Many posters will agree with your thinking..but I feel that free 'sampling' or free introductions are a good way to generate sales.

IMO smart pricing runs in cycles..Just got hit for 3 days with 50% drop in eCPM and am now recovering slowly. I sugget waiting for atleast 7-10 days before trying new things.

Possibly, but not necessarily.. I have a site with the word "free" splattered all around and EPC-wise it's one of my best performers.

Does it seem likely that the word "free" on the pages is hurting my earnings? Any thoughts or suggestions?

My advice is to not let the tail wag the dog. Leave your pages alone.

FarmBoy

It had been sugested in another thread that people visiting a site expecting to get something free, may click an adsense ad but are not in the mood to buy - so the advertiser looses out.
I guess it depends on your market area whether those clicking on adsense are likely to be persuaded to pay for something

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will leave the ads as they are for now.

I've been using AdSense on my sites for a few years now and it's just frustrating to see it's not doing as well as it used to.