Don't your members hate AdSense?

[utw-Mephisto]

I applied for adsense and got the key the next day .. So fair enough .. the first thing I got was complains about adds on my website since it was adfree for over a year ..

Do you have the same experience ?

[Dave A]

I'm probably going to have to cross this bridge one day.

My thought is to first introduce it somewhere discreet, at least below the fold - and then in time move it towards the warmer page zones. After all, the rent needs to get paid somehow.

In hindsight, there's something to be said to having it there from day 1 - but too late for that.

[utw-Mephisto]

But thats the thing : Who wants to sign up if the site is full of adverts ..I didn't / don't ... for sure ..

I mean this is a bad example of ads imho : http://utzone.de/ (you cannot miss it)

I don't know .. my site was always a hobby and not to intend to make money .. I think if I cannot afford it anymore I rather give up the site or maybe try to use ads, but I am 100% sure that the community on my website defo. HATES ads .. so at the end its the same : Closing site = using ads ...

vbulletin-faq is a close one (no offence of course) ... there are a lot of ads but they don't bother me that much .. but I know that ads like vbadvanced are even too much for my member (ads in footer) so you get the picture :)

[Big Dan]

They've been on my site since day one. Most of my members understand that running the site costs money, especially since we went VPS.

Many members make fun of the ads. Many ads are completely untargeted, I find it kind of funny and hey if it attracts them to click on ads and I get a few pennies to pay the bills, I'm not complaining.

[Joeychgo]

Mine have never really complained. Like Danny, Most of my members understand that running the site costs money, and that I wanna make a few bucks too.

[utw-Mephisto]

Fair enough ...... I just never could imagine that a forum is that expensive :) (running on dedicated server) ..

[Hell³]

My members don't complain. They just don't click'em. And most of them are savvy enough to find a way to block'em too.

[utw-Mephisto]

My members don't complain. They just don't click'em. And most of them are savvy enough to find a way to block'em too.

So whats the point then ?

[Hell³]

Mainly, my ads are targeted at guest users.

It's not like they are a great revenue stream anyway. And I'm not really interested in "over-monetizing" the forum just yet.

[minstrel]

I've not had any complaints about AdSense (in the forum header). I'm probably going to drop Amazon (footer banner) because their page loads are often slow and it's been about two years since I made more than about $2.10 a quarter from them anyway. :eek:

I think the key is to find ads that don't slow down page loads and don't overdo it. A small header banner shouldn't upset anyone - I think most people understand that there is a cost to running a forum - but when you start to splash them everywhere - top, bottom, sides, etc. - you can expect people to get a little irritated.

[b2w]

My group loved it, clicked to much and got my account taken away. :p

[993ti]

My members hated it and immediately asked if the ads could be removed.
Since they don't click it anyway, i just show it to guests only, problem solved :)

[Caddyman]

try and blend the ads as well as possible, they have to understand that it cost $$$ to run a forum or site. but placement and blending of the ads are key.

[minstrel]

That would be my reaction too. This forum isn't costing you anything but is does have to be paid for and this is how i pay for it.

[Donzi|UTzone]

But thats the thing : Who wants to sign up if the site is full of adverts ..I didn't / don't ... for sure ..

I mean this is a bad example of ads imho : http://utzone.de/ (you cannot miss it)

I don't know .. my site was always a hobby and not to intend to make money .. I think if I cannot afford it anymore I rather give up the site or maybe try to use ads, but I am 100% sure that the community on my website defo. HATES ads .. so at the end its the same : Closing site = using ads ...

Before you say something, it is bad, employs you first times with it.

This Ads on my side is only for unregistered User. Members see definitely only the advertising banner and not the Layerads! the same thing as 993ti

In addition, it, as with you, is a hobby.
Rootservers costs money, with layerads and/or banners cannot make thereby, it relieves the own account only in the small. Small but at least something.

if everyone who is registered would give only 2 cent, layerads/banners would also disappear.
In order to clarify it, Layerads are not in the month approx. 20 euro and the banners times 10 euro if it highly comes.

if you put ads into the footer, you can omit her also directly. that brings nothing at all.

if u wanna see a "bad" ads, look @ h**p://www.winhelpline.info . BUT every webmaster must know, what he do.


I would be careful with your statements, i know, you cannot suffer me....

[utw-Mephisto]

I would be careful with your statements


Why so upset straight away ??
This is just my personal oppinnion about bad advertising ... I did not say your site is bad - just compared to small footer ads for google and huge full screen / half screen ads ...


i know, you cannot suffer me

It was not my intention, just constructive critisisum .. if you felt offended I am sorry .. but yet again - just my personal oppinion. Because of one thing: I don't see as a guest that this ads vanish once registered .. I just know that I (personally) won't even sign up because of that ..

JUST MY OWN PERSONAL oppinnion ... ;)


Oh, just one sidenote : the ads they push through the banner are sometimes even broken . .I know it has nothing to do with your server - but it slows down the site if it takes ages to get an ad (I guess its some sort of iframe) until it finally times out ..

[minstrel]

I don't see as a guest that this ads vanish once registered ..
This is an excellent point, related to the earlier point about a forum that looks "closed" to guests.

I would never use this sort of strategy on a forum. Remember: You only get one chance to make a good first impression. If you fail at that one chance, the Gurst may very likely never return to register and discover that the forum is more friendly or inviting and/or less obnoxious that was apparent when he visited as a Guest.

To me, it's like popups and pop-unders: As soon as I see those, I'm gone -- forever.

[Donzi|UTzone]

Why so upset straight away ??
This is just my personal oppinnion about bad advertising ...

i´m sry for my bad english (schoolenglish before 15 years.. and google translation) i mean your statements to make money, it isnt much money :)



It was not my intention, just constructive critisisum .. if you felt offended I am sorry .. but yet again - just my personal oppinion. Because of one thing: I don't see as a guest that this ads vanish once registered .. I just know that I (personally) won't even sign up because of that ..

JUST MY OWN PERSONAL oppinnion ... ;)

u must not sry me for offended, critisisum is better than to say nothing like other users.
for webmasters like u and me is this a thing to make it better.
thanks for the info, its right i have forgotten to wrote this down in the registrationtext.



Oh, just one sidenote : the ads they push through the banner are sometimes even broken . .I know it has nothing to do with your server - but it slows down the site if it takes ages to get an ad (I guess its some sort of iframe) until it finally times out ..
Yeah thats right. I work with iframe that the page loads fast and if the ads broken, user can surf too, because affili.net have much problems with her ads...

I've testet google-ads without an iframe, and thats a neckbreak for pages, if google cant send the ads



i know, you cannot suffer me
erm, how can i say it in english, i mean u arent like me, but i hope i can help u with the (google-->vorurteil) prejudice because of yours state to make money with ads in anyway.
Its really a little waterdrop on a hot stone

(PS: Googletranlastions make some words harder than i mean, if i wrote in my learned english u laugh :D )
:)

[utw-Mephisto]

Dann sag ich es halt in Deutsch :D :D

Kein Problem .. ich hoffe du hast mich nicht falsch verstanden .. und wenn das so ist dann tut es mir leid :) Alles in Butter hoffe ich :)


Ok, let me say it in German
No problem - I hope you did not misunderstand me .. and if so I apologize .. all in butter I hope (German saying) ...

[Dimitri]

I think is fair enough, if your members think about the cost of host/VPS or dedicated server, but the ads shouldn't annoying to the members or guests, just a "polite" one :) like google adsense :D

[mattyk72]

I have mine set up to display to guests only, I've found I get better results that way. Forum members tend to become "blind" to ads pretty quick anyway.

[Peggy]

I hate adsense ads all over the forum. I think they're ugly and "in your face" when you get too many - and they turn people away.

I have a few on my sites but as little as I can get by with and still earn a bit.

[Caddyman]

my adsense ads are sexy, and if you have the vbmanagement hack, a user can click the "remove ads" links and you setup "subscribers" to see no ads.........so they subscribe, they see no ads. everyone happy :)

[john939]

There's nothing wrong with ads. Sites have ads to make money. If your users don't like it then they just have to put up with it unfortunately. All you have to do is not go overboard with ads. Just keep it to a minimum, but enough to make money to pay back your hosting fees and time for working on the forum.

[Mark Bolyard]

Face it, Large websites need advertising revenue to exist, unless you just have money to throw away. Most members are fine with advertising. I don't implement pop-up or pop-under ads, because they are very distracting. On my forum, I use the Welcome Headers modification, with AdSense ads on the left, and a registration / log-in box on the right. The registration box specifically reads that the box goes away once a member registers.

What has this done for me? Well, my ctr has quadrupled... literally soared through the roof and I can finally say my forum is profitable. Something this told me was, it's not the members who generate your clicks, it's the visitors, the lurkers..

I also use a modification that limits the number of page views to 10, then a message shows up that the visitor must register. All SE bots can view all content through another hack that puts them in a different user group than non registered members, so I don't have to worry about my site not getting indexed. The reason behind this is many people lurk on forums, which is absolutely fine, but when you have a large staff as I do (13 or 14 people) that are working hard to post content, why give non members complete access? Registration is free and takes just a few moments!

As for the rest of the ads, I think they are non obtrusive, but necessary. I utilize AdSense and Auction-ads, which I think is the greatest combination I have tried to date. The majority of the ads for AdSense are targeted, and the auction ads can be targeted however you like.

Members on most forums train themselves, just like us webmasters, to ignore ads. But if they see one that really interest them, then they click it. If you blend them well, and don't make them obnoxious, then chances are the members will not be bothered by them, and might even find them useful!

[Peggy]

Very good advice, Mark, thanks.

[Paul M]

We have enough to finance the servers and a bit to spare - most (but not all) are only shown to guests.

[browie]

I've went into my forums and the users only see the small ads while guests will see the large wide banners.

Something small I do for my users. Someday I'm hoping to have a subscription where I'll turn the ads off for those that pay me a few dollars.

[john939]

I think you will need to put more in the subscription than just turning of ads. lol.

You should do things like, have extra PM space, can have 1 extra link in the signature, etc.

[browie]

I think you will need to put more in the subscription than just turning of ads. lol.

You should do things like, have extra PM space, can have 1 extra link in the signature, etc.

Oh, I agree. Right now I don't really have the user base to even announce something like that. I'm just hoping I can get to that point in the near future. I think it'd be nice for some folks.

[JWL]

I have a simplee question but first my rant

/Rant On
I hate ads, especially when they are in between forum posts and stuffed everywhere but my butt crack
/Rant off

Now, What kind of money are we talking about? how does this break down from what adsense costs you and what you bring in? (REALITY NUMBERS)

Is the money substantial compared to getting legitimate sponsors for a site?

[popowich]

I use smaller ads for members than guests in some places,
and some of them automatically stop displaying to subscribers.

-Raymond