We are happy to announce that with our new Advertiser Referral Program all Chitika users can earn referral revenue for advertisers they bring to the Chitika network alongside our Publisher Referral Program and of course, your monthly revenue payments from our product services.

Why promote Chitika as a platform to advertisers?
Chitika collectively serves over 2 billion impressions and reaches over 20 million uniques each month. You’ll earn $25.00 once your advertiser referral reaches $100.00 spent in their ad campaign, and there is no limit to the number of referrals you can generate each month.

Login, and get your referral link/button under “Referral Programs“.

Not yet a user? Sign up in minutes!

We’ve received many questions from users asking if Chitika | Premium can be used alongside Google Adsense on their pages. Chitika | Premium is not a text-ad; it’s an interactive, image-enabled widget that is non-contextual and behaviorally targeted. Because of this, you should be able to use both ad units on your page together without being in violation.

As was mentioned yesterday, Chitika | Premium is Chitika’s first-ever ad unit suitable for ALL types of content websites. This ad unit is the first of our ad unit suite to provide non-product content ads such as finance, travel, sports, and more!

Sign up now to get your Premium code.
Users: Login and click your “Get Code” tab to access your Premium Code!

As previously mentioned, Chitika | Premium ads will only show to your U.S. traffic, and since they are behaviorally targeted they will only display to SOME U.S. users. So how do you preview this ad unit?

You can preview in 3 steps:
1. Paste the code up on your site.
2. In your address bar add #chitikatest=mortgage to the end of your page URL.
3. Press ENTER then Ctrl + R to refresh your page.

This will show you what the ad would look like to a user who is interested in “mortgages.” You can replace “mortgages” with your keywords to view other ads, just make sure you then REPEAT STEP 3.

GET YOUR PREMIUM AD CODE!

When can I start earning revenue from Advertiser Referrals?
That question may just be answered sooner than you think. Similar to our Publisher Referral Program, where you earn 10% of your referral revenue for 15 months, we are working on offering an Advertiser Referral Program. Just like most referral programs, Chitika users will receive a referral link and/or banner to place on their website or blog in which you will receive revenue for any advertisers referred to and accepted into the Chitika network.

Fact: Some Chitika users are earning thousands off Publisher Referral Revenue alone!

We want to know if you benefit from Advertiser Referral Programs and what you think about Chitika potentially offering you one:

Who should use this ad unit? Chitika | Premium ads are a great fit for any website with any type of content including finance, travel, sports, etc. If your website gets a lot of U.S. traffic, then Chitika | Premium ads are a perfect match for you.

When will this ad unit display on my site? Chitika | Premium ads will only show to U.S. traffic, and since they are behaviorally targeted they will only display to SOME U.S. users. When your Premium ad unit does display for a visitor it will show them advertisements they are interested in (because, after all, it’s behaviorally targeted).

What happens when Chitika | Premium does not display? The ad simply collapses into nothing. You can show an alternate URL in it’s place.

To get your Chitika | Premium code, LOGIN and click the “Get Code” tab or click below:

You have just two more days to submit your blog entry for the TiECON/Chitika Blogpreneur Contest. We will stop accepting submissions after 12:00am (EST) May 8th. Three winners will be chosen on May 25th, who will be immediately notified by email, and then featured during the Entrepreneur Forum at the TiECON East Conference May 29th.

The Blogpreneur Contest is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to receive great exposure for you and your blog. Publish a blog post on your blog highlighting the key factors of your success, and the winning stories will be featured in front of thousands of entrepreneurs at the TiECON East Conference May 29th in Boston, MA.

See ALL Prizes and Enter the Contest Now

Chitika has built innovative technology behind an ad suite that is now made up of over 70 ad units for the last 5 years. In 2008, Chitika took online-video-branding to a new and exciting level with the Chitika | VBU. It’s interactive features, not available in any other ad unit on the web today, is just one reason the VBU was selected as a 2008 MITX Tech Awards Finalist.

With the VBU, we introduced a general-purpose framework for conversational brand marketing in the new web with full flexibility and control to advertisers. (See our advertiser case study). The units are highly customizable and offer several different options for viral marketing, including “Comment”, “Share it”, and “Rate it” tabs. The VBU also has advance targeting capabilities that perform well at the site, category and keyword levels.

“Chitika has always provided TechEBlog with a variety of eye-catching ad units that provide a nice stream of revenue. Their latest product, VBU is definitely no slouch, giving our readers a chance to comment on the great products shown in the ad units.” -Steve, TechEBlog.com

*UPDATE: Read more in our MITX Tech Awards Finalist Press Release.

Chitika is very happy to be selected as a finalist for a 2^nd time. Chitika was first selected as a MITX finalist in 2005 for our eMiniMalls ad unit. MITX Awards have grown into one of the largest and most prestigious awards competitions in the country for technology innovations, and celebrates the best creative and technological accomplishments emerging from New England.

Just a reminder, here is a list of our supported countries:
(Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, UK, US).

Because this is a new feature, you will only see a breakdown from different countries from traffic after 4/24/08. Login and see how your traffic measures up!

Venkat describes the “right balance” and the power of one dollar:

Earlier this month, we announced that Chitika’s CEO Venkat Kolluri would be presenting at the AlwaysOn “Consumer and Media” showcase. During the showcase, Venkat discussed how he and Chitika’s CTO Alden DoRosario were able to see “opportunity in problems” and how, with this way of thinking, they were able to build the successful company Chitika is today.

In this short video you can find out how Chitika, a company that started with just USD$7.00 of outside funding, was able to turn it into a multi-million dollar revenue stream, and be profitable since 2005!

Watch the Video!