Let’s See How Bad We Can Piss People Off
Posted on March 8th, 2008 by DotComMogul under AdvertisingIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
First it was PayPerPlay and now it’s PayPerPopup … both insidious in-your-face type of advertising that the majority of visitors absolutely hate. If you want to piss off your visitors, then I highly recommend force feeding advertisements to them in the form of audio that they have to listen to or insidious popups that they have to close before seeing your blog.
Obviously, I am not anti-advertising and I use several methods to monetize blogging, but in my view, advertising should be persuasive. It should generate interest and incite curiosity or even be funny. It should never force the visitor to do something to get rid of it, such as close the window or turn your speakers down. It just pisses people off and the last thing you should want to do with a visitor to your blog is piss them off right off the bat.
Take PayPerPlay as an example. Is Taco Bell the only company that has purchased ads? So far, they’re the only ones I hear on sites utilizing PayPerPlay and it pisses me off every time I hear it. I used to be a Taco Bell fan and I will probably eat there at some point again, but I think their PayPerPlay ad has harmed their brand. The name Taco Bell is now associated with anger … in my mind, and being a 5-second ad, there is really absolutely nothing in the ad that entices me to go out and buy some Taco Bell. I just want the ad to end and usually just close the browser on that site to get rid of it.
Now the PayPerPopup has my panties all in a bunch. Just as I do with PayPerPlay, when I encounter one of the ads shown above that you have to close before even seeing the site, I just ditch the site. Maybe I’m the only one who is irritated by that type of ad, but I doubt it. Do you want to take the chance that I’m not?
March 8th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
How do you get rid of it? I didn’t even put it on there and it pops up, where would it of came from? The only thing I added to my website was the world, and counter at the top of the page, maybe thats where it came from…it is annoying thats for sure…;)
March 8th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I do the same thing. I couldn’t even tell you what they were advertising as I was gone before it registered. Some days good old adsense looks pretty good.
Cindy S’s last blog post..Daily Flake Challenge # 7
March 8th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I too agree about the “popups.” One of my fav blogs just placed ads up that you have to click out of to see the content. I’m sad to say that I will probably not frequent that blog as much as I did in the past. I’m all about advertising, but I hate when it’s forced on me in that manner.
A Girl…’s last blog post..Sorry for the lack of posts…
March 9th, 2008 at 12:08 am
The easiest way to stop nearly all of the irritating advertising on any website is the use of the NoScript extension installed into Firefox. Don’t browse without it.
March 9th, 2008 at 4:02 am
I just started seeing these a couple of days ago and really can’t understand why anyone would think this is a good idea. If I am going to have to click to close something, it’s the whole tab and not the pop-up.
Hopefully this is a quick passing fad.
SB
March 9th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I totally agree, ads should be funny or sutle enough to cause curiosity and persuasion. Those pop-up ads that display over the text you are trying to read, play music and those that flash all these colours causing the end user to almost have an epileptic fit (as you look at the screen) are incredibly annoying and really puts me off! I don’t understand how these people can consider this sort of advertising effective at all as it actually repels visitors to the site?
Marie’s last blog post..Innovation through consumerism
March 9th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I agree that this PayPerPopUp thing is annoying. I think that many of the bloggers that have it on their site don’t even know that it’s there. I contacted someone the other day who said he didn’t put it there and it only happens when someone visits their site through Entrecard. Another thing that I have noticed is that it seems these things are only located on blogspot blogs which leads me to the possibility that there may be some hacking occurring here.
B Carter’s last blog post..Money Magnet Widget - Save your hard earned money
March 9th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hi,
Michael from Germany here.
I agree with you all that online advertising, no matter in whatsoever format, can really be a nag.
And some publishers / bloggers perhpas overdo a bit.
But, have you ever tried to see it this way?
Some bloggers are young and need the money … lol.
To be serious again:
For many a publisher or blogger the web is a chance to break free of boring dayjobs and financial shortfalls. So monetizing is the name of the game. That’s were online ads enter the scene.
I won’t discuss here which kind of ads are “working” or not.
But if you like the content you get for FREE on your favourite blog or website, why is it so hard for you to accept whatever kind of adverts the publisher or blogger is running?
Perhaps he’s just trying out something new?
Perhaps he’s just doing a test, which might lead to much less advertising in the future …*-) Whatever.
But as long as you don’t prefer paid content all over the web / blogosphere, imho we should accept a little “adnoyance” from time to time, giving our favorite publishers or bloggers the chance to earn …
if it helps them to go on …
Regards,
Michael
Michael’s last blog post..How a Famous Affiliate Marketing Superguru Started From Scratch. And How You Can Do The Same
March 9th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I wrote a post about the evils of unstoppable audio ads and can’t agree more. Here’s the thing though. I believe that blogs and sites in general that do that will lose visitors. I myself will not go back to a blog that intentionally or unintentionally blocks the very content I’m trying to read with ads and annoyances.
It definitely seems like greed helps create the most annoying blogs on earth. By the same token, greed usually self destructs and fails spectacularly when unchecked. Let’s hope these greedy sites fail just a little faster and reduce the overall “noise” we all have to wade through to find a decent message. Of course, in the mean time, I’ll just do everything in my power to avoid them.
Zack’s last blog post..Become a Black Belt Blogger with the Brilliant Authority Black Book
March 9th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Hopefully a firefox extension will come up to block these annoyances..And yes, I’m tired of hearing the same old taco bell commercial.
I found another site with some trickery going on. Visit this site and see what happens when you try to click on their EC, this was a new one for me to see: http://fromtheold.com/
(In case you dont want to visit the site, what happens is when you move your mouse over the widget, the widget itself moves on the page forcing you to look at more of the site).
Tim
Tim’s last blog post..The Money Kings’ Top 10 Reasons To Love The IRS.
March 9th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I don’t get the pop ups thank god as I’ve disabled the possibility, but I absolutely hate the audio ads. This will make me leave any blog immediately.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Holy cow, you are SO right! I came across two yesterday and had three today. Plus, there was a porn pop-up from who-knows-what site! I was outraged! I’m stumbling this post. Get the word out.
Mrs. Mecomber’s last blog post..History of Fort Ticonderoga
March 10th, 2008 at 1:14 am
One of my Adbrite ads talks, and it bugs me, but there is no setting for disabling it that I know of - but i never had any pop ups.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Among the things that can be erm, upsetting, are site that insist on breaking out of a frame when I’m surfing within a frame for a reason. I understand the reasoning for breaking out of frames but there are times when people are doing so for a reason.
selif’s last blog post..My Life as Mama Jodi
March 11th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
And amongst the things that can be upsetting for a webmaster is for another site to get traffic and Alexa credit for a visit to your site, so I use the handy dandy little break out of frames plugin.
March 11th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Agreed. I don’t want to be forced to read an ad, and if I were it would not exactly give me a good impression of the website.
Subtleness and humor or key to convincing quality users to visit your website.
Also, as you said, what can you say in 5 seconds that could make me want to buy your product? What if I have never heard or the product you are advertising by PayParPlay and so unlike Taco Bell I have no clue where to go to learn more?
March 11th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I haven’t seen the pay per pop ups, but that would drill my nerves. I originally signed up for pay per play, but it never took off properly, so I stopped promoting it. Now, I’m glad I did when I read some of the comments on this post.
Teasas Tips’s last blog post..Choosing An Affiliate Program
March 13th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I couldn’t agree more. I fear the day that I will experience both at the same time! :/
Malin’s last blog post..More hama beads creations!
March 13th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I haven´t seen the pay per pop ups yet but am fearing the worst. like many people I think this is negative for any site. whenever I come across sites and music starts playing, I ditch the site, even if the music playing is my own favorite one!
Mirjam’s last blog post..17 Plugins to Make your Blogging Life Easier
March 13th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I have come across several of these as well, I didn’t realize people were getting paid to have them. I had heard about a lot of people’s blogger accounts getting hacked and ads popping up that they didn’t put there, that’s what I thought these were.
Fortunately I don’t have to worry about the annoying sound things, I only turn on the sound on my computer when I want to hear something, I can’t stand to leave the sound on and jump everytime I get on a page that automatically plays music or a video or something. And the fact that the kids are nosy and have to come and look if they hear anything too, so it just stays off.
Jolene’s last blog post..Set the Drink Aside!
April 1st, 2008 at 3:40 am
Advertising should complement your content not overwhelm it. With pop-up and other forms of “in your face” ads, you run the risk of turning off your readers and actually reducing your chances for success long term. You need to be patient and put the work in that is required to build readership and traffic. The money will follow.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:58 am
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