdSense earning had a boost and the total is even more than the previous combination of “Chitika Premium + Google AdSense”!

What I learned from the test?

Most of my blog traffic comes from search engines and Chitika Premium should work well. However, the Chitika CPM is lower than Google AdSense. Therefore, even with the BIG Chitika Premium MEGA unit (high click-thru-rate), the earning is still lower than Google AdSense.

So, Chitika Premium is useless?

No. It was a simple test of a few days and every site is different. You should test on your own sites to see the result.

I’ll still apply Chitika Premium but the best ad placement spot will be reserved to Google AdSense, at least for the moment.

What works now doesn’t mean it will work forever. We should always do testing, testing, and testing.

Sign up Chitika Premium now to make money from BOTH AdSense & Chitika.

Learn how to make money with AdSense and Chitika.

Chitika has created a ebook available for FREE download, titled “Chitika & AdSense: Ad Placement Guide [PDF]“.

What is Chitika Premium ads?

Chitika Premium ads is non-contextual ads which only appear to a visitor that visit your website FROM a search engine. The visitor’s search query will be highlighted in Chitika Premium ads and relevant ads will be shown.

What’s in the free Chitika Premium ebook?

In the free ebook, you get the examples of good placement of Chitika Premium along with Google AdSense ads (Yes, you are allowed to put them together on one page!).

You will also learn the importance of customizing your ad links to your website links, and how to do that on Chitika Premium ads.

Click here to download the free ebook.

My two cents

“Chitika & AdSense: Ad Placement Guide” is a simple and easy ebook. The most important thing in the ebook is the example of Chitika Premium + AdSense implementation.

I have been inspired by the examples and you should too!

You need to be a Chitika publisher to start making money with it. Click here to register now, it’s FREE!

If you have earned more than USD$600 with Chitika, then you are required to submit the Chitika tax form which required by IRS (US Internal Revenue Service).

Here I show you how to fill the W8 form if you are located outside the U.S.

1. Login and visit Chitika W8 form page
2. Fill in your full name in the “Name of Individual or organization“.
3. Fill in your country in the “Country of Incorporation or organization“.
4. Tick “Individual” for “Type of beneficial owner“.
5. Fill in your address in “Permanent residence address“, “City or town, state or province“, and “Country“.
6. Under “Part 2: Claim of Tax Treaty Benefits“, tick “a. The beneficial owner is a resident of [your_country] within the meaning of the income tax treaty between the United States and that country.“.
7. Tick in the “Part 3: Notional Principal Contracts“.
8. Under “Part 4: Certification“, fill your full name in “Signature“.
9. Fill in “owner” for “Capacity in which acting“.
10. Click “Submit information” button and you are done!

The submitted form will be reviewed by Chitika in 1 business day.

Sign up Chitika and start making money online today!

Chitika Related Product Unit (RPU) was only available for selected publishers since 2007. Now, Chitika makes RPU available to all Chitika publishers!

Chitika RPU is one of the most best performing ad units of Chitika network. RPU is a list of text links of related products according to your page content. Because it does not look like an ad, it generally receive high click-thru-rate (CTR) thus making good money.

For existing Chitika publisher, you will see “RPU Code” tab after login Chitika. You can choose your RPU unit size, colors, product category, set channel tracking and grab your code.

Not a Chitika publisher yet? Sign Up for free now and start making money!

Do you have a blog or website but do not know how Chitika can increase your revenue? Check out The Chitika Open House.

Chitika Sphere, previously members-only forum, is now opened for public registration. The Chitika team will review your site for free and tell you how to get more revenue using Chitika products. You don’t need to sign up for Chitika program first.

Chitika optimizations experts will tell you:

1. Would Chitika have a chance to earn you revenue?
2. Which Chitika products you would benefit from?
3. Which Chitika placements earn you the most?

To get the free Chitika optimization tips, you only need to register at the forum and post your website in the Chitika Open House forum.

Make money with Chitika »

chitika, money, tips

Dear friends, I told you that I was writing an article for Chitika’s Month of Expert Blogging. The article had been published now on Chitika Blog, title “Crossing the Chasm to going as a full time blogger“. In the article, I shared my experience of quitting my job and became a full-time blogger two years ago.

Image: LiewCF on Chitika Blog

I hope you will enjoy reading the article and tell me what do you think. Please read the blog bash articles by other *real* experts too!

Also, you could win a Nintendo Wii by playing Chitika BlogBash “Match the Expert to the Title” game. Good luck!

blog bash, chitika, full time blogger, month of expert blogging

I have been invited to be 1 of the 30 expert bloggers who participated in Chitika’s Month of Expert Blogging. Other bloggers are Gizmodo, Lockergnome, ProBlogger, gadgeteer, JoelComm, b5media, SEObook, and more!

Each of the 30 bloggers will write an article for Chitika Blog on various interesting topics on blogging. The blog bash will be launched in April 2007 on Chitika Blog, one article per day. Make sure you don’t miss out any one of them!

My two cents

It is my honor to be invited as one of the thirty bloggers! Man, my blog is listed together with other famous, popular blogs in the world! OMG!

Hopefully my submitted article will be interesting to you. Oh, I have to keep the topic as a secret for the time, as reminded by Chitika team.

chitika, month of expert blogging, blog bash, blog

Chitika blog listed top five optimization tips for publishers:

• Use 468×180 banner — the best performing ad unit for most bloggers.
• Keep Chitika above the fold — this is the golden rule for any ad placement.
• Remember heat map — Chitika suggests to avoid placing ad units at the very top banner ad spot and the left sidebar for maximum performance.
• Targeting — learn what your visitors are interested in.
• Related Product Unit (RPU) — so far, this is the best performing Chitika products for me.

P.S. I just received another cheque from Chitika today!

chitika, money, tips

Jennifer Slegg had confirmed that Google AdSense publishers are allowed to run contextual ad programs on the same page with AdSense ads!

“When it comes to enforcing policies on third-party contextual ads, we’ll be following the updated program policies instead of the T&Cs on this point. That is to say, publishers may now display other contextual ads on the same site or page as Google ads as long as they don’t have the same look and feel as our ads,” Brian Axe tells Jennifer Slegg of JenSense.

Brian Axe is the senior product manager of Google AdSense Team.

Meaning, AdSense publishers now can run other contextual ad programs such as Chitika eMinimalls(contextually targeting products), and Amazon Omakase Contextual Links on the same page with AdSense ads.

More income sources for publishers, and more targeted ads for readers.

ads, adsense, advertising, chitika, eminimalls, contextual, google, money

Chitika has launch Chitika ShopCloud, a product search box with tag cloud.

Chitika ShopCloud is an interactive search. When you enter keyword, a list of related products are listed in drop down list. The tag cloud shows related product keywords to your content or user specified keywords.

If you are thinking where to fit the Chitika ShopCloud, Chitika has prepared different formats for you.

Make money with Chitika ShopCloud

Each search and tag leads to Chitika’s paid (CPC) product search result. There is a “Create your own chitika” link under the search button for your visitors to create and customize their own ShopClound.

When your visitors grab the code, your Chitika ID will be used anywhere they place the code! And when a visitor without a Chitika account grabs the code and you will be credited with the referral once they sign up!

Sign up for Chitika and start earning money on your website.

chitika, money, shopcloud

Have you tried Chitika eMiniMall Multi-Product Units (MPU)? Now, you have another reason to use the MPU format.

Chitika made the “Chitika eMinimalls” link to become your referral link. If your visitor sign up Chitika via the link, you enjoy the same benefits of the Chitika referral program.

In short, you have one more way to make money. Not a member yet? Sign up free Chitika membership now.

My two cents

Somehow, the MPUs do not work for me. I found that single product banner works better. The new referral link in Chitika banner ad might attract me to try MPUs again.

Does Chitika MPUs work for you?

ads, advertising, chitika, eminimall, money, referral, tips

Chitika launched a new product called “Chitika ShopLinc” in August 2006. Chitika ShopLinc is a CPC-based shopping store which can be integrated with your website.

What’s special?

• Relevant Products — ShopLinc is not only an online store, it will also feature products that are relevant to your website content via RSS feed.
• Use own domain and look — You can map ShopLinc store to your own domain name (example: shoplinc.YourDomain.com) and use your own website template (CSS), so that the ShopLinc will have the same look and feel as your website.

How to make money from ShopLinc?

Unlike other affiliate store(e.g. Amazon.com aStore) that pay by commission, every click on the ShopLinc product link will earn you money, just like Chitika eMinimalls. It’s easy!

My ShopLinc store

Here is my ShopLinc store which setup in 2 minutes. You can visit it for a feel of default ShopLinc store.

Sign up for Chitika to get ShopLinc store for your website.

ads, advertising, affiliate, chitika, money, shoplinc

Previously, I told you that Chitika will be launching multi products ad unit. Now, it is released for beta testing!

What’s new?

The multi product unit shows up to 4 products at once in an ad unit. If you move mouse over the little images, it will refresh the product details.

Why multi products ads unit?

According to Chitika, multi-product ads unit give wider products choices to your visitors, which means more revenue for you. Beside showing products in the same category, multi-product unit also allows you to show products in different categories in a single unit.

How to set up Chitika multi products ads unit?

There are three ways to setup the Chitika multi-products ad unit.

1. eMiniMalls Code Panel: Login to your Chitika account (free sign up), click on “eMiniMalls Code” and then select “468 x 180 Multi-Product Blog Banner” under “Step 1: Select eMiniMalls Format” section.
2. One-Click setup: Use this shortcut link to get the code of multi-product unit for the “Seasonal Specials” category.
3. Hack current code: Simply add the following line of code to your existing Chitika eMiniMalls code (after the line with ch_clicent, but before the line with </script>):
   ch_type = "mpu";

More details about Chitika Multi-Product Unit.

Update: Chitika multi products unit doesn’t seems to support custom default tab (ch_default_tab).

My two cents

The Chitika Multi-Products ad unit looks good. I will test it to compare the ads’ performances.

Currently, multi-product ad unit is only available in 468×180 pixels. I think more ad sizes will be added later.

Sign up for Chitika and start earning money on your website.

ads, advertising, chitika, innovateMiniMalls, money, tips

Chitika will launch new eMiniMalls ads format that has multiple products in one ad unit.

What’s new?

• Adds three small product images, mouse over on them will swap the product ads.
• Arrow pointing to product image.
• Removed eMiniMalls search tab and moved it to bottom of the ads unit.

Chitika [via Kahsoon.com]

Sign up for Chitika and start earning money on your website.

advertising, chitika, eminimalls, money, tips

The old Chitika eMiniMalls plugin does not work with the new WordPress 2.0. If you have upgraded to WordPress 2.0, you need to install the new Chitika eMiniMalls plugin for WP2.

What’s new?

• Easy plugin configuration through WordPress “Options” tab.
• Support both WordPress WYSIWYG editor and HTML editor.
• Backward compatible with WordPress 1.5.x.

Download eMiniMalls Plugin for Word Press v2.0

Bonus: Chitika eMiniMalls WordPress sidebar widget

Beside Chitika eMiniMalls plugin, the sidebar widget is available too. It allows to you easily adding Chitika eMiniMalls into your blog’s sidebar by drag-and-drop. WordPress 2.0 and wordpress widget plugin are required.

Download Chitika eMiniMalls Sidebar widget for Wordpress v2.0

Sign up for Chitika and start earning money on your website.

chitika, eminimalls, money, plugin, tips, widget, wordpress

Most Chitika publishers know that Chitika only accept ad clicks from a few supported countries. Clicks from unsupported countries are not consider valid, thus no pay for them.

The main reasons behind it, is because Chitika doesn’t have merchants who are willing to pay for leads from other countries.

List of Chitika supported countries

Here is the list of Chitika supported countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States.

How did I get the list?

I ASKED for it from Chitika support team. The list is correct to the date of publishing. I expect more countries will be supported later.

How to use the list?

With the Chitika supported countries list, you can do the following:

• Show Chitika ads to visitors from supported countries only. (using GeoIP)
• Optimize Chitika ads for visitors from supported countries (e.g. show local interest products)

Do you have other ideas?

Sign up for Chitika and start earning money on your website.

chitika, money, tips

Studies found that web surfers mostly focus on a triangle area at top of Google search results.

A joint eye tracking study conducted by search marketing firms Enquiro and Did-it and eye tracking firm Eyetools has shown that the vast majority of eye tracking activity during a search happens in a triangle at the top of the search results page indicating that the areas of maximum interest create a “golden triangle”.

[Read ENQUIRO]

My two cents

Again, it is proven that top left area of a web page is a hot spot. Now, you should know where to put your ads.

Digital Inspiration created an all-in-one ads preview tool for Google Adsense, Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN), and Chitika eMiniMalls.

It is quite useful for web publishers who are using different ad networks.

We already have the official Adsense preview tool

Google has released their adsense preview tool, but it is only supported by Internet Explorer. User of other web browsers cannot use the ads preview tool. The Digital Inspiration ads preview tool is web based but also has an IE addon and a Firefox extension for you to integrate into your web browser.

Slow loading time

Maybe needs to load ads from many places, the all-in-one ads preview tool takes a long time to be loaded. But once loaded you don’t need to wait anymore when switching from one view to another.

My two cents

I like the “Google vs Chitika” view. It lets you compare different ad sizes of Google Adsense and Chitika eMiniMalls in one page. Very helpful in creating alternative ads.

adsense, chitika, yahoo publisher network, ypn

I received my Chitika check today! This was my third Chitika payment. Previous payments were made by PayPal. Since I couldn’t withdraw PayPal funds from local banks, I decided to get Chitika to send me a check instead.

We know that Chitika makes payment by PayPal but it support checks for countries that do not support Paypal. Malaysia is PayPal supported but we cannot withdraw PayPal fund from any local banks. After I received my second Chitika PayPal payment, I though I should get Chitika pay me by check for all future payments.

Request to be paid by check

I wrote an email to Chitika’s customer support to request for payments to me to be made by check. The staff told me to remove my PayPal email address in my Chitika account before sending my request to their tech department. The whole process was done in a few days. There was no extra charge for check payments, just like Google Adsense. Great!

Waiting for the check

When everyone received their October 2005 payment by PayPal, I was still waiting for my check. There was no payment report in the Chitika account. Again, I wrote an email to Chitika customer support to ask about my check, I was told that my check has been sent.

Check received

It only took 12 days to arrive, faster than Adsense check.

Frankly, the check looked so fake that I was wondering if it is real or not.

My two cents

It was not a big check (much smaller than Adsense check) but it was another source of my income (real money in hands). Now my paypal income relies on BlogAds alone. It costs too much to receive BlogAds payment by check…

You can earn money from Chitika too!

Sign up for Chitika and start earning money on your website.

chitika