New in-context ads [Archive] - Digital Camera Resource Page Forums

Jeff Keller

12-07-2005, 03:59 PM

You may have noticed that there are new "in-context" ads on some pages on the site (forums included). I am testing these in December to see a) how they perform and b) how they are received. To be perfectly honest I'm not a fan of these, but I'm trying it anyway. If you see them I'd like to hear what you think... are they annoying? Are you more likely to click on them than a banner?

thanks for your help!

Rex914

12-07-2005, 04:08 PM

What another consumer product reviews site does is actually even more clever. Rather than just embed an ad in the link, they highlight model names like "A610" and link you to say... a spec page with the standard pricegrabber stuff. It's not exactly advertising, but I actually found that sort of thing to be useful and beneficial (albeit less lucrative) than this scheme.

I don't mind these ads, but I'm not so hot over the one on the main forum page. :)

"Where -- and where not -- to buy your digital camera (http://index.php#)."

Edit: I'm not so hot either over the one in the footer. Your site's name has turned into an ad for Sony digicams! :D

Maybe I haven't looked quite enough, but I'm noticing that just the brand names and common words are being highlighted, but what would be more targeted is if individual camera names would also be highlighted with a link to that shop's entry for that camera. I don't know if this software is hosted by you or on the ad service's site, but that's just a thought...

Rhys

12-07-2005, 04:48 PM

To be honest, I ignore adverts. I find these contextual adverts interesting but have to ask - how do I block the dratted things?

Jeff Keller

12-07-2005, 04:50 PM

Mouse over the highlighted ad link, click on "What's This". Toward the bottom of that window is a link to disable them entirely.

Rex914

12-07-2005, 04:53 PM

Maybe it's just my browser, but I don't see any mention of "what's this?" in the rollover.

Jeff Keller

12-07-2005, 05:43 PM

Maybe it's just my browser, but I don't see any mention of "what's this?" in the rollover.
That's odd, they WERE there a little while ago...

Rhys

12-07-2005, 05:58 PM

That's odd, they WERE there a little while ago...

Hmm. I'm using Mozilla and they're not present. Neither ar e they present in Internet Explorer.

Rex914

12-07-2005, 06:00 PM

I double-checked the HTML source and can't find anything remotely like it either...

Clyde

12-07-2005, 07:23 PM

To be perfectly honest I'm not a fan of these

thanks for your help!

It is important that they don't intrude on included links, but beyond that the ones I have looked at so far don't seem appropriate for the text they are attached to. They are distracting and annoying.

Clyde

Balrog

12-07-2005, 08:11 PM

No. They're ugly and distracting. I click on the pricegrabber/etc banners often enough, but this stuff just bugs me.

Ads are fine when they're discreet - but the more an ad intrudes on the site content the more likely I am to be turned off by it ... those pesky flash ads that jump out at you and cover the whole page are about the worst culprits imaginable; but even these can "ambush" you by covering up site content with their popup text when you leave your mouse pointer over one accidentally... also, the double-underlined green words randomly popping up in the middle of normal text is disconcerting.

Much as I love this site, I would never actually click one of these.

ktixx

12-07-2005, 08:27 PM

Rex914

12-07-2005, 10:57 PM

Jeff Keller

12-07-2005, 10:57 PM

Have you ever thought about setting up a page for donations to the site. I know I would be happy to give a couple of dollars towards the site. If 1/8 of the readers contributed $5.00 I think all of the costs would be covered, including your time :). Personally I don't like the underlined words they are very distracting and somewhat annoying.
Ken

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I don't like ads that take away from the user experience, so if nobody likes these, I will get rid of them no matter how much they pay.

If you want to support this site, here's the donation info (http://www.dcresource.com/about/about-dcrp.html#support)

Thanks,

Geoff Chandler

12-08-2005, 01:25 AM

Thanks for being open to peoples opinions.
When I first saw one I thought there was something on my PC because it
pasted itself on one of my posts - I went in and altered the wording to get rid of it, then disinfected my PC just in case!
Now I understand what's been going on.
They are a bit strange!
no - I don't really like them.
Thanks

Geoff

zdzislaw

12-08-2005, 02:41 AM

hi
since today i am having dififcultes with the pages, every time i am moving from forum to forum, been told that internet expl, is experiencing trouble and has to close down...
please"trouble no more...."
donations yes, i am in it,
regards
bad seed of fuji forum::o
zdzislaw:) :) :)

ReF

12-08-2005, 04:08 AM

they don't bother me all that much. i thought it was odd at first, but now i just ignore them. the holiday buyer guide banner is quite bothersome though. it's not the idea itself that i don't like, it's the colors/design.

TampaJim

12-08-2005, 06:31 AM

I can handle it. They aren't anyone favorite, but the bills have to be paid. My wife talks during football games, but I am not going to quit watching them - sometimes we just endure and push on.

:D

Vich

12-08-2005, 10:17 PM

To be honest; I would liken them to seeing TV style adds at the movie theater. I shake my head slowly and mentally ask myself "so this is where this world is heading" - and consider boycotting. Here, I can calm myself and consider that its probably a necessary evil to make this site viable. For the movies; I occassionally complain or grumble and frankly visit the theater (plays) and independent theaters more, or simply show up 10 minutes late for any movie.

Frankly; whenever I visit a site that runs uninvited redirects, pop-ups, or I feel tricked into clicking to a spyware-looking link, I curse and make an effort to never visit that site again. I've never encountered a site that actually alters (or embeds links) into what I've actually authored. I've gotta say that if an EMAIL service started doing anything like that I would immediately cease using it. I don't use Google EMAIL because they scan my content.

Something a similar site has done is to partner with Google Banner Service. They actually scan typed content and display related banner ads. For example; if you start typing a thread about a 28mm lens, suddenly banners begin (in their designated spot on the screen) about the Tamron, Canon, etc 28mm lenses available at such-and-such site. Much less intrusive and probably more effective.

I've appreciated what this site has to offer so of course wouldn't boycott DCRP over this, but the plan may backfire by diswading new visiters from bookmarking this site.

To be perfectly honest - I find it a huge turn-off and I doubt I will get over it. Each occurrance will compound on my nerves and I'll unfortunately spend my time on another site instead. Just a prediction. For sure, some new visitors who feel less loyalty will simply leave immediately. Its a gamble if they (we) who hate them so are the vast minority.

I think Jeff's mission statement says it best: http://www.dcresource.com/about/about-dcrp.html
To quote:
2. Do #1 without shoving ads down the throats of our readers. That means no pop-ups, pop-unders, interstitials, or any other annoying ads.

Rhys

12-09-2005, 05:44 AM

In-context ads can be defeated quite easily by putting invisible spaces into words and the like :p

rschofield

12-09-2005, 06:40 AM

... are they annoying?
Yes.

Are you more likely to click on them than a banner?
No.

Jeff,

I'm not sure if it is purely coincidental but for the last couple of weeks I have had periodic problems accessing the forums on this web site. Sometimes the connection just hangs, sometimes I get a 'timed out' message from my browser (Mozilla), and sometimes I get an error message from your server to the effect that there is 'a database problem' (sorry, I don't have the exact message handy). :(

These hangs have been so troublesome at times that I've actually stopped using your site as much as I had been. :mad:

I was wondering if these problems might be related to the new in-context ads.
If they are inserted via a proxy server and that server is slow, overloaded, or non-responsive that might explain what I've been experiencing.

Dick

ktixx

12-09-2005, 08:01 AM

http://www.dcresource.com/about/about-dcrp.html

Scroll to the very bottom. :)

See now I didn't even know that existed. If it was made more obvious and available I think more people would donate.

St. Chris

12-09-2005, 10:17 AM

When I first saw the green double-underlines (today), I thought they were relevant links within the site, maybe a new glossary system. But DHTML pop-up ads?

You know, if they were context-sensitive to the particular topic -- e.g., an EOS-5D ad in the EOS-5D review announcement -- I might find it useful. Might. But popping up Sony camera ads in review blurbs for a Canon and a Nikon? Linked from the word "camera"? And an ad linked from the term "image stabilization"? No, that's awfully intrusive.

I know enough to come to the Forums to provide feedback about this (and, from reading this thread, I know how to turn off the links, which I did), but I suspect that many others will notice the ads and just get turned off and avoid the site from now on.

Note: I accidentally clicked on one. Be sure to subtract at least one count from your click-through metrics.

Jeff Keller

12-09-2005, 04:51 PM

Y
I'm not sure if it is purely coincidental but for the last couple of weeks I have had periodic problems accessing the forums on this web site. Sometimes the connection just hangs, sometimes I get a 'timed out' message from my browser (Mozilla), and sometimes I get an error message from your server to the effect that there is 'a database problem' (sorry, I don't have the exact message handy). :(

These hangs have been so troublesome at times that I've actually stopped using your site as much as I had been. :mad:

I was wondering if these problems might be related to the new in-context ads.
If they are inserted via a proxy server and that server is slow, overloaded, or non-responsive that might explain what I've been experiencing.

Nope, not due to the in-context ads. The DCRP web server has been swamped in recent weeks due to the holiday rush. I just upgraded my server a few weeks ago and apparently that's not good enough -- I need more power.

Zoinac

12-09-2005, 04:59 PM

Though, I do understand that ads are a nececary evil, because nothing in the world is free. I thin I would rather there be more, tastefully placed, banner ads.

I am never bothered by banner ads at the top or bottom of the pages, you can usually scroll them out of the way, or, the web designer, has seperated them in such a way that they don't really affect the asthetics of the page. Howver, with these in context ads, while I'm reading, they are right there. Personally, for me, I'm a total sucker for them, I absolutly have to see what pops up.. I never click, but I scroll over them... it's like a tedious game... Every single on totally interupts me reading.

I would say get rid of them, ad a few more banners, I can ignore those, but as it stands now, it takes me 3 times as long to read a thread.

Donations are also good, but sadly, as money point of view, too many people just don't donate.

If you must keep the ads, then thatt's alright. I would just rather not see them.

Clyde

12-09-2005, 06:57 PM

To be perfectly honest I'm not a fan of these, but I'm trying it anyway. If you see them I'd like to hear what you think... are they annoying? Are you more likely to click on them than a banner?

I did click on one because I thought the writer of a post put it in. As someone who occasionally puts links (http://www.clydesart.com/) into his posts, I find my posts being changed. It is effectively rewritting my post to turn it into advertising for someone. Someone I don't necessarily endorse.

I do actually make recomendations on this site. I consider them relatively carefully, and try to have reasons for them. Making my posts into ads for other products or vendors subverts the post I was making. I can easily imagine a post saying "camera X sucks dust bunnies" becoming an ad for camera X, a vacuum cleaner, and easter egg candy.

The more I think about it, the more annoying it gets...

Sorry,

Clyde

Jeff Keller

12-09-2005, 10:26 PM

Just to let everyone know, I have disabled the in-context ads. I was getting too many complaints, and the ads were bugging me as well. And thanks to the person in this thread who reminded me about the mission statement of this site... these ads stray too far from that.

zdzislaw

12-10-2005, 01:20 AM

Jeff,

may your god bless you and your country...

forever silly (but not young),:confused:

fuji user and contributer,

zdzislaw:)

Balrog

12-10-2005, 09:20 AM

Thanks, Jeff! :)

ktixx

12-10-2005, 09:54 AM

good move jeff :) Thanks!

Vich

12-10-2005, 01:49 PM

Well done:

Regarding donations, they work better when there's a goal and when people are recognized or rewarded.

I donate to NPR because I listen to them daily, and because its not a black hole. They let us know their budget, how much they have in donations, what they need, ...

On NPR, the calls for donations spoils their broadcast 3 or 4 months a year. The internet has far more capability. For example; how hard would it be to disable all advertising for "subscribers", maybe have a little star next to their screen name to proudly show them as a supporter, perhaps offer them some bigger capability (bigger and more photo attachments, ability to start polls, etc).

Surely; you are a "for profit" venture so the NPR model isn't appropriate (revealing your books), but the feeling of "buying nothing" doesn't sell well.

You can't very well ask for admission fees since all newbees would say "yeah right", but the regulars might be game in exchange for recognition.

There must be other profit models that take advantage of your audience.

I think your review spreadsheet and all the supporting reviews are a wonderful resource for displaying digicam comparisons. Don't know if it's been worth your effort, but I've sent more than one person the link to that page and suggested they purchase by clicking your link to help support the site.

Of course; photo hosting that offers prints, speciality items, etc - not to mention pro photographer services has a huge profit potential. Disk space, band width, its a race from the red ink. However; such ventures could see a big boost from an already established audience. I'm sure you've explored all that, just thinking aloud.

D70FAN

12-10-2005, 05:16 PM

Thanks Jeff. At least the references were not obnoxious.

rschofield

12-11-2005, 11:01 AM

Nope, not due to the in-context ads. The DCRP web server has been swamped in recent weeks due to the holiday rush. I just upgraded my server a few weeks ago and apparently that's not good enough -- I need more power.

Jeff,

I'm not trying to be a pita ;) (and will now drop this issue) but I find it again coincidental that the response on this web site has improved considerably since you disabled the in-context ads. Has everyone made up their holiday minds and gone to the store to make their purchases? :p

Now on to other stuff.

Dick

Jeff Keller

12-11-2005, 02:26 PM

Jeff,

I'm not trying to be a pita ;) (and will now drop this issue) but I find it again coincidental that the response on this web site has improved considerably since you disabled the in-context ads. Has everyone made up their holiday minds and gone to the store to make their purchases? :p

Just a conicidence. The in-context ads were hosted elsewhere and the pages load before the ads start loading.