16 replies to this topic

[YaSO]

I am going over FAQ, Terms and Conditions and Media Kit before I sign up with any ad network. Looking at what they offer, what requirements are and how much I can potentially make, one of changes I need to make in my site is placing a banner ad 468 x 60 at the top of every page (or almost every page). I don't see how else I can make money by publishing advertisements. But I'm afraid that visitors to my site might not like that. I often see sites looking like a Christmas tree, and I am afraid that I am going to that direction.

Can placing banner ads affect number of visitors and page views? Any advice or suggestion?

[awall19]

Vice using banner ads why not try something like AdSense? At least then the ads will be targeted to the page content (usually)

these same ads will be less offensive, generate higher clickthroughs and revenue, and not detract from the page as much as a flashy random banner would

there are also a ton of affiliate programs out there

banners are evil

[addove]

If you do place banners on your site some of your visitors will leave because they don't like banners.

Banners are bad.

[deborah2002]

The general consensus on banner ads is one of 2 ways...people either hate 'em with a passion or they ignor them altogether.

The AdSense idea is a good one, as is the affiliate program. Banner ads are so....over.

Not to mention that they can be profoundly ugly


deb

[fred]

Hi

I guess everyone agrees

No banner

Most banner don't look nice , and most visitor hate them with a passion

The AdSense idea is good also.

[nedguy]

Um...

I hesitate to swim against the tide.

Sure banners are often horrible (and Yaso if you sign up with one of the bulk suppliers like Burst, you'll get your fair share of nightmare flashing banners) and yes, they are deeply unfashionable, but i thought most visitors just considered them to be the least of evils.

What visitors really, really, hate is pop-ups and pop-unders

.... isn't it?

Nedguy

[torka]

Speaking as a user, yes.

Most banners I can ignore. Occasionally I even click on banners. Ugly banners are sometimes actually a plus -- the amusement factor alone makes them worth the screen real estate they take up. Even the blinking, flashing in-your-face ones are no problem once I scroll the screen just a little tiny bit so they're out of sight.

But pop ups, pop unders, and those new terrifically annoying ads that "swim" across the page and follow you down when you scroll (not popups, I think they're done with CSS and some scripting so they're actually on the page, but on top of/obscuring the content until you close them) -- those are evil.

A pox on the designers who came up with those ideas.

--Torka

[qwerty]

...those new terrifically annoying ads that "swim" across the page and follow you down when you scroll...

Those would be shoshkeles.

[Haystack]

Those would be shoshkeles.

I was REALLY expecting to see one on their site but couldn't find one. Strange.

[torka]

Maybe they find them annoying, too.

--Torka

[chrishirst]

What ARE annoying are these. www dot flyinads dot com The damn things are modal windows so you can't avoid having to close them.
Fortunately despite this

"Fly-In Ads are the next big wave in Internet advertising. This blows away everything else that's out there."

Mark Joyner
#1 Best-Selling Author of MindControlMarketing.com
Widely Recognized as the "Tiger Woods" of Internet Marketing 

[sarcasm]
(and who could resist a 'big up' from Mark Joyner???)
[/sarcasm]

they don't seem to have spread too far YET.


Chris.

[nedguy]

Oh now you've got me started!

British Airways are currently running a campaign on the UK broadsheet newspaper sites (esp the travel pages) that simply has a huge blue sky pop-up that blocks out almost the entire page every time it loads....... and drives me completely


This is quickly going to turn into a new thread most hated adverts!

[YaSO]

Ok, I understand that everyone here dislikes banner ads (to put it mildly), but I presume people who hang out in a forum like this spend many hours in front of computer and spend many hours checking websites. Do regular users dislike banner ads so much? I read that pop-up and pop-under are very unpopular in regular papers and magazines, but I don't recall hearing much about banner ads. Is it that bad?

Also none of you uses banner ads to make cash from content sites? If anyone uses, then is there some way to make banner ads look less intrusive?

[Haystack]

YaSO, your goals of making money off banner clicks and making the ads less intrusive are somewhat mutually exclusive. People do click on the banners from time to time. If they didn't, banners wouldn't exist.

Here are a few things that seem to work:

Consider putting the banners at the bottom of the page rather than at the top. When people get to a page, they're interested in reading what they clicked there to read first, which often causes them to scroll a banner at the top of the page off the screen. By putting the ad at the bottom, you're giving your visitors something to click on after finishing what they just read.

If the banner happens to be extremely relevant to the content, the click through rates will clearly be higher, making you more money.

Banner blindness seems to be highest with the traditional banner shape. Try using other shapes to see what effect it has on click throughs.

[Jill]

I don't think it's so much that people dislike banners, it's just that they have become blind to them. Just don't even see them any more and ignore them.

After the first few times when a newbie clicks on one by mistake, they realize what they did and learn to tune them out.

Jill