Where Do Want Ads?
10. Dec, 2007 
6 Comments - Leave your comment
Recently Darren Rowse from ProBlogger asked his readers, “Where’s the content?” The point of the post was to address ad-positioning on posts. One of his concerns was that ads above the fold would alienate readers.
From a different perspective is Vandelay Website Design’s post regarding monetizing a website without alienating visitors.
Both posts (and the comments within) provide a nice overview of how to position ads without alienating your readers.
I realize that many bloggers need ads to support their blogging ventures, but what are the advertisements you feel cross the line? Is it paid posts? Ads above the fold? Pop-ups?
My question to you from a reader’s perspective is: where do you want ads? Or alternatively, where do you not want ads?
Other RA Project Articles
Author Info
This is something I have been quite conscious of on my blog. On the homepage I have an advert after the first post. I wanted it in the flow of the page, but I didn’t want it to interrupt anything.
A few times on other people’s blogs I have thought that there was no more content because it was split up by the adverts. I find those annoying when done wrong and so have avoided it.
On single post pages it is just out of the way in the sidebar.
I haven’t looked at it from the perspective of how to make the most money; that isn’t why I’m doing it, but rather how to get the in, in a way that isn’t annoying. I wouldn’t ever put an advert mid-post.
Thanks for the mention. From a reader’s perspective I prefer ads in the sidebar, or as Andrew mentioned, after a post. I really don’t like AdSense ads in the body of the post.
I don’t want to have to search a blog page in order to find content because the ads are all over the place. Neither do I want to see a giant ad as the first thing I see when the page loads. Ads that are placed as banners just underneath the blog header really frustrate me, as do ads at the bottom of blog feeds. I subscribe via feed for a number of reasons, one of which being that I don’t have to look at ads on some sites which I feel have too many, so them adding ads to their feeds really sort of destroys my plan!
Small, relevant ads in the sidebar can work well, as long as ads always come AFTER content quality. I’ve read some blogs over the months whose readership has begun to fade due to the blog content coming second to ads and PPP, which is really disappointing since it was a good blog!
I definately do not like ads in the body of a post. What I really dislike about ads is that many people that use them really do little or nothing to make their ads complement their site. There are so many ad options that there truly is no excuse to not take some thought about how an ad is presented.
One thing about PayPerPost ads. I can live with them, but I really wish I knew that I was reading a PPP BEFORE I began to read it, not AFTER. It just seems a bit sneaky that the PPP notification appears at the end of a post.
Thanks for the comments all. I agree about up-front disclosure on PPP. I hate reading something and finding out later it’s a paid review.
I also prefer ads in the sidebar and after the post just before (or after) the comment section. Inline ads are a distraction for me, which is why I don’t like those annoying “text” type ads.