Can Someone Help Me Understand This? (CPM, Impressions, Earnings)

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  1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
    EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years ago

    Hi Everyone!

    If someone could help me understand the basics of this how these thing relate, I would really appreciate it!   Please know I'm about to ask really stupid questions, so please feel free to pass me by if that's going to make you crazy!

    How are the impressions and CPM related?  It seems to me that if the impressions go up, the CPM should as well, but that's not looking like the case for me.  My traffic keeps increasing but my earnings are having an inverse relationship to the traffic.  On top of that, I seem to be making less money the more impressions I'm getting.  For example, last year, on 1 February I had 222 impressions with CPM of $6.75. This year, on 1 February I had 1525 impressions with CPM of $4.94.  That just doesn't seem right to me.  But I honestly don't know how these things work, so maybe that's normal. 

    I'm just wondering if there is something wrong with my page, something not calculating correctly, or if there's some other thing I don't know about that makes what appears abnormal actually quite normal. 

    I'm just wondering if I need to contact someone at HP or if I'm just not understanding something that is actually completely normal. 

    Any help anyone can provide is more than appreciated!

    1. shahith profile image61
      shahithposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, CPM and Impressions are related

      when visitors seeing the advertisements that appear in the user's screen when they browse through your website is called IMPRESSIONS this is not action based.

      CPM is cost per mille (Mille is a Latin word for thousand) or Cost per 1000 impressions

      Actually, the cost totally depends on the advertisers budget and number of impressions.

      the formula for calculating your CPM

      CPM = Advertising cost / Number of impressions (For the cost per one click if you want to find the cost per 1000 than just multiply that value with 1000)

      If advertiser spends more money you will get more CPM.

      I hope this answer will help you

      1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
        EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

        Thank you!

  2. paradigmsearch profile image60
    paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

    The understanding just happens.

  3. psycheskinner profile image78
    psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

    CPM is what you will be paid per 1000 impressions.  It varies based on who is buying ads and which ads are being shown on your hubs.  Generally the more traffic you have the low the CPM as you start to run through the best ones and show the ones that pay less.

    1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
      EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you!  So do you mean that the CPM does have an inverse correlation?  That's it's normal for the CPM to go down the more traffic you get?

      1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
        EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

        Or are you saying that my high traffic articles get higher paying ads and the less trafficked articles get lower paying ads? Is that right?  Even beyond the CPM issue, I'm steadily getting more traffic, but my earnings are steadily dropping in relation to the traffic, which is another thing I don't understand.  I knew that people said that earnings went down in the winter, after Christmas, but it still seems odd to me that my earnings are going down, markedly so, even after getting more and more traffic.

  4. DrMark1961 profile image99
    DrMark1961posted 5 years ago

    Just to add to what psycheskinner already pointed out...
    You cannot compare CPM from Feb. 1 2018 to Feb. 1 2019 and say that it went down becuase of increased traffic. There are a lot of other things that determine CPM, including your subject matter, what advertisers want to advertise, how much they are willing to pay to advertise, etc.
    I just looked at a few of your dream interpretation articles and it looks like you are doing great. You need more traffic though so all I can recommend is that you write more successful articles that are going to be added to the niche sites.When you are earning a lot more your CPM will be fine.

    1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
      EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks!  I'm just trying to get a sense of what to expect.  I am doing pretty well for the number of articles I have. I'm writing what I like to write about, so I'm pretty happy.  I just noticed that my traffic has been steadily rising, but my earnings have been declining and I didn't know if that was normal or not.  I had went through some of the forums and seen all kinds of things like ads not working and other stuff I didn't understand.  After not being able to make sense on my own, I just decided to ask!  Thanks for your help!  It is most appreciated!

      1. DrMark1961 profile image99
        DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

        Based on that Feb 1 number your traffic looks good. After going through your profile page it looks like you are keeping up with edits (even more than me!) so the only thing you could work on to earn more is to have more articles on the niche sites.
        I like Ruperts comment about the alphabet soup. It would be nice if we could just ignore it.

        1. theraggededge profile image87
          theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          big_smile I ignore it.

          1. DrMark1961 profile image99
            DrMark1961posted 5 years agoin reply to this

            There is an Amazon book in there somewhere: "Zen and the Art of Ignoring CPM"

            1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
              EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

              HAHAHAHAHAHA!  That's hilarious!

  5. Rupert Taylor profile image96
    Rupert Taylorposted 5 years ago

    Esme these are far from stupid questions. Some bright and knowledgeable people have tried to explain CPMs, impressions, and other dark arts of Internet monetization (ghastly word) and I'm none the wiser.

    Just write as best you can on engaging subjects and leave alphabet soup of initials, served ad types, page RPMs, and all the other gobbledegook to the computers.

    1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
      EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks!  Yes, I mainly wanted to make sure I hadn't done something dumb like accidentally turned of ads or something--not that I'd even begin to know how to do that.  None of this had been an issue for me as I wasn't really making much until last year when I guess I got enough articles on the niche sites to make a difference. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong. Thanks again!

      1. samanthacubbison profile image79
        samanthacubbisonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

        Here are the FAQ entries for both, if you were curious:

        https://hubpages.com/faq/#hpads-impressions

        https://hubpages.com/faq/#hpads-cpm

        Also, this is a Learning Center article that is helpful to skim:

        https://hubpageshelp.com/money/Learning … y-HubPages

        1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
          EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Thank you so much!  These are EXACTLY what I was looking for!  I appreciate your help!

  6. Erudite Scholar profile image61
    Erudite Scholarposted 5 years ago

    HI Esme, CPM refers to Cost Per Mille/Impression. It means the cost of a thousand views. It is the cost advertisers incur when a webpage or link is viewed a thousand times. Impressions are the views on a webpages, website or link. Earning refers to the revenue that is generated from ads placed on your hubs by Google. Google and HP split earnings with the writer.

    1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
      EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much!  I really appreciate the help!

  7. psycheskinner profile image78
    psycheskinnerposted 5 years ago

    Just to note, Hubpages uses CPM to describe what we are paid per 1000 impressions, which more correctly should be called RPM.  So definitions that say it is the total payment fro the advertiser are technically correct but that is not how it is used on Hubpages.

    1. EsmeSanBona profile image82
      EsmeSanBonaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you!

 
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