Jeffry, I know I should have continued the post but if you look at the thread towards the end it had gotten well off topic  http://www.squidu.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 2525#p2525
more importantly YOU are a Suidoo vet with some great lens what is your take on the google ads? and positioning?
michael

Catana wrote:

Sincerely doubt that we have to expect whack a mole to show up.

Two weeks ago, I would have said the same thing about the current AdSense locations.

As I posted previously, we're testing these placements to see if they increase clickouts and royalties for lensmasters... A test of only a few days wouldn't be very informative or useful, and we still need to see how things perform... as well as how readers and lensmasters respond. Your feedback is welcome -- and we're seriously considering everything that comes up.

Heath, I appreciate that a test has to run for more than a few days. However, this evades the issue that a fair number of us have concerns about--that the impression people get when they come to a lens is more important to us than the possibility of making more money. From that point of view, the test is irrelvant and a waste of time. I was planning a group of lenses that I won't continue with until I know whether I have a choice about ad placement. I WILL NOT have ads at the top of those lenses, and that's that. Considering A. that there's so much opposition, and B. that income from Amazon and elsewhere is probably going to be worth more than Google ads, is a continued trial even worthwhile?

Of course, I realize that plenty of people will continue to come aboard regardless of ad placement, so the arguments of current lensmasters may count for very little. Maybe I'll have to admit eventually that this is just another brick (and probably the last one) in the wall of my past experiences with sites where the users have little or no influence.

We're waiting! We're waiting! But from what you said, it's not just about the money, right? It's about credibility?

Angela

Heath, maybe I can ask a question that's answerable even at this early date. I think what a lot of us are concerned about is the implications of the test. If the test shows that ads at the top are going to increase income, will they become permanent for all lenses? Or, will we have a choice of placement, with the test results a better way to make that decision, at least for those whose goals are primarily financial?

If a successful test means that ads on top are going to be instituted across the board, I'd like to know that sooner rather than later, since it affects my plans for future topics. Is that something the admins could discuss and let us know without our having to wait an unspecified amount of time?

Last edited by Catana (06/06/2006 2:42 pm)

Hereby I appoint Jazilla & Catana to represent me in my Absence in whatever Controversy regarding tacky Ads on Squidoo. Their Words are my Words & I fully agree with their latest reasonings.

Here's the two main reasons I don't like this change.

1. "Street" Credibility (at least my credibility) is more important than a $0.39 increase in royalties, even on the web. Nay, it's more important than a $3.9 increase in royalties. And it's even more important than a $39 increase in royalties. I decided to use Squidoo to add one more element to the virtuous circle of Wu Ming's web activities. I never expected to make money out of a lens, at least not directly. And not immediately either.
1b. Generally speaking, it's always very useful to provide quick, well organized basic info on a subject. If that info moves people to go into the subject thoroughly, then they may decide to spend some money. In plain words, I'm not counting on people clicking on tacky ads in the spur of the moment. That's why I think that Amazon and eBay modules are more strategically important than Google Adsense.

2. Google Ads are not contextual enough in such a context as Squidoo, where expertise is the most important thing. The ads will always be too generic and indefinite compared to a lens' content. They'll never stand comparison with what Squidoo claims to be about.
2b. There's plenty of stupid, dismal, pathetic stuff in the Adwords program. Once I bumped into a google ad that said, more or less: if you send us $25 and the mail address of a person you hate, we'll put a fresh human turd into a box, gift-wrap it in golden paper and send it to your enemy. That ad appeared on top of a page with completely unrelated (and rather serious) content, only because the text contained the word "prank". The presence of that ad completely destroyed whatever content the author had wanted to offer. I think that the proliferation of google ads and the likes is becoming a real plague. Of course a lot of people like the Internet that way, and many bloggers think that ad placement is more important than content itself. Well, those are the plague-spreaders. Back in the 17th century, we Italians used to burn plague-spreaders alive.Luckily enough, the country has evolved and become more tolerant :-)

Last edited by wuming1 (06/06/2006 4:14 pm)

Hi Hashim and Michael (This forum needs "Reply To function)

"I like the ads. The don't seem tacky to me."

I agree for a free site they are not to bad at all.

My hits have actually increased, my clickouts have increased, also the visitor visit time is now longer.

??
TV ads
Radio Ads
Newspaper ads?
Magazine ads?
the list is endless.

Advertising
Part of our world, the free part anyways.
(The Pravda in the 60's had NO ads. LOL http://english.pravda.ru/
Of course now they sell T-shirts, really go look.)

Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters.
(I bet someone complained about them

From Wiki
"However, usage tracking, customer profiles and the growing popularity of niche content brought about by everything from blogs to social networking sites, provides advertisers with audiences that are smaller but much better defined, leading to ads that are more relevant to viewers and more effective for companies marketing products."

"The Long Tail" twitches. LOL
http://www.squidoo.com/longtail/

Someone mentioned Seth?
"Is there a buyer for every page, for every ad, for every headline? Nope. Doesn't matter. Because for this ad, for this page, here I was.

Sort of changes the way one might think about things. "
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog … ing_t.html

Curious, how did you all find Squidoo.com in the first place?

Just my thoughts
Cheers
Jeff
PS As I have posted before both Microsoft and Google have ad free websites available, for FREE

Last edited by jeffryv (06/07/2006 3:08 am)

Wu... now you are 102% right. Jeffry I get what you are saying -- I am not looking for an ad free website -- and I am not looking to "socialize" Squidoo (ala Pravda for God's sake) and I do believe Pravda had bigger problems than a lack of ads!

You mention Magazine, TV, Newspaper and radio ads DUH!! That is my point -- if Squidoo is merely another slate for ads then what is the point?! Maybe I should have said clutter (ala Wu) instead of noise ---

Its like the way satellite radio is killing itelf -- pay for radio why? because it is ad free -- au contraire -- Howard Stern, Orielly and the big name talkers have ads -- did not take long for XM/Sirius to "brown down" their innovative business model -- so do we really want to "brown down" Squidoo.....

Last edited by michaelgibbons (06/07/2006 5:47 am)

We're already limited to a vertical format, which is fine, but to take away our prime spot on the page - the spot where what we write makes or breaks the lens' interest value - is counter-productive.
The sidebar ads at least added balance visually.

How now,
Fading cow?

heath... touche..I am going to lay down too -- I don't want or intend to bash Squidoo -- I love it! Keep it real.......and purple...

The discussion is interesting, and I think it goes beyond the specific problem. The issue is the relationship between content and commerce on the web (and everywhere else), and the changes in the way advertisements are perceived by consumers.

As far as google ad placement on Squidoo is concerned, this argument is full of tongue-in-cheek references to our discussion.
Abstract: early adopters are the people who care, they're important at startup but they are just a vocal minority, not the majority. They're like those unrealistic people who vote in the primaries for candidates that will never make it 'cause they're far on the right/left. Their opinions should not affect important decisions when it's time to get serious and you need to conquer the majority etc. The questions are: do you really need that? Do you know when you need it? And the most important one: the majority of what?

Last edited by wuming1 (06/07/2006 3:44 pm)