4 reasons NOT to have ads on your site

posted on 28 January 2008 | posted in Website Tips

As the internet matures, one clear pattern is emerging : more and more sites are placing advertising - particularly Google Adsense - on their websites. The rationale is that ads earn a nice residual income without lifting a finger.

This is fine if you're running a blog or enthusiast site - you could be bringing in large traffic and the extra money is great. However, if you're running an e-commerce / business website, you need to consider the idea that ads on your site may be undermining your revenue. Here's 4 reasons why advertising may be harming your site:-

1. Adverts act as exit points to your site, so you can lose potential customers in exchange for the money you'd earn for the click on the ad - is this a good exchange? In some cases yes - for those who genuinely want to leave your site, but others are more fickle and may have stayed longer on your site without the ads.

2. Ads clutter up your pages and burden all your visitors in trying to find the actual content on your site. Given the vast majority of your visitors won't be clicking on your ads (even with a decent click through rate), this is quite important. A website without ads is generally easier and a lot more pleasant to read. A pleasant experience is likely to bring back repeat visitors.

3. Ad blindness is making online ads less and less profitable. The internet population has gotten used to ads and they often casually filter them out as they browse pages. The ubiquity of Google Adsense means people have grown use to the ad blocks and simply ignore them.

4. Ads may make visitors question the purpose of the website. Is it to make money from ads, or is it to provide a service / sell products? Of course it may mean both (as is often the case), but the visitor is going to make up her own mind.

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