Pop-up ads!

OK, I implemented all four options for ads from InfoLinks, and will let this run for 24 hours or so to see what sort of results I get from them all.

I can tell you right now that I don't like it at all, and it is very, VERY doubtful this will remain after the test period.

If these are the ads that show up on the left and right sides of the screen then the one on the right totally covers/blocks the featured ads from the paying members.

The pop-up ads I'm seeing today, on the lower left of my screen, are huge! The ones before were small, and situated at the bottom of the screen, like a stationary news ticker.

Also, what's up with the random, orange super-font on seemingly random words?

I know you have to do what you have to do, but if there's a way to still bring in sufficient ad revenue, and not irritate everyone, that would be nice 🙂

I didn't get this many pop ups from porn sites in the early 2000's! this is crazy

This is a test. This is ONLY a test.

It will end at midnight EST tonight. I want a full day of stats to look at, please. Then I may be able to figure out where that line is in the road I need to walk with this advertising stuff. Quite honestly, I don't really like this myself, but I have also seen existing sites that were even much worse.

As a FYI, my programmer suggested that I eliminate the ads from paying memberships, but I told him to hold off till I get some base figures under my belt. I want to see what difference such a plan would make by having enough stats to compare. It was also suggested to me to have the ads ONLY displayed to unregistered visitors, since quite honestly, the greater bulk of visitors to any of my sites are unregistered or not logged in. But I need facts and figures to be able to make those kinds of decisions.

What I have here today is not going to remain, of course, because it is just way too overboard and a general pain in the butt to have to wade through to even see the website. The sidebar ads even cover over existing advertising that I have in place, even though they may very well be the major advertising vehicle used by InfoLinks, based on just the variety of ads I see on them. But yeah, they would have to go for obvious reasons.

I also use Google Adsense, and compared to InfoLinks, I like the more unobtrusive nature of them much better. But Google has been deplatforming sites at an outrageous rate, and I can't afford to count on them in the future. It should also be noted that Adsense is a "pay per click" method whereas the InfoLinks method is a "pay per impression" style. So with Adsense I only get paid if someone clicks on the ads, and with InfoLinks I get paid just for people viewing the ads here.

Quite honestly, I would much rather be paid for providing an advertising company the opportunity to have people view their ads, no matter what they are, rather than via the Adsense method of not getting paid unless THEY provide ad content of interest to anyone who might thereby click on their ad. The "pay per impression" method puts the total burden of producing interesting ads on their shoulders if they want the clicks. If their ads are uninteresting, and no one clicks on them, that is their fault, not mine. With the "pay per click" method, well, the reverse is true, as Adsense can pick any old garbage ads it wants, and if no one clicks on them, too bad for me.

Also note that I run my FaunaAds advertising completely different from either one of the above. That charges for ads via a flat rate daily charge, regardless of impressions or click throughs. I guess there are pros and cons for any of the above. But FaunaAds hasn't been drawing in very many advertisers lately, neither, so I have to make plans accordingly along with the drops in paid memberships and sponsorships.

Anyway, sorry about the excessive detail about the WHY of what I am doing. I am trying to burn off the remnants of a migraine headache I got yesterday. If I just sit around thinking about the headache, it seems to just make it feel worse. So having to think to post something is helpful to keep my mind off of the dull thudding going on.

Also, there may be mistakes in my typing above, as the brain ain't firing on all cylinders, so please excuse the mess, if that is the case.

What alien has taken over this site?

Originally Posted by tcp2

What alien has taken over this site?

See that? They should have kept right along building that wall....

FYI, what I have settled on, at least until I decide otherwise, is to remove what appeared to be the most irritating of the four options and leave those ads that appear to be less intrusive, yet able to generate a decent return on the space they use on the pages on this site. Yeah, there is still that popup banner at at the bottom of each page, but from what I can see, it is the best of the bunch in the cost versus pain in the butt category.

Is it perfect? Of course not. But if you were or are expecting "perfect", I am sorry, this isn't it. But as soon as I discover that planet, I will let you know.

Thanks for putting up with my experimentation yesterday.

Well, now it appears that Google Adsense has changed something and is putting a HUGE horizontal ad at the top of the screen.

So far I haven't been able to figure out how to get rid of it, so I have asked my programmer to take a look at it.

I sure would hate to lose the Adsense revenue, but if that is what it takes to get rid of that garbage, then that is what will have to happen. It is REALLY getting on my nerves.

So, this is obviously a work in progress.

First off, my programmer has already had those Google Adsense ads blocked for all members at Contributor level and above. I have asked him to do the same for the ads coming from InfoLinks too.

I have been playing around with the options in Google Adsense and I believe I found a section that gave me some flexibility concerning the actual pages such ads will show up on. So I believe I have disabled the Adsense ads from showing up when regular members (in addition to the paying member levels) are either creating a new thread (ad) and when creating a reply to any thread. I believe that at that time, they are just highly intrusive while someone is trying to type in text or otherwise trying to put their thoughts down in a post, so I want them to be out of the way.

I have asked my programmer to look into the possibility of implementing the above block during content creation with the InfoLinks code too. I really don't want anything here discouraging any members at any level from posting.

Of course, I cannot test this stuff in the mobile version of the site, so I just have to trust the changes are being reflected there. As I have mentioned before, I ONLY use my desktop and laptop computers for all my internet activity.

So this is just a FYI as to what is going on with this advertising stuff. I know it's a pain in the butt, but it has become a necessity here that I had hoped could be avoided. Over the years I have tried to keep any third party advertising here at the barest of minimums to help this site financially. But things have changed, so I must change my attitude and strategy too. Even so, at the very least, I want the current paying members supporting this site to be spared the intrusion of those now necessary banner ads.