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alan_dr Lifetime Member

Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 316 Location: Portsmouth, UK
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:13 am Post subject: Adverts in posts? |
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Hi
Every time I look at a post now I see an ad as the second entry. Is this a new thing? I don't mind seeing ads on the outside borders but I think its a bit much having them in the posts as well. _________________ Alan - iPhone 5 64GB, with CamerAlert, TomTom Europe & CoPilot |
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Darren Frequent Visitor

Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40 Posts: 23848 Location: Hampshire, UK
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:58 am Post subject: |
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Alan this is a trial to see where they generate the most traffic. It's a temporary test which was supposed to have ended by now but MikeB, our web expert is in the US and without web access at the moment so the trial is running longer than anticipated.
We are a business and have to generate advertising income to cover costs, they annoyed me too at first but I have to say I hardly notice them now. _________________ Darren Griffin |
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Geoff_UK Regular Visitor

Joined: Feb 10, 2006 Posts: 101 Location: North East England
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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how long has the trial been running for ??
I hope it's not been long because until I read this thread, I'd never even noticed them !!!
You're not the only forum to run ads in the posts, as long as it's restricted to the way you've done it, I don't mind at all. _________________ tomtom one v2 - 7.162
2Gb Toshiba SD card
UK and IE plus major roads of WE - v675.1409 |
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Darren Frequent Visitor

Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40 Posts: 23848 Location: Hampshire, UK
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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It's been going a week, was originally intended to run two days. _________________ Darren Griffin |
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wildwolf Occasional Visitor

Joined: Jun 26, 2007 Posts: 2
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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Darren wrote: | Alan this is a trial to see where they generate the most traffic. It's a temporary test which was supposed to have ended by now but MikeB, our web expert is in the US and without web access at the moment so the trial is running longer than anticipated.
We are a business and have to generate advertising income to cover costs, they annoyed me too at first but I have to say I hardly notice them now. |
For what it's worth (since you are a business and would likely enjoy feedback to your generating income venture), I have been using the hosts file to block most advertising from webpages.
This form of advertising blocking has not blocked much (any that I can see from the hour or two I've looked at your forum) main advertising on the side, however, none of the message thread advertisements have been visible. It appears to block every single one of those.
I'm sure Firefox users are also blocking the side advertisements with ease or I'm also just as sure I could download a newly updated hosts advertising blocking file and block more.
Just wanted to chime in....hope I don't offend any. |
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PaulB2005 Pocket GPS Moderator


Joined: Jan 04, 2006 Posts: 9323 Location: Durham, UK
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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I wonder how some of these people would feel if i went into their employers / social security office and "blocked" their pay / benefits?
Last edited by PaulB2005 on Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jean Regular Visitor

Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 150
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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As someone who used to have a website and appreciates the ability to make some money by advertising on site, I do not see a problem at all with the adverts. They do not bother me and I have been known to click on an odd one.
As one poster said, they had not even noticed they were there so they cannot be very obtrusive.
I enjoy the comments on the site and can live with the adverts no problem. |
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Andy_P Pocket GPS Moderator


Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 19991 Location: West and Southwest London
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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As I said before, I was quite happy to live with adverts down the side, but sticking them in forum posts was, for me, going too far.
Not moaning, not bothered, just got rid of them.
Can't quite get my head round PaulB's post... |
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Darren Frequent Visitor

Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40 Posts: 23848 Location: Hampshire, UK
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Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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Personally, I don't have a problem with other websites where advertising is present, of course there is a balance and I'd like to think we're on the right side of it. I don't like the many pages of ads in magazines but know that it offsets the cost of the publication. You access this website free of charges so is it too much to ask that you accept the limited advertising we deploy?
Of course there are ways to block adverts but they are targeted i.e. 90%+ of the Google Ads are for GPS or related stuff and the regular advertisers are all GPS related. If you block them then you may just miss something that would have interested you!
Were we to start accepting advertising from SKY or other unconnected retailers (and we do get approached) then I could understand the concern but as it stands it's all related to the topic of GPS. If everyone was to block the advertising then we'd have to find another method of raising funds, we're open to suggestions of course but I can't think of any! _________________ Darren Griffin |
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alan_dr Lifetime Member

Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 316 Location: Portsmouth, UK
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 6:47 am Post subject: |
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Hi Darren
Its just about positioning. Like you, I accept adverts in magazines, but I would not like it if one was put slap bang in the middle of an article I was reading. Its the same with ads in posts. Put as many ads as you like on the fringes, but let's leave the post clear for reading. _________________ Alan - iPhone 5 64GB, with CamerAlert, TomTom Europe & CoPilot |
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PaulB2005 Pocket GPS Moderator


Joined: Jan 04, 2006 Posts: 9323 Location: Durham, UK
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:02 am Post subject: |
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Quote: | Can't quite get my head round PaulB's post... |
The adverts are a source of revenue. My point was how would some people who block the adverts feel if their source of income (pay / benefits) was cut off or "blocked"? It like they all think that websites run on fresh air.
What's not to understand? |
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Andy_P Pocket GPS Moderator


Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 19991 Location: West and Southwest London
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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I understood it.... just couldn't get my head round it
The comparison didn't seem particularly relevant, that's all. But hey, lets agree to differ.
PGPSW, don't take it personally: another forum I'm involved with (on a totally different subject) decided that any companies who advertised on the site could also add an advert (the size of those "banner" ads you get at the top of some web pages) as a "signature" at the foot of every one of their posts.
This means that many threads are just a huge mass of repeated adverts with the occasional single line of text buried in between them. I moaned much harder about that (with no luck! ) |
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tanda Lifetime Member
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Joined: Aug 21, 2005 Posts: 617 Location: Gloucester UK
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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Can the Adverts be put at the bottom, and as a new post is added, the advert moves down below it, so it always stays at the bottom, then the site gets its income, and people who don't like it, don't have to look at it? _________________ Audi A3 Sline sat nav |
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Darren Frequent Visitor

Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40 Posts: 23848 Location: Hampshire, UK
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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That'd likely annoy more people as it'd be always in view? As it is, it's only visible for the first two or three posts of a thread, if you follow new post links you're taken to the last post automatically and so don't even see it? _________________ Darren Griffin |
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RobBrady Frequent Visitor

Joined: Jul 21, 2004 Posts: 2718 Location: Chelmsford, UK
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:11 am Post subject: |
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tanda wrote: | Can the Adverts be put at the bottom, and as a new post is added, the advert moves down below it, so it always stays at the bottom, then the site gets its income, and people who don't like it, don't have to look at it? |
This has been considered and discussed as a possibility. We will be trying a number of ideas over time.
We know that a good percentage of our visitors find the adverts useful as so many of them actively click through.
The trick is to find out the most popular position, i.e. which ad positions the community click on more without it being too obtrusive.
Ironically, pop-up ads (the most obtrusive of ads which most people say they hate with a passion) are the most successful of ads in regard to clickthrough rates. That said, many marketers understand that pop-ups can severely damage your brand. Those companies not interested in branding can and do make a good living by annoying people into clicking within a pop-up. It's all about getting the balance right. We won't be testing pop-ups by the way
The reality is that the proportion of ad blind surfers are on the increase and click rates on many sites continue to diminish. Shifting an advert a few inches on a web page often can make the difference of having to put the subscription price of a site up or not.
We've kept the subscription at £2.00 for almost 18 months now and it would be good if we could keep it at that price even longer. The collection of clickthrough data of the various ad positions over time is the best tool available to us to help us try to achieve this. _________________ Robert Brady |
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Posted: Today Post subject: Pocket GPS Advertising |
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We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
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