As we approach the end of the year, we can surely say that 2010 has been a great year for Chitika’s Research Department. They began in July 2009, and have been very busy analyzing data from Chitika’s publisher network to come up with the latest trends ever since. How do they do it?
By taking a TON of data gathered in Chitika’s network of over 100,000 websites, then analyzing the heck out of it in their crazy labs like mad scientists!.. No probably not, but lots of data crunching for sure.
“[We] can spot trends ranging from operating systems to ad click rates.”
Our studies, headed by research director, Daniel Ruby, have been recognized and featured (and sometimes challenged) in some pretty cool places like SearchEngineLand, Mashable & TechCrunch.
With so many studies published, let’s sit back and reflect on: the top 5 things Chitika’s Research Department has taught us in the past 18 months:
1.) Optimize For Bing.
Now that Bing controls approximately one quarter of the search market, it only makes sense that we think outside the Google = SEO mantra. The end result of ignoring this could be a loss of quite a bit of money for you, especially considering the revenue potential that’s effortlessly tipped in Bings favor.
2.) You Need a Mobile Solution.
Much like the Furby, the mobile traffic wave is coming fast, and apparently before it’s time… because it would appear we are just not ready, with only 4% of domains actually ready for mobile traffic, it’s shockingly true. “Without a targeted site or call-to-action targeted to mobile devices (such as Chitika’s mobile ad unit, which targets mobile traffic on non-mobile sites), mobile traffic is nearly impossible to monetize”, says Research’s Dan Ruby.
3.) Android Is Your Friend.
By carefully taking the feelings of iPhone users into consideration, we concluded that iPhone users are just far less valuable than Andriod users no matter what Apple does.. for now anyways 😉
4.) Go Local.
The internet isn’t just for finding out what’s going on hundreds or thousands of miles away any longer. Now you can find out what’s going on right outside your door at the pizza place right across your street, with what local advertising has to offer.
In fact, you could most likely get a view of your street as if you were right on the road, without having to get up and look out your window. With this high demand for local information, we found that local searches click on ads 38% more often. Put that in a blender with mobile and you get a staggering 64% more often!
5.) Get That #1 Search Ranking, STAT.
Unfortunately being second best just doesn’t hold a light to being the #1 search listing in Google. Because the difference in CTR being #1 is double the traffic when compared to the second spot.
Personally, my eye always goes first, to the title, then the link. If I don’t see at least 3 key phrases I am looking for, I move on. And I have definitely gone to page 2, even 3 before finding what I really wanted. How do you determine which listing is the one you click on?
For more on our research, please visit Chitika’s Research Department here.
Questions? Requests? Get Daniel Directly: press(at)chitika(dot)com