If you’ve visited 404 Tech Support recently, you’ll have noticed a few additional ads. One was on the right column and another was on the home page following the most recent article. These ads were provided by Technorati Media. Today, after testing the ads for the past week , I have removed all Technorati Media ads and will not be going back to the service.
I’m very particular about the ads I show on my site. I don’t want to overwhelm my content and create a spam-driven mess. On the other hand, I try to provide the best service that I can. Through the years, I’ve continually upgrade my server hosting from very cheap and easy to overwhelm to standard price but sub-par performance to more expensive but more reliable. These upgrades have cost an increasing amount of money for each step up in capability although I’m fairly certain I’ve finally found a host I can recommend in WiredTree. Regardless of my satisfaction with the server hosting, I can’t afford it without the ads to subsidize the costs.
Google AdSense, the staple ad network I’ve been using since day 1 and keep coming back to, has improved a great deal as of late too. By being able to filter out all the Made-For-Adsense ads, the dating, Get Rich Quick, Adult, Teeth whiteners, weight loss ads, the higher quality ads from legit companies are able to be shown and are more likely to be clicked on. Going with Technorati is going back to square one. The majority of the ads I saw on my site throughout the time I tested TM were “See how a [your city name here] mom lost 40 pounds by following this one trick.” or “Whiten your teeth following an ancient recipe!” There were some relevant ads but they were few and far between. The other thing with TM ads was that somebody wrote to me and complained about the ad they clicked: It took them to a page but when they went to close the page, it popped up a window that redirected them to another website upon leaving and vice versa. They were trapped in either one of the two pages until they disabled Javascript in the browser. That sort of advertising is NOT welcome and I will not use it. For primarily that reason, I’m leaving the Technorati Media ad network. I am very welcome to feedback about any ads shown on my page whether there are too many, the quality is low, or the placement is terrible.
Since I write about tech-related topics, my audience (That’s you!) is rather tech savvy. Unfortunately there’s a trend that a tech-savvy person is more likely to be using NoScript, Ad-Block Plus, or some other ad blocking system (even editing the HOSTS file). This means the number of ad impressions is a significantly smaller percentage than the page views (and bandwidth, respectively) that I have to pay for.
I don’t mean to complain. I’ve been on the receiving end of terrible ads (ones that expand on an accidental mouse-over, those that play a video or sound upon loading, those car ads that drive around the screen and hide the close button so you can’t find it, or even the simple pop-under) far too many times. I understand the need for Ad blocking software, especially around that time when a number of ad networks were compromised by Javascript ads loading malicious PDF files if your Adobe Reader was out of date. Since I am conscientious of the ad networks that show on 404 Tech Support, I hope you might also consider disabling your ad-blocking tools at least on this website.
Of course, there are also some alternatives. I have Flattr buttons on my site that could be used a lot more than they currently are if you are a part of that service and appreciate an article. Some articles might contain what took me two painful weeks on the phone with Adobe’s Tech Support to get figured out all boiled down to a few tried and true steps that take you minutes to complete. I’m not saying that I deserve compensation. If I wasn’t doing it, somebody else would, right? I’d just like to draw your attention that I am part of the Flattr service and if it could pay as much as the ads on my site do, I would gladly take the ads down.
Taking Recommendations
Do you have an ad network that has just rocked for your site? I’m definitely open to suggestion of recommended networks. With the economy how it is and the ad industry in its own slump, I’ve applied for and been turned down at a number of ad networks. I’ve also tried out a number of ad networks that have lower quality ads and worse pay rates that Google AdSense. My biggest complaint with AdSense is the number of duplicate ads I get on a single page even in different sizes. I applied for Chitika, which I’ve heard good things about, right as the Yahoo! Publisher Network closed up shop and recommended all of their existing accounts go to Chitika. With that move, my application has been waylaid, though they’ve kept me updated that it isn’t lost in the ether.
Currently, I average about 40,000+ impressions a month. What are your experiences with different ad networks? What do you recommend? What traits of an ad network are really important to you? Do you have feedback for 404 Tech Support’s ads?
Thanks for any feedback.