In-Text Advertising Not Evil
After posting my Kontera ContentLink Review, I read a post that Daneil from Daily Blog Tips wrote, urging bloggers to avoid in-text advertising like the plague. Now I read DBT on a daily basis - it’s one of the first feeds I read in Bloglines. I think the content is fantastic, and more often than not, I agree with the opinions. This time, however, I’m going to have to take the other side.
Daniel argues that In-text advertising ruins a website’s usability, and I’d beg to differ. Yes, the ads are annoying - I freely admit that in my review, and I still think so. However, if the ads are placed properly, and the header, footer, sidebar, and all navigational elements are free of the ads, I fail to see how they compromise usability. The ads are clearly marked by their double underline. Even a novice user would catch on after a few ad popups that he wasn’t expecting - and if he didn’t want to see anymore, he would be careful not to hover over the ad links.
In comparison to Adsense or YPN, in-text advertising may actually be less intrusive. With Adsense, there is a whole dedicated area to advertisements - often blended with the content or navigation. This can throw off the look and feel of a website. With in-text advertising, no such ad blocks are needed, and the website flows just as intended.
I’m going to continue to use Kontera ContentLink for the foreseeable future. The added income far outweighs any perceived loss of usability to me.
Daniel said
May 2 2007 @ 6:27 am
Thanks for adding to the discussion, I appreciate!
First point:
“I’m going to continue to use Kontera ContentLink for the foreseeable future. The added income far outweighs any perceived loss of usability to me.”
The problem is that loss of usability means loss of traffic. What if this extra income you are gaining now could be reducing your future traffic? Sometime to take into considation.
Second:
You mention Adsense is more intrusive. If it is placed “inside” the content than I agree they are almost equally intrusive. In fact I also think people should avoid adsense units inside the content :).
If you think the ads will not affect your readers or your traffic than I guess go for it, for every rule there is an exception.
Adam Ferguson said
May 2 2007 @ 6:54 am
I find the inline links extremely obnoxious actually, but once you get used to which links are real and which are ads, it’s not a big deal. It’s not stopping me from reading your site, so if it’s making you some money, I say go for it.
Oh No, say it isn’t so…Pop Ups are back!!! said
May 2 2007 @ 7:53 am
[...] should Stay Away from In-Text Advertising. Leroy from Green Lama then posted about it and said that In-Text Advertising is Not Evil. I’m not sure where you all stand on this one but i for one agree with daniel 100% on this. I [...]
Classifieds said
May 2 2007 @ 5:45 pm
It would be great if you could tell us how well do the links in the text convert to clicks?
Normally I pass them by on my way down the page (as I am generally too busy reading the article)
Of course let’s not forget… how much is the monthly payout?
I don’t mind them at all and don’t find them intrusive, but as mentioned, I go right past them.
James.
Leroy Brown said
May 2 2007 @ 7:46 pm
Re: Daniel
Thanks for stopping by. So far, my traffic has been increasily heavily, even after adding Kontera ads. It could be argued that I’m missing out on even more traffic gains, but ultimately who can tell, really?
If the ads cost me a bit of traffic, then I’m ok with that. There comes a point when you have to ask if you’d rather have massive traffic or a steady income. Which is more important to you - a blog with no income that averages 20,000 uniques a day, or one with less traffic that earns you several thousand per month?
Re: James
The CTR on Kontera ads have been probably about twice that of Adsense so far. I don’t know if Kontera is ok with disclosing CTR, so I wont’ for now - and I’m too lazy to read their TOS to find out. But the ads did account for fully 14% of my online income last month, so they do have some serious revenue potential.
Daniel said
May 3 2007 @ 3:05 am
Leroy, good points, here are my counters:
1. yeah it is difficult to determine what effect the ads have on traffic, specially if the blog is on growth. still if you get like 7 our of 10 people saying they are heavily annoyed buy the in-text ads there must be a tangible impact.
2. even if your main objective is to make money I think those ads work against it. Big money comes from big and respected blogs. Stuck kontera ads on your blog and I will doubt it will grow beyond a certain point. Sure you will start making money earlier, but once that guy with 20,000 uniques start monetizing his blog it will be on the five figures range.
Leroy Brown said
May 3 2007 @ 5:34 am
Daniel,
1. If I had 7 out of 10 people complain to me, then the ads would come down instantly - any kind of heavy backlash like that would do some heavy damage to my readership. I don’t mind losing a few stragglers, but that would be serious.
2. I see where you’re going with this, but i still have reservations. When the guy with 20k uniques starts monetizing, he’s not going to realize the full potential of that traffic, if he follows such strict rules. If he has to keep advertising far away from the content, and hide it in the less viewed areas of the page, then it’s hard to imagine him making as much as he could. I still hold that it’s OK to tick off some readers in the quest to make money. It’s just not OK to tick off most of them.
MI said
October 25 2007 @ 8:55 pm
I have not had much success with Kontera - but I have just started using it.
In general, I have found adsense has no competition in revenue generating opportunities.
Placement of the adsense absolutely needs to be in the left ATF section to bring in money.
This is not really practical for a blog.
Lowell said
June 23 2008 @ 8:58 am
In-terms of in-text advertising without the distraction, our company, BrandClik provides in-text advertising without an annoying pop-up or balloon. Just a simple double underlined word that links directly to the advertisers chosen URL.
In addition, content providers choose their exit CPC and are not told what their exit traffic is worth, rather, they are able to dicate to advertisers what is is worth.
To see an example look at the link below for Commerce Bank:
http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/may/22/first-bowl-cause-planned/
To learn more about BrandClik or to register for free visit http://www.BrandClik.com