Whinging Doesn't Change A Thing

Well, the whingers are at it again.

"It's so unfair that I have to target my ads just because the third party advertisers won't pay for hits from tier 3 and tier 4 countries"

Here's unfair: the economy is in the toilet all around the world in case you hadn't already noticed.  That world includes PTR sites and third party advertisers!

Did ya'll actually think that all the changes made at PTR sites are just because the program owners got up on the wrong side of the bed and decided to make arbitrary changes solely to inconvenience ya'll?

Here's unfair: the whingers expect to be paid right out of the program owners pocket for hits that the third party advertisers don't pay for.

Do they think that program owners can pull cash out of thin air? Can the whingers pull cash out of thin air? Do they have a money tree growing in THEIR backyards?

Hmmm, the whingers say no they can't pull cash out of thin air and no they don't have a money tree growing in their backyards. WHAT A BIG SURPRISE THAT IS!!

Would the whingers like to pay members, renew their domains, pay for their hosting, pay contest prizes,  buy games, and buy plugins on what they make from THEIR clicking, referring, advertising, searching, doing surveys, writing for Triond or Associated Content,  or posting at THEIR blogs?  I didn't think so.

Would the whingers like to use their salaries at totally unrelated offline jobs to pay the hosting for their site(s), renew their domains, buy games for their site(s), buy plugins for their site(s), pay contest prizes, and make member payouts? I didn't think so.

Third party advertisers are in some cases not paying at all or paying very slowly.  Many of the third party advertisers do NOT even like PTR sites because of the poor quality of traffic they deliver, even if that traffic is solely from tier 1 and tier 2 countries.

Do they think that the profit margins are so large at PTR sites that program owners can afford to pay them what they want instead of what the market will bear?

The whingers want PTR to be considered a business (and run like one) solely when that affects them positively (ie ads run in a timely manner, quick support, quick payouts, etc) but once the 'business' or 'industry' makes changes they don't like they want the 'business' to stop acting like a business.

Sorry but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Actually, my question is: do they think at all about the larger picture, or are they just concerned that now they need to target their ads which they darn well should have been targeting in the first place?

Here's unfair: the countries in tier 3 and tier 4 are not allowed to search.

Here's unfair: Many of those tier 3/tier 4 countries cannot or will not buy the real goods and services advertised in some PTP rotators (shipping fees are too high, they don't need the goods, the sites don't ship to their countries, the sites can't legally do business with their countries, etc).

Here's unfair: many of the PTR sites referral links or affiliate pages that tier 3/tier 4 members would see in a PTP rotator don't even allow them to join, or they can join but only use their earnings for ads.

Here's unfair: those tier 3/tier 4 members aren't even allowed to join the site I'm referring to even as ptp promoters (much less full members), so what in god's name is the point of showing it to them......oh I forgot, the whingers want the .05 credit this program used to pay for tier 4 hits (I think it was .08 credit for tier 3).

Reality check:

1000 valid tier 4 hits at the old rate would have equaled 50 credits which would have equaled 3 1/2 cents.

1000 valid tier 3 hits at the old rate would have equaled 80 credits which would equaled 5 1/2 cents

Now there's a *great use* (sarcasm intended) of your advertising dollars, since the cheapest hits you can find at sites on the approved list is around 15-20 cents per 1000.

Even if you use upgraded ads, you paid for or won that upgrade which means it cost you cash or time or both.

On your 1000 hits from tier 3, you've lost at least 10 cents per 1000.

On your 1000 hits from tier 4, you've lost at least 11 1/2 cents.

To earn 1000 credits from tier 3 you would need to send 12,500 valid hits  (minimum cost of $1.88 assuming 15 cents per 1000 advertising cost)

Your 1000 tier 3 credits would earn you 70 cents--you've lost at least $1.18 and probably the real total is closer to $2.36 as its much more likely that you would need to send 20,000-25,000 total hits to get those 12,500 valid views.

To earn 1000 credits from tier 4, you would need to send 20,000 valid hits (minimum cost of $3.00 assuming 15 cents per 1000 advertising cost).

Again, your 1000 tier 4 credits would earn you 70 cents--you've lost at least $2.20. Again, the real total would be closer to $4.40 as again you would have to send 35,000-40,000 total hits to get those 20,000 valid views.

Whingers really need to stop and do the math, they need stop whinging about how unfair it is that they have to target their ads, and they really need to consider what is the best use of their advertising dollars.

Is taking losses on every tier 3/tier 4 hit you send worth the time and money you spend on your advertising?

So tell me what the point is for letting tier 3/tier 4 members see search engines they aren't supposed to search at, sites they can't join, sites they can join but won't ever get paid by, and goods they can't or won't buy?

IMO the point is that the whingers are too lazy to target their ads and want paid for doing something that benefits them and them alone (heaven forbid they might do something that actually benefited the program or the program owner!)

That kind of scattershot marketing might have worked when the economy was booming clear back in the Clinton years, but the reality of the situation is that profit margins at the PTR sites were infinitesimal even before the economy tanked.

Once the economy started nosediving into the toilet--IMO mostly because of unbridled spending on wars by the USA and the UK--programs went belly-up left and right, and those same whingers were right there complaining that they'd been screwed.

When the whingers come up with reasonable solutions in addition to their complaints then maybe their whinging will do some good.

Has even one of the whingers tried to find NEW reputable sources of income (ie third party advertisers) that accept PTR sites (and pays in a timely manner) and suggest it to the program owners?

No they haven't, because that would be even more work than targeting their ads wouldn't it now.  It's much easier to just be a part of the problem and whinge about it than it is to try to be a part of the solution.

IMO, there are so many worse changes that could have been made at the site I'm mostly referring to and the whingers don't stop to consider that.

Would they prefer a higher payout?

Would they prefer a lower CPM?

Would they prefer a click requirement like Easy PTR implemented? 400 clicks per month as a free member plus 150 clicks per month to use PTP (which BTW pays a whopping 50 cents per 1000)

Would they prefer a personal earnings requirement on top of a click requirement? At Easy PTR you have to have 10% personal earnings PLUS 550 clicks per month, and the program has mostly points ads--the conversion sucks too.

Would they prefer that PTP be limited to upgraded members only?

Would they prefer not being able to cash in their credits until they have accumulated 1000 of them?

Would they prefer no cash to points conversion?

Would they prefer 2500 points = 1 cent rather than the IMO very generous 1000 points = 22 cents? 

Would they prefer that the program stop giving random rewards for the jewel game?

Would they prefer that other games be removed so that nobody can win anything there?

Would they prefer that the click values be decreased?

All in all, a simple requirement to target PTP to tier 1/tier 2 is more than fair when the site in question is a tier 1/tier 2 site.