The Curiosity of Chitika

Again there is more news on Chitika's development of the eMiniMalls program. On the Chitika Blog they released the following statement outlining their intentions to remove product links:

"To help minimize so-called “curiosity clicks” that typically do not lead to conversions on the merchants’ side, we updated the eMiniMalls units to drive qualified clicks. Hence, eMiniMalls users will notice a dip in the overall click through rate (and hence the overall revenue). "

In a rather shrewd move Chitika will be "providing a 10% bonus through November as a compensatory measure."

I must admit that when I heard this, it immediately struck a chord. Why? Well, the first thing I did when I saw eMiniMalls on other sites was investigate, - probably on several occasions. I suspect many others did the same.

So now the Chitika buzz maybe dying down, what lays ahead for eMiniMalls? Personally I still like them, they are original and offer some nice functionality that other Ad Programs don't. However, I think there is a reality setting in - eMiniMalls in their current form work at their best on product related blogs. This is likely to become more apparent as the curiosity factor wears off.