Today.com
>> Wednesday, April 15, 2009
You may notice, if you are a regular visitor, that I deleted the post about Today.com's new advertising deals.
Sour grapes, I guess...at least I'm sure that is how the powers-that-be at today would see it ... but I can no longer support or recommend advertising with them.
I was SO not happy when I went into my account today, to check whether my ads had received any clicks.
This is what I saw:
I have already PAID for this advertising - and now they want me to pay more to be able to see whether it has brought about any results?! I don't think so!
The last time I checked I had received over 500 impressions in each account, but neither clicks or CTR showed any data. There have been a few unidentified visitors showing in my stats - they show up as coming from a widgetserver of some sort, but the referral link goes nowhere....and we still do not have access to google analytics for today.com blogs (they're "working on it")... IF the numbers had matched I would have attributed that traffic to the ads and considered buying one for next month for Nontraditional Students R Us .... but no WAY in hell that is happening now.
today.com is no long paying per post for most people - nor do they pay $2/1000 unique vistors as advertised - many uvs are paid at lesser rates or even 0.
I used to be extremely happy with them. I made money through blogging, participated in their forums, and was able to recommend them highly.
I am sad that they have sunk so far so fast. But they seem determined to keep on shooting themselves in the foot.
I've had enough.
Sorry, flit. I've got to get google analytics working on the new blogs this weekend and perhaps some more housekeeping.
I hear ya! Such a disaster after what seemed to be a really great, supportive place.
I found it so amusing that about a week after deleting me and not responding to any emails, the sent me an email to advertise! haha!
Kelly
30somethingandsearching.blogspot.com
Wow, that's really crappy. I'm glad I'm not with them!
I think the standard modeling of building traffic then trying to monetize a site doesn't work. Better to work on monetizing from the beginning. Fewer surprises that way.
Im thinking about closing my today blog. I to recommended them to my friends. They are loosing big time.
I had been doing far better on Today with the help of EC then here on blogger using ad sense. I was getting no where fast with ad sense even though it's on several blogs; then EC and Today started changing and that's made a huge difference in my traffic on Today. Not sure what I'm going to do at this point, sadly with all the illness and Mom's recent death, I've not been able to concentrate to make any determinations.
I need a plan. EC is now on one of my blogspot blogs, but I can't see that's helping either. Adsense pays fars less it seems than Today did. Now it seems I'm losing ground on all fronts.
Are you going to keep your Today blogs?
Sandy
http://stitchinglifetogether.today.com/
might suggest you change your settings here, so folks can leave their urls if they're non google ones.
Hey, flit. I tried commenting on your nottraditional students blog and I can't....I click on "post a comment" and nothing happens.... just wanted to let you know incase it's a glitch.
~Kelly
http://30somethingandsearching.blogspot.com/
Well seems the powers that be didn't like me commenting in the forums. I received an email saying they closed my accounts, and they deleted my last posting. Supposedly I will get paid in the next go around for my last month, we shall see. What a shame.
you're not alone, nipsy.... same deal here
Well darn, Kelly ... you'd thinks since they're all blogspot, we would be able to comment...I had to use IE to be able to comment on yours... same thing... I click and nothing happens
Kelly, I got the same email after they booted me -- asking me to advertise. I sent a reply with two words: "AS IF."
I know they're not paying me the last $25 they owe me. They're either losing money hand over first or they're turning into tyrants. Phooey on them.
So...now Nipsy is another one. What a train wreck.
Hi there flit! I noticed that you've been pretty active on the forums over at Today.com. I too am disappointed with 'em.. at least honor the $2 per 1000 uniques, right? even if you demote me.. but nooooo... for 19k uniques.. i only get $23. I was never good at maths but even I know that doesn't add up! LOL!
Sharing how you feel at the forums isn't any better too. First they say they demoted me 'coz lack of advertisers. Then when people ask why traffiq and quality doesn't matter anymore, the powers that be say we are not supportive of Today.com and that they're going through tough time during this recession.
Then just say so instead of beating around the bush! We signed up as bloggers not marketers.. well, that's just my take. Sorry for ranting over here, flit. :)
You're more than welcome ...stop by to rant any time... although if you do too much of it, they'll no doubt send you the same email bunches of us have received.
they don't like having their deceptions pointed out.
What's even better is when you DO advertise on their site and pay through paypal, it is set up as a recurring payment that happens again in 30 days if you aren't paying attention. I had to manually go in and change the payment to a one time payment to avoid paying every month for a one time ad.
Another Today.com refugee here. I only complained once on the forums, so I guess that wasn't enoguh to get me kicked off - but I chose to leave on my own. My husband has been bugging me for a while to set up my own blog on his domain - he thought the Today thing was a scam to begin with, but I defended it to him.
I agree - we were not hired as advertisers or salespeople. I completely ignored the whole "sell products" and "sell advertising" plea - and just continued to blog. I had more than quadrupled my traffic - was in the top 100 consistently - and was even one of the four blogs they thought good enough to highlight in their print ad in Website Magazine. In fact, when I saw the e-mail from Today a couple days after that ad came out, I was naive enough to think they were telling me they were raising me back up to the $5 per post level. Nope, they were taking me off of pay per post. That was the final straw. I put up with the overloaded advertisements, the template we were forced to use, even those slutty ads for the dating agency. But this was just the final straw. My husband worked his butt off this week - and so did I - and I'm up and running at my new site.
My biggest regret is that they now own some of my best content. I know that they probably wouldn't come after me if I re-posted it, but I'm a little chicken to try it. We shall see.
Thanks for giving us a place to vent, Flit. I told my husband he should make an ad for his domain that offers free or discounted hosting to Today.com refugees. :)
My new url is: http://booksandmovies.colvilleblogger.com/