Value of dollar really is depressing.

Especially because so many advertizers still put the same 100/1000/10000 to their ad campaign, but €-publishers get less and less all the time.

The difference between 1.2 and 1.37 is really starting to demoralize if you think about it too long.

_

This problem would be solved (in part) if publishers could set minimum CPC's and CPM's for their sites.

It is not just Europe. We have lost 20% of our revenue through the position of the dollar. However advertisers have gained.

[edited by: Visit_Thailand at 3:59 pm (utc) on July 10, 2007]

Its even worse living in the UK. There are more than 2 dollars to the UK Pound now. The dollar is getting to be like a third world currency with little value. It costs us around £5 for a gallon of fuel here (over ten dollars) and it costs typically £2.50 for a beer (5 dollars plus). But of course it works both ways! I just imported a disabled converted brand new Dodge Grand Caravan SXT for half price! And we go on shopping trips to new york because its so cheap it more than pays for the flights...

As the American owner of a travel site about Europe, I hate seeing the dollar fall because it could lead to a decline in U.S. traffic, readers, and AdSense income. On the other hand, my income in euros from affiliate bookings is worth (in U.S. dollars) all the time. If I could just get my son to stay home instead of studying in the UK next year, I might come out ahead. :-)

The difference between 1.2 and 1.37 is really starting to demoralize if you think about it too long.

This difference is simply wrong in this case as most EUR-publishers show ads of EUR-advertisers. They pay in EUR that get converted to USD at TimeOfClick and get converted back to EUR at TimeOfPayment. The time difference is max. two months.

During the last two months the rate has never been below 1.33.

Thats not true because my sites work and are useful to all countries. As are many peoples.

Since most of the internet traffic is north america they get to see the most ads. And they see US ads. Paid for by cheap exchange rate US dollars. I am in the UK (15 to 20 percent of my traffic)

This difference is simply wrong in this case as most EUR-publishers show ads of EUR-advertisers.

Which is not (always) the case. For example, on my sites estimated 70% of the advertisers are from the U.S. (despite me being located in Europe).

I agree with the OP that this hurts.

And when doing year-on-year comparisons, I am just looking at the $ values. This is already depressing. Everything else would be just horrible.

How long is North America going to have to be the engine that drives e-commerce and the Web in general? Europeans need to get with the program. Internet access is high but in terms of web technology and e-commerce, Europe is years behind. That is, to the extent that they've got anything going on at all.

Right, jomaxx. I posted this elsewhere, but will republish here. German credit card debt averages $3,000 per household. American credit card debt averages $9,000 per household. Americans are less shy to spend online than Europeans, too.

I would love to see the European online market fire up their engines and do a few laps instead of idling on the track. Until income is diversified through a resurgent European market, you're stuck with a weak American dollar. Sorry about that.

Whine less and buy more USA wine and bonds.

How long is North America going to have to be the engine that drives e-commerce and the Web in general? Europeans need to get with the program.

They are, according to statistics that are published regularly by research firms and other sources such as the European Travel Commission. (On a more personal note, about half of my site's affiliate sales come from outside the U.S. and Canada, with the European percentage growing steadily from year to year.)

Yup the dollar exchange rates ain't good for us in the UK at the moment. I'm wondering if those joke toilet rolls made of money will soon actually be made of real dollars!

Its killing us too here in Australia. In January AU$ was at 78centrs US, now at 86.6 and rising.

Come on George, bring the troops home and start concentrating on the economy, your dodgy policies are effecting international adsense publisher revenue.

And there's also the feeling of "working for nothing".

You work haaard to increase earnings 2%, and then notice that value of dollar has dropped 2%.

I still think that the main issue is not the senseless U.S. military spending, but the strong euro replacing dollar in many major global venues.

But, there's not much one can do about it, unless all the adsense euro-publishers start to defame euro in all the possible places ;-D

Maybe we should start the "monitoring value of dollar" - thread every time PIP closes in? Because it's not fun to enter the value of dollar into the spreadsheet and watch how your earnings in euros fall like stone week after week.

The US dollar hurts most of us. I guess the answer is to pay up your hosting a year or so in advance, get your domains from US$ sources, etc. and pay them all up 10 years at once...

I still think that the main issue is not the senseless U.S. military spending, but the strong euro replacing dollar in many major global venues.

The main issues are soaring U.S. debt (due to tax cuts and resulting budget deficits) and low interest rates.

The big question is whether this is a long-term, more or less permanent problem or a cyclical dip that will reverse itself in a few years. (To offer some perspective, the British pound seems high now, compared to the dollar, but it was worth $4 in the late 1940s and $2.80 for years after that. When it fell to the $2.40 range in my youth, it was considered weak--yet today, a $2.40 pound would be considered shockingly high.)

"USA wine"

That's an oxymoron, right? ;)

Europe is years behind

I think that a walk down any British high street will demonstrate the effect Net purchasing is having on B & M trade. More and more empty large shops that will never be replaced owing to the extortionate rents and rates and it is across all sectors but most notably food, clothing, electrical and travel.

I have to agree that some European countries just do not seem to be be "switched on" however the majority are and in my own widget trade there are some huge Net projects and purchasing decisions being made and similar is happening across the entire business spectrum.

A lot of Americans are clueless about Europe. (I've actually been asked, "Is it safe to drink the tap water in Paris?")

(I've actually been asked, "Is it safe to drink the tap water in Paris?")

Many Parisians ask themselves the same question!

The Thai Baht has gone from around 39 to 32 in the past few months. Of course 10 years ago before the 97 financial crisis in Asia it was 25 to the $.

Let's hope it comes back, in the meantime I have to concentrate on getting more new direct advertisers.

[edited by: Visit_Thailand at 3:59 pm (utc) on July 11, 2007]

I think that a walk down any British high street will demonstrate the effect Net purchasing is having on B & M trade. More and more empty large shops that will never be replaced owing to the extortionate rents and rates and it is across all sectors but most notably food, clothing, electrical and travel.

Absolutely. It's happening in my town, which has grown in population whilst the high street is full of empty shops. They ran a feature about it in the local press, and a lot of people were blaming the decline on the increased choice in the nearest large town. As though people are getting in their cars and driving 20 or 30 miles down the road, when they could just open their browsers?

...notably food, clothing, electrical and travel

Such a diversified effect is actually an argument against the effect being due to online sales.

Travel, yes. The logic of booking flights and hotels yourself rather than through a travel agent is undeniable. "Electrical" goods, maybe. Clothes, not so much. I doubt online clothing sales have really made a dent in the market. Food, nope. Someday, but not yet and not for a long time to come.

More likely the loss of smaller shops is due to the "extortionate rents and rates" that you also mention in your post. Britain's had an enormous run-up in property values over the years.

Sorry we seem to have gone a bit off topic nevertheless it's very interesting.

Clothes, not so much. I doubt online clothing sales have really made a dent in the market.

Whilst this is old data I feel sure that Net shopping has increased substantially since:

"The overall home shopping market in Europe was worth some 67.2 billion Euros in 2003, increasing marginally to 68.2 billion Euros in 2004."

Read more here: [screenpages.com...]

Next revealed that the internet accounted for 45 per cent of orders at the division.

[news.independent.co.uk...]

Food, nope.

And who is easily the world's #1 on-line grocer? Tesco! 2005-2006 Tesco Internet sales exceeded STG 1 billion with more than 750,000 regular customers and takes more than 200,000 orders per week.

[networks.silicon.com...]

Ok, so it's "only" 3% of their business however you can't move for their darned home delivery vehicles in some areas.

It's happening and it's happening faster than I predicted 10 years ago. I thought that we'd be at this scenario in 2009/2010.

and a lot of people were blaming the decline on the increased choice in the nearest large town.

And the same thing is said down the road, that the next bigger town/city is drawing the punters and then where does one end up? One of the large shopping malls where many are empty during the week because no one is going there since they're sat at home on their pcs/lap tops trying to annihilate our carefully built web sites:-)

Plus tax increases over the last decade have emptied their pockets and savings not to mention property prices but that's another subject altogether!

Such a diversified effect is actually an argument against the effect being due to online sales.

Travel, yes. The logic of booking flights and hotels yourself rather than through a travel agent is undeniable. "Electrical" goods, maybe. Clothes, not so much. I doubt online clothing sales have really made a dent in the market. Food, nope. Someday, but not yet and not for a long time to come.

I disagree, because of the huge effect of impulse buying. How many times have you gone shopping, only to come back with one thing on your list and 5 things you didn't plan to get? (For me, that's every time). So by buying my fridge online, I'm actually avoiding getting shoes, a coffee and sandwich, a scarf that catches my eye, etc, etc.

Not that I'll be buying much of anything if the exchange rate doesn't shape up.

(I've actually been asked, "Is it safe to drink the tap water in Paris?")

Where I lived in the Latin Quarter, the tap water had such a high sulphur content, you'd be pretty hard-pressed to choke it down... My friends (French citizens and permanent city dwellers) from other areas never used the tap water without boiling it.