Google is really no better than adware from the old days. Sure the service they provide is useful, but it's still adware in another package.
I've always found Google's business model vaguely insidious, like they're using my data against me.
Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
11–20 of 39 posts
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#12Currently, advertising only works on the Internet when people don't know it's advertising either because it is not labeled as such or because a confusing term is used (e.g., "Sponsored"). If you don't want to deceive users in this way, have ads about clever products (NOT clever ads, but clever products such as the Segway, Rubik's Mirror Blocks, etc.).
That's not true at all. Advertisements succeed or fail based on the nature of the ad. I've clicked Google ads before despite the fact that they're very obviously ads (different-colored backgrounds, text saying ads are ads). I've clicked Facebook ads, which are put in a special Ad Zone of the page.
Clever ads don't make me buy things, but they get my attention. Clever products? It's not a matter of clever, it's a matter of what I WANT. I would never buy a Segway because of an online ad.
There is one tried-and-true method of making an ad work, and it works every time: you make something people want, you find where you can put an ad that the right people will see, and you make sure your ad describes your product well. There's nothing "clever" to that, and there's no "confusing term" tricking people. It's a simple matter of finding a customer.
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#13Just slightly biased. Also fails to understand how internet advertising is completely different. >> "Consumers do not want to view advertising. Think of watching network TV news and remember that the commercials on all the major networks are as closely synchronized as possible. Why? If network executives believed we all wanted to see the ads they would be staggered, so that users could channel surf to view the ads; a…
>Advertising on the net is just extra data you can choose to take advantage of, or ignore. Huh? When I'm reading an article and there's big flashing graphics on either side of the text, that's an annoyance.
That is true. Most users (at least me) install ad-blocking software because of moving advertisements (flash/gif). Why do every site want to give you an epilepsy attack?
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#14Google is really no better than adware from the old days. Sure the service they provide is useful, but it's still adware in another package.
I've always found Google's business model vaguely insidious, like they're using my data against me.
It's kind of like walking in a store, the sales person asking "what are you looking for", and then the sales person trying to sell you that thing you're looking for. This may be "insidious", but it's generally helpful for both parties. Google ads are usually the same way. Google knows what sort of things I want, and it reminds me from time to time. They make money, some random advertiser makes money, and I get the thing I want.
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#15Another problem with advertising is that usually I don't want the things that are advertised. (At least in the case of non-contextual display advertising.)
For example, when I read the NYT I see ads for Target. This is a bad deal for Target, because I already know they exist, and I buy toilet paper there every week anyway. I don't shop there more often because they don't sell anything I want, not because I don't know about them. (Other display advertising is similar. I know Pepsi exists, but I think it tastes like shit. So wasting money advertising isn't helping them; but improving their product would.)
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've always found Google's business model vaguely insidious, like they're using my data against me.
It's kind of like walking in a store, the sales person asking "what are you looking for", and then the sales person trying to sell you that thing you're looking for. This may be "insidious", but it's generally helpful for both parties. Google ads are usually the same way. Google knows what sort of things I want, and it reminds me from time to time. They make money, some random advertiser makes money, and I get the th…
For me, it's closer to walking in to a library, the librarian asking "what are you looking for", and then the librarian trying to sell me that thing I'm looking for (which she gets a commission for).
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#17Why can't advertising work on the internet if such intrusive advertising can work through television ( atleast the companies think it works )
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#18Not really worth the time to read, same stuff that's been said before. Showing a user an ad while they're searching for something works amazingly well -- any other time it's a crap shoot. For the foreseeable future I think the best way to advertise any web app or other online service is with a blog and as many helpful, informative, thought provoking posts as you can find the time to write. There are plenty of example…
> There are plenty of examples of successful companies that have used this model
Do you mean they used their blog as the main marketing effort? I'd like to hear more about those.
It seems if the users are looking at your blog, they've found you already. Or perhaps those companies created thousands of other blogs that were only used for search engine optimization (linking back to their money blog)? That I can understand.
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#19Why can't advertising work on the internet if such intrusive advertising can work through television ( atleast the companies think it works )
I bet TV ads stopped working as well when TV remotes became popular.
Re: Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet
#20Currently, advertising only works on the Internet when people don't know it's advertising either because it is not labeled as such or because a confusing term is used (e.g., "Sponsored"). If you don't want to deceive users in this way, have ads about clever products (NOT clever ads, but clever products such as the Segway, Rubik's Mirror Blocks, etc.).
That's not true at all. Advertisements succeed or fail based on the nature of the ad. I've clicked Google ads before despite the fact that they're very obviously ads (different-colored backgrounds, text saying ads are ads). I've clicked Facebook ads, which are put in a special Ad Zone of the page. Clever ads don't make me buy things, but they get my attention. Clever products? It's not a matter of clever, it's a matt…
I've clicked Google ads before despite the fact that they're very obviously ads (different-colored backgrounds, text saying ads are ads). I've clicked Facebook ads, which are put in a special Ad Zone of the page.
What percentage of Google's revenue comes from people clicking ads that they don't know are ads?