11-22-2003, 11:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Site Updates: New Navigation and Text-Based Advertising
Pocket PC Thoughts, like any good Web site, continues to evolve - and we always hope it's a good evolution, not a devolution. ;-)
First up, we've changed our shopping navigation a little - now we have three choices for shopping: hardware (Tek 'n Toys), software (Handango), and "The Mall" will be a zone where we'll have all sorts of goodies for sale, including the much-coveted Pocket PC Thoughts micro light, some other PPCT goodies, and affiliate links for you to use when buying Vaja cases, etc. We hope that when you need to buy hardware and software for your Pocket PC, you'll support us by using these links. Thank you! :-)
The other update is an experiment with a new type of advertising. First off, it's not spyware or anything that is on your computer that is causing the text link you see above in the screen shot (thanks Lurch!) - it's a Javascript function that dynamically scans the text on a page, then creates in-line text links based on the content. Right now you can only find it on reviews. You can see what it looks like in action - notice the word "software" is underlined. When you hover over that word, a small text blocks hovers over it telling you what the ad is about. When you click that hyperlinked word, it launches a new browser window, and Pocket PC Thoughts makes a small amount of money. Note that in this case, only clicks count - we don't get paid for showing the ad, only when you click on it. I like this type of ad, because it's contextual, relevant, and low-key. I'd like to know what the rest of you think about it.
So why are we doing it? You've all probably noticed the sheer number of times that the muvee banner loads, and as much as I like the program, when you see that banner it means that not only do we not have any paying advertising of our own to load, it also means that Tribal Fusion doesn't have anything for us either. While I'm deeply thankful for the support that our regular advertisers have shown us, the truth is there's not that many of them, so we're trying out this new system to see if it will help drive some income for the site. No, we're not in danger of shutting down, but a regular income stream that we can rely on would be very helpful.
Astute readers will also have noticed we've launched Google Adsense as well - this is another "pay per click" type of advertising effort.
I know there's a lot of confusion and misinformation about online advertising, and what it means when you block ads on a site, so I'll do up a little educational piece on this in the coming weeks.
UPDATE: Subscribers now have the ability to turn off these text ads if they wish.
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11-22-2003, 11:18 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 141
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Will subscribers see this advertising, even if we have disabled ads?
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11-22-2003, 11:18 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,766
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Jason,
I would like to say that I think that the advertising you are doing on your website is getting much better and I think that you are understanding that people do not like flashy ads anymore, especially those "winner" ads.
I like the Google Adsense, they are on a lot of webpages, I guess because of the low-key, as you mentioned, advertising that it signals. Angelfire is taking on with this, and nearly every website has that running on it now.
I am glad that you have not decided to use popups, as those are incredibly annoying and that I feel deters new comers from coming to the site. I do not mind the text advertising at all, its just there, and if I want to click, then I can, it does not affect the way I read the review or article, thumbs up there! :waytogo:
One thing that I have noticed though, is the fact that the Google Adsense banners have gone from a non disturbing white that went well with the background, to a now very dark blue. Is this you changing it to go with the site? I thought that it was much nicer the white, its less distracting. Then again, maybe you need people to notice it more.
Most of the ads I actually click on because they are atleast relevant; however, the "Winner" banner is not - and that is so bright and flashy! Lets just hope you can get more banner ad sponsors to get us some more useful information and you some more money!
All in all, I think that its going in the right direction, which I like to hear 
-Justin.
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11-22-2003, 11:20 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,213
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I think this form of advertising is a pretty good idea but this implementation seems to only work in Internet Exploder. I can't get the ads to even show up in Firebird, let alone click on them. It's less distracting that annoying animated banner ads and doesn't have the same bandwidth penalty that serving graphic ads does.
__________________
Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
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11-22-2003, 11:52 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 44
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Doesn't appear to work with Mozilla.
Also, I may be a bit dim but the screenshot of 'where to buy' is no where near the 'software' inline that I believe you are talking about (heaven forbid, I had to read the article to find it )
An interesting direction in advertising. So long that every second word doesnt become an in-line, then this could be quite nifty!
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11-22-2003, 11:55 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 541
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Yikes. I'm glad it doesn't work in Mozilla. I have a habit of tracing my mouse as I read stuff, and having boxes pop up everywhere will be painful. Love those google ads though.
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11-23-2003, 12:18 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 110
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For info - neither the underlining nor the pop-ups work in Opera 6 either.
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11-23-2003, 12:35 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,466
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I think the reason why you guys can't see these ads is because they are MS Smart Tags, which would only work in IE6.
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11-23-2003, 12:44 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dazbot
Will subscribers see this advertising, even if we have disabled ads?
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Right now, yes. I'll have to see how easy/hard it would be for us to allow subscribers to turn them off...
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11-23-2003, 01:00 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 10,981
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I think the new ad's are great. I love being a member of a site where the admin cares what the readers and community think about the advertising. And the fact that you have spent this much time and energy into finding ways of keeping the advertising un-obtrusive.
Keep up the great work! :way to go: 8)
__________________
"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein |
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