Okay, we know we all need to pay the bills. I know that many of
us want to get traffic to our web sites. And some of us just
want to make enough money to pay for our costs so that this
thing we love to do is free.
But, come on, that doesn't mean you should plaster a hundred ads
or a dozen banners on every page of your web site. A banner here
and there, a small button or a few text links is fine, but I've
seen some web sites that have dozens and a few that have
hundreds of ads on each page! Now this is just tacky and is
virtually guaranteed to get your visitors to hit that handy back
button fast.
One of the worst kinds of web sites, in my opinion, are those
that are just huge advertisements. Especially those that are
advertisements for dozens or even hundreds of other services.
People do not surf the web looking for banners, text links and
other advertisements to click on. In fact, statistically, most
people are surfing because they are looking for (a) information,
(b) entertainment, or (c) someone to talk to. Most web surfers
are not looking for something to purchase.
A good web site offers excellent content (which can be graphics,
text or interactive features). Even those sites which sell
something also offer content which is of interest to their
visitors. Go take a look at any really good shopping site and
you will see what I mean. Look at Amazon.Com or Barnes And Noble
and you will understand - these sites offer tons of content.
Reviews of their products, consumer comments and large amounts
of data about the items being sold. This is what people want -
information. Some common things on web site that you should
never do.
Banner exchanges - It's real simple - these do not work. Oh, you
will get a click or two, but banner exchanges tend to look
tacky, take up valuable space on your web pages and increase
your load time. To make it even worse, many times you will lose
far more traffic than you will gain. Don't even bother putting
even one of these on your entire web site.
Notices saying "please, pretty please, keep my site free and
click on something". This just makes you look like a rank
amateur. In my humble opinion, it's very tacky to expect people
to click on links just so you can "keep your site free". Come up
with or find a good product or service, and sell it if you must.
Advertising is not in of itself of value - only products or
services have value.
Pornographic ads (unless your site is a pornographic site) - You
want to chase away your visitors fast, then include pornographic
ads. Yeah, you might get a few dollars from them, but you will
lose visitors and your site will not be "family safe", which can
be important.
Gambling ads - I understand that these advertisements may be the
only things (besides pornography) that people will click on
nowadays, but quite a few people do not want to be exposed to
these things. I believe that these kinds of advertisements will
cause you to loose a large amount of traffic.
Web sites that are just advertisements - I suppose there is a
place for brochures or full site advertisements, but I
personally hit the back key as soon as I run into one of these.
I want content. If I wanted this many advertisements I'd buy a
magazine or look in the classified section of the newspaper.
Any large graphic advertisements. Remember one of the very
important things in web design is load time. Your site must load
fast. If you include large graphic ads you are increase your
load times.
Sites which are just lists of pay-surf, MLM or other money
making schemes. There is nothing wrong with include some
pay-surf or MLM ads here and there on your site. Including a
section on these programs is also fine. But come on, please put
some real content there also. Otherwise people will hit the back
key fast and never come back.
Brochures - I've seen a large number of web sites in my days,
and one of the ones that I click out of the fastest is one that
looks like a brochure. It feels just like someone took the
company brochure and converted it to web format. What on earth
makes companies think these are of value to anyone?
Popup Windows - If you do a survey of web surfers, you will find
that these are among the most hated "features" that exist. No
one likes pop up windows, and if your site has too many of them
you will loose visitors fast. Oh, you may get a few more clicks
or signups for your newsletter, but the amount of time your
visitors remain on your site will be limited and of less quality.
900 Numbers - Sites which advertise 900 numbers (a) don't work,
and (b) clutter up the web needlessly. My advice is to find
something better to do.
About the author:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets.
This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your
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