I think programmers are just naturally geared to filtering out distractions. I know when I search tech articles the only thing I'm interested in is finding what I'm looking for and ads don't provide that especially google ads because they're far too generic.
I think tech sites need to take a different approach. A tech user is more likely to be interested in a book related to the subject he's searching on so carefully targeted amazon links might work better than google adsense. In the same vein, tech visitors seem to be more interested in web-hosting solutions -- when I was doing the great ad-experiment on my site the hosting link got 3x the clicks the google adsense made.
Not that there's anything wrong with adsense, just a highly focused affiliate links are probably the better solution for tech sites. If you're writing about javascript and ajax, then find some (good) relevant books and amazon about javascript and ajax (at least one nutshell book please!) and I think maybe tech bloggers might see some bigger returns on their investment.
One of the main reasons that I don't click on ads is because most of the text for contextual ads is too short. I get a better idea about what is being offered from doing a Google search. Granted the realestate does cost. But this means the advertisers have to be a little more creative.
Then there is the fact that the same ads show up everywhere so if I have clicked once or twice already then I don't need to click again. In other words the more I surf there is a shrinking need to click on an ad.
I'll give it to pcx99, I'd say that he is about 99% right. Personally, those that do get past my popup blocker ... i.e.: the ones they like to show in the margin ... are a real PITA.
When I'm 'surfing' I'm usually looking for something work related. Yes, I'm from the old school ... been doing this programming thing for over 30 years. If you can imagine working at 300 baud waiting for the signon screen to load so I could get to the meat then you can imagine how distasteful the 'ads' are, taking up all that valuable bandwidth.
If I am 'shopping', I'm usually pretty sure of where I'm going. It would take more than an idle 1 by ad to get me to change my direction.
It's bad enough I have to ignore all the ads (it's called focus) in the e-mail newsletters. I know, that's what pays for their ability to deliver the good stuff, so it's just a albatross about my neck I'll have to deal with.
Comments
bloid replied ago:
I would have thought that one of your reasons would have been that they don't even see the ads, as they have Adblock installed in Firefox
w3stfa11 replied ago:
Bingo.
hagrin replied ago:
@bloid -
Exactly. I don't click on them because I don't see them. When I do see them (i.e. Gmail), I will click on an ad every now and then.
pcx99 replied ago:
I think programmers are just naturally geared to filtering out distractions. I know when I search tech articles the only thing I'm interested in is finding what I'm looking for and ads don't provide that especially google ads because they're far too generic.
I think tech sites need to take a different approach. A tech user is more likely to be interested in a book related to the subject he's searching on so carefully targeted amazon links might work better than google adsense. In the same vein, tech visitors seem to be more interested in web-hosting solutions -- when I was doing the great ad-experiment on my site the hosting link got 3x the clicks the google adsense made.
Not that there's anything wrong with adsense, just a highly focused affiliate links are probably the better solution for tech sites. If you're writing about javascript and ajax, then find some (good) relevant books and amazon about javascript and ajax (at least one nutshell book please!) and I think maybe tech bloggers might see some bigger returns on their investment.
ciwee replied ago:
pcx99. You got a different but remarkable point. I'll add your comment to the post.
hiveminds replied ago:
One of the main reasons that I don't click on ads is because most of the text for contextual ads is too short. I get a better idea about what is being offered from doing a Google search. Granted the realestate does cost. But this means the advertisers have to be a little more creative.
Then there is the fact that the same ads show up everywhere so if I have clicked once or twice already then I don't need to click again. In other words the more I surf there is a shrinking need to click on an ad.
fc44770 replied ago:
I'll give it to pcx99, I'd say that he is about 99% right. Personally, those that do get past my popup blocker ... i.e.: the ones they like to show in the margin ... are a real PITA.
When I'm 'surfing' I'm usually looking for something work related. Yes, I'm from the old school ... been doing this programming thing for over 30 years. If you can imagine working at 300 baud waiting for the signon screen to load so I could get to the meat then you can imagine how distasteful the 'ads' are, taking up all that valuable bandwidth.
If I am 'shopping', I'm usually pretty sure of where I'm going. It would take more than an idle 1 by ad to get me to change my direction.
It's bad enough I have to ignore all the ads (it's called focus) in the e-mail newsletters. I know, that's what pays for their ability to deliver the good stuff, so it's just a albatross about my neck I'll have to deal with.
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