Have you been going to blogs and getting distracted by all the noise on the web
site? Is the monetization of the Internet becoming overwhelming to you? Are
there so many ads on the blog that you just leave? Are the load times for these
blogs going up, up, up?
Is blogging supposed to be about money or should it be more focused on the
community? Remember earlier times (okay that is only 6 months ago on the
internet) when you went to blogs to get information and you weren't inundated
with so much noise? What do you think, are all these advertisements good for
blogging?
Why do bloggers put ads on their blogs?
Why do bloggers put ads on their blogs? If they are like me, they want to make
a little money for the time they put into blogging. There is a pull for instant
riches and internet fame. Advertisers promise quick money for showing their
flashing, obnoxious advertisement on your blog. as a blogger, you say, okay I
have the space just sitting there, what harm will it be for me to place the ad
next to my article?
You have Google Adsense ads, banner ads, flashing gifs, feedreaders, surveys
and text link ads. At what point do the ads you place on your website become Too
Much? Are one or two banner ads beyond the point? Are you irritated by
text link ads or is it just banner ads? I don't like the flashing gifs. I try
not to allow those on my website, though I have had one or two over the years.
How many banner ads represent too many banner ads? Do you limit the number of
banner ads based on the size of the ads? Is your limitation just the amount of
white space on your pages? Are you concerned about load time?
The Load Time is Horrible
I have visited many blog sites in the last couple of days as I go around the
internet dropping virtual business cards from Entrecard. I am amazed at how
many blogs will have 10 to 15 banner ads on their web site. The load time is
horrible. How do they expect anyone to come back when it takes so much time to
get the page to show up. They don't even optimize the page so their article
comes up for the reader to begin reading while the rest of the page loads.
I try to keep my page load time to a reasonable load speed. Alexa rates my site
load time as
Fast with an average load time of 1.6 seconds. Visitors to my
articles are reading within 2 seconds. I think as long as you are loading
within 3 seconds then visitors won't be running away. But, if your site takes
20 seconds to load as 20 banner ads of 15kb each try to load then you may be
losing customers. If you are losing customers then how much are those banner
ads really worth to you?
The survey system currently on my pages from Vizu, measures the space it needs.
It prepares the space, tells the page to leave the space empty and let's the
rest of the page load. Then the survey comes back after it has a chance to get
information from the database. The page has loaded, the visitor can begin
reading the article and now the survey has it's information and will load the
image and survey details. Sweet. My customers are not inconvenienced and my
load time stays fast.
You Never See the Ads
As you read blogs, do you even notice all the ads all over the website? Have
you grown so used to seeing them that you never see the ads? I know many
readers don't even look at any of the ads. They stay focused on the article and
when they are done they leave.
I think it is ok to have the ads. I think you should limit the number of
flashing ads (to maybe zero as a good number.) You should also be conscious of
the load time your images are having on your website. I think most sites are
assuming broadband speeds for their readers. My wife was at her mother's house
this holiday season ordering Christmas presents online. My wife, who is used to
high speed cable speeds was ready to scream as her Mom's dial up service limped
through the internet.
Put Community Back into Blogging
But, now I want to hear from you. How many banner ads become too many? Do you
think my website is noisy? Is it too noisy? Do you think the amount of money
you earn from your website makes it okay to have the banner ads on your pages?
Feel free to comment on this article and put the community back into blogging.
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