Drastic drop in earnings from adsense

1. 70

   lafentyposted 13 years ago

   Has anyone else noticed a big drop in earnings since the beginning of the year?  For the first week or so my earnings dropped down about 50%.  The last few days they are down to just a few cents.  What's up with this?  There is no way to contact google about this, and on the adsense forums, I see others are experiencing the same problem.

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      prettydarkhorseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think the advertisers are stingy at this time of the year. My views/impression increased but the amount of click is way too low. For almost the same number of impression two months ago, my earnings is higher before comparing now.

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         Hestia DeVotoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Why would lower clicks have to do advertisers being "stingy?"  Clicks come from your web visitors, not the advertisers.

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            kephriraposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Stingy advertisers can affect clicks, because you may be getting fewer highly relevant / interesting looking ads displaying on your pages.
            
            50% does seem like a big drop for it to just be a seasonaly thing though. I've only seen a small decrease in CTR and eCPM in Jan, although I have had a fairly big drop in earning cos I'm getting less pageviews.

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            andromidaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            absolutely.

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            prettydarkhorseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            the amount of click is not static it is based on the amount the advertiser pegged or bid, that is what I understand I might be wrong. If they want to pay at a lower price then the amount of click is affected.

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            thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Just to clarify this, Adsense pays you a percentage of what Adwords advertisers bid per click.  More advertisers bidding higer amounts on keywords mean that you get a larger amoutn of money.
            
            After Christmas a lot of companies end their advertising campaigns, so you may see a drop in earnings if there is less competition from advertisers bidding on your keywords in adwords.

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      David 470posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have seen similar income like December, HOWEVER, my Page eCPM is going way down!
      
      I am worried about my page eCPM, cause I have the potential to be making much more.
      
      My PPC also seems to be down which would obviously contribute to eCPM being low.

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      Brie Hoffmanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      December is always a really good month and January is never as good in my experience.

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2. 61

   Hestia DeVotoposted 13 years ago

   When I think about my own life at the start of January, it's not a big shopping season.  I'm pretty new so my AdSense earnings are meager, but with the holidays just over, I'm not surprised in the least that with people going back to work and starting to think about taxes that there would be a drop-off in web earnings at this time of year.

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   Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago

   I joined November - traffic steadily rose to end December.  Since then flat. 
   
   On the plus side I have been writing steadily worse and worse stuff - really rubbish content and aimed at no market at all - so that's a result.
   
   When I say traffic, if that conjures up an image of motorway lanes, that's not really correct.  It's more of a country road where the occasional old man on a bike trundles up.

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      yenajeonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      LOL I like how you just come out and say you're writing "rubbish content"! I feel the same way...

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4. 68

   Bill Manningposted 13 years ago

   January is always the worst month of the year for ad clicks and sponsor buys.
   
   All the little guys that made an adsense campaign to sell their stuff during the holidays have now dropped them.
   
   So that means less ads and the ads themselves will be less as they now have lower competition, which drives up the ad bids.
   
   People have bought all their stuff and are broke. Nothing much is going on in lots of the world as winter is here.
   
   So relax and make more hubs and prepare for when it will pick up in Feb.
   
   On a side note my adult sales on my sites are doing good at this time of year. Because it's winter and there is nothing else to do,,,,,

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      kmackey32posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      lol

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         iamalegendposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         

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      lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      @Bill - ACK! I just realized I never sent you what we discussed!!! My apologies. I'll get it out to you ASAP!

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         Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Ha-ha, that's ok. I know you had a cold and was very busy. But yeah, anytime you can send that will be fine, thanks.

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      Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Its only winter in the northern hemisphere Bill

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         Bill Manningposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         True, but I get most of my customers from there. So it fits.

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      David 470posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      January, the worst month. That's sad to hear, but it makes sense since its after holidays and all

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5. 83

   Sunnyglitterposted 13 years ago

   Yes.  My earnings are terrible this month.  For HubPages, at least.  I'm doing extremely well on EHow.

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6. 61

   John Mickeyposted 13 years ago

   I was told that this was normal for January.  Advertisers save their money for the last four months because of back-to-school and the Christmas holidays and that's why we probably have more clicks during the last four months. I wouldn't worry about it too much and just keep doing the things that you need to keep doing.

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   kmackey32posted 13 years ago

   Yep mine are down too. I think its normal and most are prolly down also...

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8. 59

   Randy Godwinposted 13 years ago

   Depends on the subject matter of your hubs.

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9. 61

   Hestia DeVotoposted 13 years ago

   I just looked at my earnings for the first 10 days of December compared to the first 10 days of January, and already I've earned three times as much, so I can't say I'm seeing a drop-off in earnings.

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10. 58

    Phil The Gainposted 13 years ago

    I haven't been on Hubpages that long but but from mid December to now I'm getting more and more clicks and the earnings are pretty steady.

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       ThomasEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I'm doing pretty well, at the moment. So far this month, I've made $50 on Amazon, and has my first $20 day yesterday. Considering I only made $70 in december on hubpages, it seems OK.

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11. 71

    yenajeonposted 13 years ago

    Oh and yes, I have lowered my business adwords budget somewhat. I'm saving up for the next big "season" aka April-May.

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12. 0

    ryankettposted 13 years ago

    January was always going to be rubbish.
    
    Sales are harder to convert, as people spent all their money in November and December.
    
    If you are a business, you use AdWords for sales. If their visitors are going to be harder to sell to, then they want to pay less for those visitors.
    
    If you have a 10% chance of a sale per visitor in December, and 4% chance of a sale per visitor in January, then it is only natural that you are only going to be willing to pay half the amount for that visitor.
    
    The only people that do well in January are the credit card companies, when people pay off a big whack of their Christmas expenditure from their first pay cheques of 2011.
    
    How you do for the rest of the year is dependant on the nature of your content, there are plenty of events throughout the year that you could target, but not a great deal to target in early January. Hence the reason the high street gives things away for the first 4-6 weeks of the year.
    
    I fully expected an awful January, as so far my performance is meeting my expectations! January is a miserable month in general, not just for marketers, in fact it is the most boring month of the year.
    
    $1000 worth of Amazon returns hasn't helped, but then I expected some returns this month anyway.

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       shazwellynposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       'The only people that do well in January are the credit card companies, when people pay off a big whack of their Christmas expenditure from their first pay cheques of 2011.' ... or not! lol

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       Hubman007posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I know you have shared your earnings in the past ryan but will you be planning to share your xmas earnings from hubpages anytime soon? Or will it be in the july hub?

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    Don Simkovichposted 13 years ago

    In Nov and Dec, I was around 3% CTR and had my highest monthly earnings for Nov and then for Dec. In Jan, the last three days my traffic suddenly picked up on a couple of Hubs that deal with gasoline and massage oil (no, they're not related LOL!) yet only 10 cents for two days despite high search engine traffic. These two Hubs usually pull well. But it fits with the experiences of others here on the forum.

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    Nelle Hoxieposted 13 years ago

    If you plan you niches right January is just another month (with the exception of Nov-Dec).

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       ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       You are right, I did change my mind with hindsight, I can think of several things that people could target.
       
       Naturally I won't go into specifics, but ambition, reflection and resolutions are three words that come to mind. Family time is another.
       
       My rubbish month has occured because my content isn't suited to January. I also need to plan for Summer, because I relied on Soccer last summer a fair bit, no World Cup this year!

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          thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I'm not sre what I am heading for this summer, so if we both end up competing again, you were definitely first this time around

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             ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I just realised that I was supposed to email you a few weeks ago
             
             I will do so soon, been really busy with doing up the flat (new kitchen).
             
             Nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition
             
             I'm going to focus on summer activities, travel, events etc I think, rather than products, but I will be preparing for a Christmas assault by March... A few followers will be deserting I suspect

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15. 94

    melbelposted 13 years ago

    Well, I think it's just a seasonal thing. I tend to feel a slump in earnings around like June and July and people start going outside... and then in the beginning of August as people are busy getting their kids ready for school.

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    Peggy Wposted 13 years ago

    It never mattered to me when my earnings were pennies per day but when they started turning into dollars per day, I started noticing things like this.  Yes...the first part of this month has reflected (so far) about a 1/3rd drop off in income.  From what everyone is saying, this makes sense.  Will just keep plugging away!

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    wildernessposted 13 years ago

    Although my traffic is beginning to rise from the last week of the year, the income isn't.  My CTR is down, my income per click is down and my ECPM is down.
    
    It fits with what is being said above - people don't spend and advertisers don't advertise.

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    Pcunixposted 13 years ago

    Oh, the sky is falling, January is always bad, blah, blah.
    
    No, it isn't.  I had a $50.62 Adsense day yesterday, which is only a few dollars less than my highest day in December.  Moreover, for the first 11 days of December, I only earned $27 more than I have earned in the first 11 days of January and if course December 1st wasn't a holiday, was it?
    
    I've been doing Adsense since 2003.  A LOT of things can affect your income, but there are no rules about 'this month is always bad" or anything like that. Most of the time my Adsense just clicks along at the same general rate - things that I do at my site affect it far more than anything else!

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    gracenotesposted 13 years ago

    I wrote a Super Bowl hub early in December.  During January, the ads started to change and became more targeted, and I'm pleased with what I see.
    
    That doesn't mean that my CTR is any better.  I will have to wait at least another couple of weeks to see if this very time-limited bit of advertising boosted my earnings during this blah month.

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    sabrebIadeposted 13 years ago

    So far this month I have two blogs beating Hub Pages with about a 10th of the traffic that HP gets.
    That's never happened before.
    So I cant say my Adsense earnings are down, just my HP Adsense earnings.

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