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Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

marksonland.com

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Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#11

Post by patio11 »

patio11 wrote: post #8
rscott wrote: post #2

I used to be on the fence, but I think things have changed for me within the last year. I don't think there's anything wrong with ads starting on launch day. I think it's easier for users to accept it when they first come to the site, rather than a few months down the line when they appear out of no where. It's just less jarring. Note: I have no data to back this up, it's just my feeling.

Given that the people who are pathologically allergic to ads (if you think I am talking about you, dear reader, I am) disproportionately are early adopters and control the blogs et al which you'll want to get links from, I would say leave it off for the first while (to get the maximum love from the linkerati) and then integrate them later. As for not jarring people when you introduce them later: 99.999% of your visit…

(Quick question: is SNS actually English? I'm having one of those "Have I been in Japan too long?" moments -- had another one the other day when I couldn't tell someone how Americans pronounce SaaS because I have never heard one say it.)

Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#12

Post by garply »

patio11 wrote: post #11
patio11 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that the people who are pathologically allergic to ads (if you think I am talking about you, dear reader, I am) disproportionately are early adopters and control the blogs et al which you'll want to get links from, I would say leave it off for the first while (to get the maximum love from the linkerati) and then integrate them later. As for not jarring people when you introduce them later: 99.999% of your visit…

(Quick question: is SNS actually English? I'm having one of those "Have I been in Japan too long?" moments -- had another one the other day when I couldn't tell someone how Americans pronounce SaaS because I have never heard one say it.)

I don't think it is.

Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#13

Post by oomkiller »

Ads are so commonplace on the internet today, that when I see a site with no ads, I sometimes wonder what is up with it, is it new? Possibly unreliable or unstable? Am I the only person who has felt this way?

Now, annoying ads are a different story, especially those word-highlighting ads that float so you can't close them, and that usually have a cpu-sucking flash app running inside them. THOSE I notice and LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!

Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#14

Post by omarchowdhury »

_cbsz wrote: post #4
lux wrote: post #3

I agree with rscott on the appearance for users, but one thing to be careful of with services like Adsense is your click-through ratio (CTR). If your hits on a big launch day skyrocket, but the traffic isn't the ad-clicking type, you could find your ads devalued due to a poor CTR. If it happens enough, you could be losing money. I had this happen on a site that was hosting some popular files that were being accessed…

When you say that your ads get devalued, do you really mean that each click is worth less simply because it is less likely for a click to happen? This sounds silly to me, and I think you meant that impressions (i.e., your server costs) get devalued, because clicks are where the money comes from.

smart pricing also factors in conversion rate for the end business. a lot of the businesses which use Google Adwords also use Google Analytics for conversion tracking. and when Analytics has data on a particular domain sending traffic from Adsense blocks, it will regulate pricing based on that.

Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#15

Post by mlok »

rscott wrote: post #2

I used to be on the fence, but I think things have changed for me within the last year. I don't think there's anything wrong with ads starting on launch day. I think it's easier for users to accept it when they first come to the site, rather than a few months down the line when they appear out of no where. It's just less jarring. Note: I have no data to back this up, it's just my feeling.

Maybe there is a way to get the best of both worlds : Not having ads on day one AND getting users ready to expect them.

Why not reserve some space for ads here and there from day one, but fill them with ad-looking text (à la google ads) about this or that feature of your own app? Then, a month later, replace those ads with real ones.

Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#16

Post by lucumo »

garply wrote: post #12
patio11 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Quick question: is SNS actually English? I'm having one of those "Have I been in Japan too long?" moments -- had another one the other day when I couldn't tell someone how Americans pronounce SaaS because I have never heard one say it.)

I don't think it is.

But it should be...

Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#17

Post by vollmond »

mlok wrote: post #15
rscott wrote: post #2

I used to be on the fence, but I think things have changed for me within the last year. I don't think there's anything wrong with ads starting on launch day. I think it's easier for users to accept it when they first come to the site, rather than a few months down the line when they appear out of no where. It's just less jarring. Note: I have no data to back this up, it's just my feeling.

Maybe there is a way to get the best of both worlds : Not having ads on day one AND getting users ready to expect them. Why not reserve some space for ads here and there from day one, but fill them with ad-looking text (à la google ads) about this or that feature of your own app? Then, a month later, replace those ads with real ones.

The content for these placeholder ads would need to be very carefully chosen to avoid misleading users when you switch over to actual ads (so they don't still think that's data about your service)

Re: Should You Monetize Your Site With Ads On Launch Day?

#18

Post by mlok »

vollmond wrote: post #17
mlok wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe there is a way to get the best of both worlds : Not having ads on day one AND getting users ready to expect them. Why not reserve some space for ads here and there from day one, but fill them with ad-looking text (à la google ads) about this or that feature of your own app? Then, a month later, replace those ads with real ones.

The content for these placeholder ads would need to be very carefully chosen to avoid misleading users when you switch over to actual ads (so they don't still think that's data about your service)

I agree, I don't think we should mislead or trap users, but rather accustom them to boxes of information which are there for curiosity, "related" stuff (graphically different : smaller grayish text?), or at least some kind of placeholder (a grey box will do).

Those should definitely not be involved in any workflow of the service.

My point is just to soften the transition, by preparing some ads areas so that they don't appear one day, stealing space from the app.

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