Ads or Content? What a PITA.

The ballance of ads vs. content often leans more towards ads.

Why do companies (or whoever) insist on putting so many ads or make them so prominent on their web sites?

I recently did a Google search which ultimately directed me to forums on a site  called Just Skins (www.justskins.com).   About half of the page I landed on, measuring from top to bottom was nothing but Google ads.    If I said it was difficult to determine the difference between the ads and the content, I would be lying.

Finding the ads was the easy part.  They are all labeled with “Ads by Google” and are right in your face.  The main post in this particular forum I was looking at, was nestled between two of those big ass Google text ads.  I didn’t even realize it was a post until I looked closer.

Personally, I am tired of the intrusiveness of advertisements on web pages.  It is no secret that many of these online business (some of my own in fact) rely on advertisements in order to make a profit or at least break even.  That, I am not opposed to.

Why do so many sites put their content at risk for the sake of advertising?

Some of these providers make their content utterly useless by littering their pages with text ads, pop-ups etc.  It is so frustrating when I see it I move on to the next site in the results.  Many popular magazine and news sites maintain ads integrated with their content while maintaining the integrity of what it is they set out to do in the first place:; they provide useful content.

Even the interrupt page (you know, you click on a link and a page appears with an ad with the option to ’skip this ad’) is not as intrusive and damaging to otherwise useful content such as was my experience with the Just Skins web site.

I sent them a message to let them know how I feel.  A protest of sorts:

The ads on your forum pages inspired me to do my research elsewhere.  They are intrusive and make your possibly otherwise useful content, well, useless to me.

I hope some day you see the light and focus on providing quality content in your forums rather than filling your ‘above the fold’ with Google ads.

This contact page does not have ads in my face.  ( Somewhat refreshing).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 9:47 am and is filed under Pissed Off. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.