Why don't people click on ads more often?
There's an obvious answer to this question, but lately I've been thinking about it. Clearly web users have been so abused by the advertising from a few years ago, such as pop ups and banners, that they have developed immunity to ads. They tune them out. Even a simple text ad is invisible to the calloused user. I have a friend who even installed a Firefox extension that blocks Google Ads. I was very suprised.
I used to be this way too. Until I signed up for Google Adsense.
It makes sense to use ads, especially unobtrusive ones like Adsense. Hosting costs money, and there's nothing wrong with covering those costs through ads. I never thought I would have a website popular enough to justify ads, and then I started Liquid Designs. It was really unexpected, I thought the site would flop, and all of the sudden I was getting 1,000 hits a day. Naturally I figured I had a winner, and signed up for Google Adsense. A few days later, I was in the money.
Or so I thought. Just like I said, the modern web user is calloused, and especially the audience that would visit a website like Liquid Designs. They have every right to be that way, and I'm not about to beg anyone for clicks. I have to admit, though, I'm no longer like that. I see ads wherever I go, and I know how they work; you only get paid for clicks. I've also realized that if I really like a website, and I visit it every day, I ought to show some encouragement to the people who made it. Something that says, "thanks, I like your content and I'm glad you are putting the time into making it. Here's a couple cents to keep your good work on the web."
That's right, a click. Nowadays whenever I spend a few minutes at a website I like, I "leave a tip." I click an ad on my way out. I'm not saying this to sound noble, or try to convince others to click my ads. I just can't help but wonder why more users don't do the same. It only takes a moment, and if everyone did the same, web sites would have a lot more encouragement to keep running. Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone "tipped" everyone else? It would be a nicer web indeed.
So take this food for thought. Show your favorite websites that you care. Leave a tip, and feel good doing it too.
Where are the ads for this one? I care! I will click!
absolutely, some people are ad immune, I do think that in general it largely depends on your audience. Designers and Web Developers are definetely immune to the ad clicking, but the more general, casual surfer tends to be a bit more curious than some of us. Of course these are generalizations, but I imagine big companies and certain niche sites are still raking in tons of loot from adsense. I dropped adsense about 6 months ago, I didnt make enough money to validate cluttering up my site with them.
I do however participate in the "leave a click" practice, funny that you mention it, thats the main reason I wanted to comment on this thread. I began to do that after I got adsense and I still do it because it helps, and I think I've got alot of clicks to spare
I've heard of blogs with a lot of traffic that make 1000 dollars a month from Adsense. It's true, the casual surfer is more likely to click.
I'm testing Chikita ads right now, they seem more effective, since the sites in Adsense tend to be really dumb. I think Chikita has a lot of potential, since they display products, not websites.
The latest problem I've had with ads, though, is that people get my RSS feed, and never come back to the site. I get more hits to the RSS feed than I do to the index page. So not only do I lose out on a lot of potential advertising, but my total number of pageloads goes down too… which, as you probably know, hurts even more.
I just deleted google adsense from my site. I just felt like a sellout
It's Chitika not Chikita.
I spent hours and hours on my site and adsense and the way the talked I would be rolling in the dough but nope not even enough to eat at Burger King lol. Take a look at and if you like leave me a "tip"
Thanks