Ads taking up 1/3rd of the screen!

[Steven P. Administrators]

First idea, make smaller ads? If I was a guest to a site that had huge ads like that, I wouldn't join. Guests aren't to know if they will be bombarded by more massive annoying ads when they login. I'm not bitching either, because it's your site, so you can run it however you like.

Are they actual guests? On a forum I run, I see a huge amount of bots. Be that spiders or spammers.

We've configured search engines to show as "Google" "Bing" etc and ATM: 123 members, 1302 guests, 10 anonymous users (on forums).

This. The ads I get on my tablet when I switch browsers make me want to kill people :\

It does really take away from Neowin. The other thing I would do is run an article explaining the benefits of registering or subscribing. I'd have registered just for the "Thread formerly known as" thread.

Actually doing so isn't, but talking about it is.

I have Neowin on my whitelist for background loading. I never see the adds, but my browser loads them and Neowin should get the "impressions" benefits from me >.<

I've been thinking of writing an auto-clicker to use for the site, but I don't want to get Neowin in trouble :\

We have a thread about the benefits of registering, also a small nag in the forums that is prominent http://www.neowin.ne...ster-at-neowin/ Nah, dont do an auto clicker ;)

Also, about the background loading, not even sure that works.. because I've noticed that ads only "play" or load once I've scrolled to them.. so I'm not sure that actually does anything. (Unless the developer of the whitelist background loader says otherwise?)

[Steven P. Administrators]

I'll email our advertiser about the big ad, but I bet they say that it will result in a chunk of lost income :/ What are we to do??

[articuno1au]

Yeah, I know the thread and naggers, I meant an article. Something on the main page for people who just automatically tune out the nag etc.

I'd already decided the clicker was a bad idea, even though I could have made it stealthy as hell.. Could be interesting to write if nothing else (without the actual "CLICK" of course >.<)

EDIT::

So long as you don't do inline advertising (like TomsHardware) I'll continue to love you.. I know it doesn't put food on the table, but at least you'll be loved.

[Calum Veteran]

As a member, here are my thoughts:

Adverts don't put me off, even ones that big. I've seen that big advert space on a few sites (but only recently, for some reason); these are news websites that I don't ever log in to, and the massive adverts haven't put me off visiting. Having to scroll down a bit to see the site header/latest news, on my 17" screen (when I'm not using my larger screen) is a slight inconvenience, but it hasn't put me off visiting. Even knowing that I might be able to hide the ad when logging into an account hasn't influenced me to bother registering.

Having said that, if so many people dislike the big ad, perhaps keeping it there could actually result in more registrations, if an obvious message is placed underneath informing them that the ad will not be shown if they register. Right now, I'm not sure whether it's obvious to guests that some of the ads (especially that big one) will be hidden upon registration.

[Vice]

Hey guys I would love to hear your feedback on how we can improve the experience at Neowin but the fact is we offset the bigger ads to guests because there are always 1000's more of them on Neowin all the time. Max member count at any one time never reaches past 300.

So instead of bitching about the ads you don't see when you're logged in, how about some suggestions to turn those guests into members? I don't really understand why our member to guest ratio is so extreme myself?

Remember we pay developers, newsposters, our own hosting, two full time staff from that income, and our advertisers are pretty much requiring these types.. and lastly guests won't always see the big ad, as it should only display once or twice in a 24 hour timeframe. I never see them in Europe when I check the site logged out as well.

I appreciate meaningful feedback.

If the ads were less intrusive the guests may be more inclined to signup and take part in the site. When I visit sites and am not impressed by the design I am less inclined to sign up and take part.

Also you need to keep in mind that adblockers are now very easy to use and accessible. A lot of people are aware of them. So when you put huge ads on the site that distract you are more likely to push people to block them.

I'll email our advertiser about the big ad, but I bet they say that it will result in a chunk of lost income :/ What are we to do??

Maybe you should consider other revenue options? For example you could partner with a site that sells custom branded t-shirts, cups, mouse pads and other things like that with your sites logo on them. I'd be willing to pay for a Neowin mouse mat. Another site I visit (also a forum) did exactly this and were able to remove a substantial amount of their advertisements from their website due to the income from the merchandise and they weren't even shipping it out, the other company did it all for them for a percentage of the goods.

[zhangm Supervisor]

Put the ads in their own overlay on the page so that they don't shove content out of the normal position. Have the ad display for 5 - 10 seconds at the normal size, then slide the overlay up into the top of the page so that the content pokes out ~30 - 60 pixels or so.

First, everyone who normally would see the ad will still see it at full size. If 5 - 10 seconds at full size at the top of the page doesn't induce interest, they weren't going to click on it anyway. Finally, the slide, as well as maintaining the bottom edge of the ad in plain view will allow people to go and click on them if they decide that the ad is of interest.

[Timan Veteran]

Put the ads in their own overlay on the page so that they don't shove content out of the normal position. Have the ad display for 5 - 10 seconds at the normal size, then slide the overlay up into the top of the page so that the content pokes out ~30 - 60 pixels or so.

First, everyone who normally would see the ad will still see it at full size. If 5 - 10 seconds at full size at the top of the page doesn't induce interest, they weren't going to click on it anyway. Finally, the slide, as well as maintaining the bottom edge of the ad in plain view will allow people to go and click on them if they decide that the ad is of interest.

There are terms on how you display some of the ads. Above the fold etc.

[MikeChipshop Member]

You won't see those when logged in.

I get those ads and i'm logged in. :s

[Steven P. Administrators]

I get those ads and i'm logged in. :s

Next time you see it pls make a screenshot.. we have one code for guests, one for logged in members and another for tier 2 (ad free).

[The Teej]

Hey guys I would love to hear your feedback on how we can improve the experience at Neowin but the fact is we offset the bigger ads to guests because there are always 1000's more of them on Neowin all the time. Max member count at any one time never reaches past 300.

So instead of bitching about the ads you don't see when you're logged in, how about some suggestions to turn those guests into members? I don't really understand why our member to guest ratio is so extreme myself?

Remember we pay developers, newsposters, our own hosting, two full time staff from that income, and our advertisers are pretty much requiring these types.. and lastly guests won't always see the big ad, as it should only display once or twice in a 24 hour timeframe. I never see them in Europe when I check the site logged out as well.

I appreciate meaningful feedback.

Fair enough.

While not a suggestion to turn guests into members, how about a way of converting members into Tier 1/2 Subscribers? Perhaps during big events (such as E3, WWDC, GDC, etc) you offer 20% off subs as a way of enticing more people to sign up? While, quite obviously, per person, it's 20% less then you'd normally get, if you manage to double the amount of people to sign up then you normally would during that discount season, then overall you've made more money. Is this feasible at all?

As for converting guests into members, I like the "why register" thread, but perhaps it needs to be more prominent on the front page too rather then just on the forums? That might help. Another great way would be directly showing you're able to register using Facebook. I'm not entirely sure how you'd promote this, I'll admit, but perhaps something along the lines of Register using [FB Logo] next to the Login and Register buttons might work? There's been quite a few times where I've wanted to sign up to a site but couldn't be bothered to put in all my details etc... and now thanks to Facebook it takes me two clicks and I've registered :p While the functionality is there it's not displayed -at all- on the front page! I'm of the opinion this is an invaluable tool to convert guests to members.

Another great idea which I'd like to just quickly copypasta from another member earlier on was the idea of selling merchandise - I'd definitely be up for having a 4GB Neowin-branded USB stick or Coffee Mug or mouse mat. Hell, I'd probably buy a t-shirt too if it just had the logo, it looks stylish enough to wear it casually and the only people who will give you the thumbs up for it would be other Neowin members, it's a great way of spotting them out of the crowd :D

Hope these ideas help :)

[Timan Veteran]

I'D LOVE A NEOWIN TSHIRT TOO *wink wink*

[MikeChipshop Member]

Next time you see it pls make a screenshot.. we have one code for guests, one for logged in members and another for tier 2 (ad free).

Ah... are the guest ads bigger then?

[articuno1au]

@saltysaltybk - Did you even read the thread, in particular the mods telling people not to comment on stuff like that.

On topic, the merchandising idea sounds pretty cool. I don't know how viable it would be, but it does sound cool.

I'd pay for this on a mug:

[Steven P. Administrators]

snip

Thanks for your reply, we've just added login with facebook/twitter to main and it will also be added to the forums as well.. I expect this will help convince lurkers to possibly come aboard, we're also working on a Store and I hope to have that up before the end of the month :) I don't see it offsetting a lot of the ad income though but I'm prepared to be surprised. I also think the discount season is a good idea.. We could offer Tier 2 at a reduced rate, say $20 or something ($8 saving).

[Steven P. Administrators]

Ah... are the guest ads bigger then?

Yes.

Edit: Thread cleaned again.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Yes.

In that case all is working well :D

[Timan Veteran]

Really should do an instant-ban on people who advertise adblock use on neowin.

Keep it to yourselves if you use it. Its basically a spit in the face to us who contribute to this site to keep it up and running.

[The Teej]

Thanks for your reply, we've just added login with facebook/twitter to main and it will also be added to the forums as well.. I expect this will help convince lurkers to possibly come aboard, we're also working on a Store and I hope to have that up before the end of the month :) I don't see it offsetting a lot of the ad income though but I'm prepared to be surprised. I also think the discount season is a good idea.. We could offer Tier 2 at a reduced rate, say $20 or something ($8 saving).

Wicked :D

No problem mate :) Hope it goes well!

[Lovell]

I remember one of the admins saying that more guests view the mainpage than the forums what about adding the minispy to the mainpage? show more of the guests the forums rather than just the news, the current forums bit on the right is to small and dull.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I remember one of the admins saying that more guests view the mainpage than the forums what about adding the minispy to the mainpage? show more of the guests the forums rather than just the news, the current forums bit on the right is to small and dull.

We thought about this and it would just push our news content down even more. If you have an idea on how we could implement it, or improve the Recent Forum posts block, fire away :)

@Lovell Just noticed you Tier 2'd up (Y) Nice one and thanks!

[articuno1au]

Really should do an instant-ban on people who advertise adblock use on neowin.

Keep it to yourselves if you use it. Its basically a spit in the face to us who contribute to this site to keep it up and running.

That's absolute rubbish :\

What it is is an acknowledgement that ads are a pain in the ass for users. If they loaded as fast as the rest of the page and weren't so damned intrusive, I would still be showing them in totalis on my screen. As it stands, it just slows down my browser and wastes bandwidth.

For instance: http://vimeo.com/8357893

[Timan Veteran]

That's absolute rubbish :\

What it is is an acknowledgement that ads are a pain in the ass for users. If they loaded as fast as the rest of the page and weren't so damned intrusive, I would still be showing them in totalis on my screen. As it stands, it just slows down my browser and wastes bandwidth.

For instance:

I'm referring to people who post, and say just use ad-block.

[Steven P. Administrators]

That's absolute rubbish :\

What it is is an acknowledgement that ads are a pain in the ass for users. If they loaded as fast as the rest of the page and weren't so damned intrusive, I would still be showing them in totalis on my screen. As it stands, it just slows down my browser and wastes bandwidth.

I'm glad not everyone thinks like you, because otherwise we wouldn't have a site to complain about anyway.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I thought the entire stardock thing was to cover server costs?

Do ads even generate much revenue? especially on a tech site where most of us know ads are bs and wen ever purposely click one anyways.

I know for sure that if i was a guest that was looking for tech news i'd skip past any site with huge header ads such as that.

Stardock owns 40% of the site, but we are self sustaining (through ad revenue). Stardock doesn't do "hand-outs" or fund us at all.

[articuno1au]

I'm absolute rubbishing his statement of it being a spit in the face (mainly in the intent of their use), I can live with his clarification though.

As previously noted, I am using the tool and loading the ads in a delayed "non-blocking" method in an invisible div. Thus I get speed and usability but waste bandwidth and a decent amount of CPU time; and you guys generate the revenue necessary to keep running.

Google's keynote on adblocking in the adsense network makes a good point. If ads don't annoy users, they don't install ad blocking. Thus if ads are too annoying, they ought be blocked to force the networks to provide less intrusive ads.

They are advocating a balance for their ad system. Personally I think you guys have it pretty well pinned down, guests get a bit of in your face, members get not so much and contributors get nada.

In particular, you are a tech site with a fairly tech savvy user base. Most of us are running these kind of tools. Those of us that are serious about the site are doing our part to help, but these tools are a reality of the modern internet.

Further to this, given most of us install the tools for other sites, not you guys, most of your users aren't even aware they are depriving you of your revenue stream. Everyone else acting like pricks with their advertising network is going to do your harm.