I would love to say that this is a for-profit blog but I don’t make more than a few pennies a month on this site. That is mostly fine by me. I didn’t start a blog to make money, I started it because I have things to say and I wanted somewhere to say them. But if I am going to be throwing content out into the wilds of the web, I sure wouldn’t mind if it made some money so I have been playing with a lot of different advertising options lately.

I have already written about my experiences with Project Wonderful and QuickAds. My best performing ads are Google Adsense but you are limited to 3 of those per site and I already meet that limit so I wanted to try some of the Adsense alternatives out there. One of the sites that got the most good press during my search was Chitika so I have been trying it out.

What’s to like about Chitika?

  • Can be used in conjunction with Google Adsense or right alongside of it
  • Doesn’t show up for your regular readers (<– My favorite)
  • Ability to sell the adspace for your own price

Chitika is very unique in that it only shows to people who reach your site via a search engine. If someone reaches your site from any direct link (their RSS reader, bookmark, a link you send out on Twitter, etc) then they don’t see the ads at all. I really love this feature. This way my regular readers and Twitter followers aren’t seeing this ad spot at all but the people who just chanced upon my blog are seeing targeted search results based on whatever they searched for that led them to my site in the first place. It’s based on the idea that casual surfers who chanced on your site through search results are the most likely to click on ads anyway so why not only show it to them? It is also like a perk for regular readers that their experience has less ads.

Want to see this in action (or not see it, as the case my be)? There is a Chitika ad right at the top of this post. If you came here through search results, you are seeing it but, if you are a regular reader or otherwise accessed this from another direct link, you aren’t seeing it. I think that is pretty cool!

There are a wide variety of options for the Chikita Premium ad boxes and many sizes so you should be able to fit one just about anywhere.

Their other service is called Chitika AdPro. This service is much more limited in the sizes that you can use but has its own merits. Once you set up one of these boxes, you can set a minimum ad price on it. To will show the normal Chitika search result based ads until you get as advertiser who is willing to meet the price that you set. Then that advertiser can take over that space and show their ads. When you have no buyers, you are still getting a chance to make money off of that space but, as long as someone is willing to pay, it also gives you the option to sell it for more to a specific buyer.

While I have only had one Chitika box set up for about a week, I have been pleased so far with their results. As always, I will post updates on how it is going, especially if I later change my mind and decide I no longer like their service. But, as blog ad options go, this one came very highly recommended and, so far, I really like what they have to offer so I am very optimistic.

If you do decide to try Chitika, I would appreciate it if you signed up through the banner below. Regular readers know I write about everything I try out either way but this service has a referral program so, if you are were going to try it out anyway, I’d appreciate the referral.

Get Chitika | Premium