New ad style...

[lukask]

About the ads: they are definitely less annoying to me.
And the funny thing is that for the first time I just now really read one of them, thinking: why do I read this ad?
Only then I saw this thread...

So here is your answer.

[Edwin]

Re: the costs of this Forum...

While the Forums certainly run at a bit of a loss, overall Emailaddresses.com + the Forums considered together easily pay the bills and more, so there's absolutely no chance that the Forums will shut down due to financial concerns.

And I'm pleased to hear that the new ads are being read.

Basically, my logic was that the old ads were clearly too "obvious" and so super-easy to skip. If people read the new-style ads even occasionally, they may spot something they're interested in.

Another reason why the ads may not be "working" is of course that while these Forums are very popular, it's often the SAME people coming here every day. So unless the ads keep changing, people have quickly seen and considered all the offers being presented to them.

Anyway, I'm not worried at all even if the outcome of the new ad style is no more successful than the old style - it's nice to be able to get advice and input from so many helpful folks, and to be able to brainstorm ideas...

[kander]

Originally posted by Edwin
Re: the costs of this Forum...

While the Forums certainly run at a bit of a loss, overall Emailaddresses.com + the Forums considered together easily pay the bills and more, so there's absolutely no chance that the Forums will shut down due to financial concerns.

I forgot Emailaddresses.com was part of the Forum (well, actually the other way around, but you get my train of thought), thanks for reassuring me

[Gankaku]

I kind of like these colors and yes the ads do stand out more.

Originally posted by Edwin
Re: the costs of this Forum...



And I'm pleased to hear that the new ads are being read.

Basically, my logic was that the old ads were clearly too "obvious" and so super-easy to skip. If people read the new-style ads even occasionally, they may spot something they're interested in.

I think that text ads are much better then banner/popup ads - and I even pay attention. Here are the ads featuring on the forums;
Switchemail.com
Runbox.com
ipowerweb.com
fastmail.fm

Can we have some new ads (please)

Dan

[hadaso]

I was alarmed for a few seconds. I thought "if something has changed, why haven't I noticed?" Then I thought "Stormcrow!" so I looked at the dates and they were old I I scrolled to the bottom of the thread and found Stormcrow, of course!

When I was new here I read from top to bottom, so usually the ads were the first thing I noticed. Now that I'm not a newbie I usually head straight to the content (many times I start at the bottom and then use the dates to see where I finished reading last time... though this time I started at the beginning, but I'm experienced now and the eyes are focused at the spot of the first post when the page loads).

[CyberSmurf]

Originally posted by hadaso
I was alarmed for a few seconds. I thought "if something has changed, why haven't I noticed?" Then I thought "Stormcrow!" . . . .

*chuckle*

I can't remember back that far. Although I am sure there never were any pop-up ads here.
I think the site is generally pleasing to the eye, including the ads.

[fastashell]

Originally posted by Edwin


.......

The big, intrusive ads basically never worked anyway!

.......

I've always wondered about ads in web pages and just how well they do, or don't, work. I tend to ignore them completely and, unless they are particularly intrusive and obnoxious, rarely even notice them, especially when they're as low key and unobtrusive as they are on this forum.

Are many other people like me and just ignore them completely, or do many others look at them and visit the sites and maybe even purchase things?

[Edwin]

Originally posted by fastashell
I've always wondered about ads in web pages and just how well they do, or don't, work. I tend to ignore them completely and, unless they are particularly intrusive and obnoxious, rarely even notice them, especially when they're as low key and unobtrusive as they are on this forum.

Are many other people like me and just ignore them completely, or do many others look at them and visit the sites and maybe even purchase things?

Generally, click-throughs on banner ads these days are under 0.5% and usually much less than that. This means that only 1 out of 200 ads gets clicked on (so if one person views 10 pages on average, then only 1 out of 20 people clicks on an ad)

Text ads usually do better i.e. 1%-3%+ clickthrough rates.

Forum ads do VERY badly because it's the same people seeing the ads again and again, most of the time.

So you've got perhaps 1 in 100 people (if you're lucky) clicking on an ad, then perhaps 1 in 20 (again, if you're lucky) actually buying something. In other words, you might only see a purchase every 2,000 visitors (or worse).

Online ads these days are all a "numbers game" where, unless you have VERY focused, niche traffic in a valuable niche (e.g. dedicated web hosting) you have to throw huge numbers of visitors in the front end of the "ad machine" to get any revenue out the back...

[Shelded]

There's a similarity there with spam. They multiply a really small return rate times a really high spam run. At least Edwin's a chum and it's all legit

[hadaso]

Originally posted by Edwin
Online ads these days are all a "numbers game" where, unless you have VERY focused, niche traffic in a valuable niche (e.g. dedicated web hosting) you have to throw huge numbers of visitors in the front end of the "ad machine" to get any revenue out the back...

That's because you hardly know anything about the viewers of the ads.
If ou would know a lot about the viewer you would be able to tailor the ads to the viewer needs. The problem is that you cannot make the viewer tell you a lot, or even trust you with their info. A solution I was thinking about some time ago (just before 9/11) was that the viewer would have their own "ad supplier" that they trust. The ad-space seller would than have to contact the viewer's ad-server and negotiate an ad (it would have to tell the provider what the space limitaions are, and then perhaps other limitations like color preferences, and perhaps context). The ad-provider would then provide an ad. The technology needed here is a protocol to negotiate the ad and transfer the money to the parties that should be compensated.

What can you do with this?
Say the viewer is hugry and two minutes ago let her ad-provider know that she would like Pizza. Then the ads could be of Pizza delivery services in her neighborhood.
Or if the viewer has let her provider know last week that she is looking for a used car of one of these makes/sizes/colors at a certain price level, she might get banners with quotes from local car dealers, offers from people who are selling their own used car (P2P advertising).

Anyway, if the advertiser's client is the audience, they would have to work hard to make it a pleasant experience for the audience!