The key to getting a decent return out of this seems to be the larger traffic you enjoy (and the kind of merch I have available isn’t directly related to this site’s content – so it’s hit and miss on sales.)

I get pretty decent bids for the traffic that visits, according to what I see on other comparable sites using PW. There is a natural ceiling that people are willing to bid and setting it high (for this site) at 20 cents was too much.

With more traffic, it seems like the bidding process would push the bid numbers high enough anyway without having to set minimums. I suppose, at that point, you could justifiably decide that you want to see $x per day or you’ll just run your own ad.

With my specific circumstances, I’m not sure that setting a much-higher-than-usual-minimum works as a strategy. I’ll see the next month’s non-minimum results and decide if it’s worth trying ten cents as a minimum along with a better ad.

Of note:

-> I actually get at least 1,000 pageviews daily, usually more than that. 2-3,000 on a good day. I imagine this will only rise over time.

-> The ads that I added minimum bids to have been averaging at least 20 cents for a while now, and I even delayed implementing minimums until these higher bids fell.

-> Webcomics.com’s advice is not merely to implement minumums, but to run HOUSE ADS when ad prices dip. Your ads only appear to be for this blog, and unless you have merchandise or something else you actively sell, I doubt you’ve been using your minimum bids for that. The idea is, advertising your own stuff should be worth more than a low-paying bid.

On my own site, if I don’t get at least a 20-cent bid, I run ads for my Zazzle shop. If I get a sale from that, I’ve made much more than I lose from not running an ad that would pay me, at most, 10 cents a day. Less once you factor in PW’s cut.

If your site doesn’t have alternative forms of income besides the PW ads, this approach doesn’t make sense. I can see where yours stumbled, but mine is coming in pretty well. The daily bids are around 20 cents, which means that while I’m probably showing the house ads a good bit of the time, I’m certainly not making any less by enforcing a minimum bid.

Of note:

-> I actually get at least 1,000 pageviews daily, usually more than that. 2-3,000 on a good day. I imagine this will only rise over time.

-> The ads that I added minimum bids to have been averaging at least 20 cents for a while now, and I even delayed implementing minimums until these higher bids fell.

-> Webcomics.com’s advice is not merely to implement minumums, but to run HOUSE ADS when ad prices dip. Your ads only appear to be for this blog, and unless you have merchandise or something else you actively sell, I doubt you’ve been using your minimum bids for that. The idea is, advertising your own stuff should be worth more than a low-paying bid.

On my own site, if I don’t get at least a 20-cent bid, I run ads for my Zazzle shop. If I get a sale from that, I’ve made much more than I lose from not running an ad that would pay me, at most, 10 cents a day. Less once you factor in PW’s cut.

If your site doesn’t have alternative forms of income besides the PW ads, this approach doesn’t make sense. I can see where yours stumbled, but mine is coming in pretty well. The daily bids are around 20 cents, which means that while I’m probably showing the house ads a good bit of the time, I’m certainly not making any less by enforcing a minimum bid.