Well as you can see I am almost pretty sold out on private ads. Maybe that’s because of the super duper affordable but quality advertising I am giving them. 😉 There are some who have booked it for long term. If you are interested in advertising (I know you’re not!), look at the advertising page.
So, selling ad spots depends on the owner. You can oversell every space on your blog to make money. Just look the evil Chow and the number of ads on his site. But of course sometimes this may hurt your readership (in some cases they dont). Well, these are the spots and/or type of ads that I hate:
- Stripe Ads – I will never consider this one. On older browsers, sites that have stripes do not look well. But well even though if everyone is using Firefox, I wouldn’t still consider it. For me it’s annoying and would hurt your readers (literally)
- Leaderboard – Although I have used it in my basketball blog, it isn’t really much of a great choice I think. After all it’s very HUGE and the focus of your reader will instead shift to the leader one.
- 300X250 – Again Chow and some guys like Tyler Cruz and Carl Ocab are selling this spot. Why I don’t think its good? Well because oftentimes people will wonder what’s the relation of that pic/ad to the certain post! Your readers will wonder what is it for and it’s not so good for branding. Will never try it!
- Peel away Ads – For some other people they have had some success with it but for me it’s like giving almost 1/4 of your blog to advertising. Although it’s not as intrusive as others, I have received feedbacks that it slows down your blog/site. Anything that makes a site slow is BAD!
That’s it for now. Maybe someday I can appreciate those spots and start thinking of selling them (no way!) But well it depends on people and needs. Maybe if I need it badly to buy me a house and lot then I would consider it. 🙂
well, i agree with you. i don’t really like stripe ads. They are ugly and annoying…
I used peel ads for sometime, but only sold one ad, so i got ride of the peel ads after some time. I haven’t noticed any slowdown on the site while using it though.
Several bloggers like chow use to much advertising on the blog. It may come probitable for them but it is a big mistake. They are lucky because many of the readers go there only to left a comment and hoping to get new visitors to their blog
Perhaps it is because they are a relatively new type of ad, or maybe it’s the current trend in using them, but I tend to notice peel ads more readily and they are distracting to me. They also turn me off to sites in much the same way that huge flashing banners do.
Personally, I prefer sticking to the 125×125 where possible, although I am sure that they aren’t the most efficient in terms of ad revenue for the site. I prefer them because they are less intrusive and force marketers to get creative in a small space. As with banners, I dislike flashing or rotating 125s as well, but they are a bit more tolerable. Just barely though.
Another nice post Melvin. What I have noticed is that you post a lot about advertising, you have some really great tips. I think you have found a section for a while!
Btw unless of course you run out of things to say about advertising.
@nathaniel well I have had some or a lot of experience advertising, so I share my 2 cents to you…
@hugo, yeah i agree.. well we cant blame them….
300×250 and stripe ads turns me down the moment I see them. It’s like giving me the impression that the blogger is after nothing but money.
@ian parker: well peel ads are not a new thing. they are around for a couple of years now… the only difference it is they were more advertised last year with adtoll…
Good view from your side melvin 😉
I have a different view on 300x 250 ads as they are really good target to get clicks and sales/leads for your blog 🙂
Sidebar ads are grabbed less attention compared to this 300×250 boxes on the content area!
@rockstar, yes i agree… but what i said here is in the point of view of bloggers/ad sellers…
I agree with you about this. Sometimes ads can be a bit of a pain in the butt. I have Peel Away Ads and was asked by an advertiser to install the ads so thats why I decided to do so. Other than that, I think people that have popunder ads or the skyscraper ads side-by-side dont know how annoying the ads can get.
I don’t like peel away ads at all. Very annoying!
I actually like peel ads.. I find it fun hovering my mouse on it.. lol.
what i dont like is the 300×250 spot aligned to the left/right of the post.. thus i have placed my ads on top or before the start of my paragraph.
You have your points, Melvin but I guess what works for some may not work for the others. What annoys me most is the excessive display of ads to the points of blinding the content as a whole.
Yan
Nice post. It gives you a bit of a perspective on the different types of ads formats out there. Advertising is all good as long as it’s not over done and it also all depends on the blog. A note about peel away ads, I am not a big fan of them at all.
great points. i have also noticed that johnchow has too much advertisement in his blog. 125×125 sidebar ads is the best one i think and a large rectangle 😀
You know what ads bug me the most and I would never use on any of my own sites? Those nasty ads that double underline keywords in your content.
When I see them on a site, I usually don’t come back.
I’m a huge fan of 300×250 ad blocks. I don’t use one on every one of my sites ( yet ), but where I do use them, they account for the vast majority of my ad income. The downside is the huge ad block, and a less “attractive” page. But would I give up ~75% of a site’s income to make it prettier? Nah.