Too Many Ads

1. 60

   Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

   I don't like my pages - they look spammy.  Too many adverts - just like any other garbage site that personally, I would back arrow out of.
   
   Try logging out and viewing your own pages.  Worth sharing with a friend?  Look at my adverts - there's some content in there somewhere.
   
   Below is just the opening page.  I haven't the heart to discuss the floaters.
   
   
   

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      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm really sorry about this, Mark Ewbie.
      We're doing our best to strike a balance between giving visitors the best possible experience and helping Hubbers earn as much from their content as possible.
      As you can see, this is a difficult balance to strike. While I do not know what our immediate plans with these display ads are, rest assured that we will continue to tweak ad configurations and layout to meet both needs (monetization and good visitor experiences) as best as we can.

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         Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Ah Simone.  Now I feel mean. I don't mean to be.  My bounce rate on HP is worse than anything else I have.  I don't know if less ads means less income - for one-hit answers it probably does.  But if you are trying to write content that says to a reader "read some more" then arguably less ads might result in a better stay.
         
         But that would mean you taking different angles with different content - an impossible task.
         
         I know... "write a book".

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            wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            That's an interesting suggestion - that fewer ads might result in a lower bounce rate.  I've never been concerned much about bounce as the large majority of my readers will bounce no matter what I do.  They've got everything they came for and have no reason to stick around.
            
            But it's a very good point for a different content, and might even be relevant for what I write.  Wonder if Adsense has anything to say about it?

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            1. 60

               Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I am only going on my HP bounce compared to other places. And my 'best' content is still on HP.  My category is mainly that dreaded creative thing and so I am hoping readers will like to read another page or share me or something.
               
               But I appreciate that for high traffic answer pages where the visitor is in and out then max ads is best.  I just lost my own argument.

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               1. 89

                  wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                    Not so sure you lost the argument.  Given a visitor to a hub on toilet repair, might they be enticed to one on building a tool kit?  Or how to solder plumbing pipe?  Remodel a bathroom?
                  
                  There are actually quite a few ways to get a visitor to bounce around an informative hub in lots of cases.  I know that nearly 10% of my visits are from my subdomain, and that they do not originate on my profile.  The would seem to mean they are hopping from hub to hub, and that is borne out by WMT.

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   2. 77

      Cantuhearmescreamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My real only complaint is the new ad right at the top right of our page as soon as it opens... I want my "Share" button back :-(

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      1. 81

         Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         The social sharing buttons are now fixed below the Related Searches ad. When the reader scrolls down, both the ad and the buttons are stickied to the page. We hope that this not only increases their visibility to readers, but also increases the chances that they get clicked on. Rest assured that we will be tracking how well this new configuration is working and will make changes if need be!

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         1. 60

            Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks.  We all want more traffic so let's see how we go.

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               earnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               WER IN UR HUBZ STEELIN UR TRAFIK
               
               

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                  WriteAngledposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  ?

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   3. 79

      aravindb1982posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Nothing more to add other than say,
      
      "YES! WAY TOO MANY ADS"
      
      I wish HubPages gets back the previously existent feature of "Ad level" so that those who are getting a bit nauseated with too many ads choose "Medium" or "Low" settings.
      
      Then, those who wish to monetize to the max have their choice and those that wish to keep a clean look can choose the other options. Now, the only choice being forced upon is "fill with ads" or "no ads"!!
      
      Simone, please get back the "ad level" option for the hubbers... PLEASE.

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2. 80

   jimmythejockposted 11 years ago

   I Have to agree with you Mark, too many ads on Hubpages. Maybe that is one of the reasons that darn panda/penguin cross breed hates the site.....jimmy

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   1. 60

      Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Cheers Jimmy.  I don't want to start a war - came in a bit guns blazing.  But I can't imagine any of us designing a web site page with that much in your face advertising - especially perhaps the ads BETWEEN the title and the content!!!
      
      I thought above the fold was an important thing these days.  In any case I prefer giving my reader what they were searching for or linked to - and adding adverts to the content after they have had a chance to start reading the page.

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         aravindb1982posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Very correct. I guess the idea is to "show" Google that all its ads are being seen immediately by all the readers!
         
         I am on the verge of just "turning off" ads and maybe I will implement it in the next couple of days. Better than "turning off" my readers!

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3. 75

   lobobrandonposted 11 years ago

   Yeah, the number of ads is becoming more and more. The top most ad is useless as people see it first. The one on the content at the top is acceptable, not the header ad though. Now the sidebar like thing is a bit too much as well.
   
   Why not try getting rid of these two ads for a month and compare it with the revenue that HP makes in total? Obviously there are going to be monthly factors etc. so if it's close to the usual you could permanently get rid of them

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4. 71

   Reality Bytesposted 11 years ago

   Am I the only one getting those intrusive floating ads?  The ones that hide the content. I despise those types of ads.  Everytime I try to capture a screenshot, they disappear before I accomplish the task.  I thought maybe it was malware on my machine, but they only occur here.  This even happens when I am logged in?  They do not appear anywhere else so I believe it is a site issue.
   
   Stop the wandering and floating ads!
   
   
   
   It is time to switch to the browser with the adblock software!

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5. 39

   Writer Foxposted 11 years ago

   
   
   Mark, the worst part is the 'Above-the-Fold' view.  When I look at your page that way, I only see your Title and 49 words of content Vs. 3 big ads containing more words than your content.  Part of Google's algorithm looks at the 'Above-the-Fold' area in evaluating rankings in search results. When you look at it the way Google does (or a visitor), there are more words in the advertisements than in the content so the conclusion is that the page is about the advertising.
   
   Some of this bad picture could be helped by making the text column wider to include more copy.  That would also increase usability, because most webpages provide a larger column width than HubPages does and a slightly larger width is easier to read.
   
   But, there is still way too much space devoted to advertising in the first screen view of a Hub.
   
   Studies have proven that people have a 'banner blindness' for the top header ads.  Removing that would also move more content upwards and the banner ad could be put in a more productive place.

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6. 83

   WriteAngledposted 11 years ago

   Chiming in from user experience here.
   
   There is a site I use a lot for my work, because it actually provides a very useful dictionary for one of the languages out of which I translate.
   
   The site in question monetises itself with ads. I was OK with that. I can't remember ever clicking on one, but that possibility was always present.
   
   Over the last few months, however, the ads became more intrusive. Lots of flashing c__p, lots of c__p that would open up as I tried scrolling down the word lists, and even worse, horrid video ads that would start automatically and blare out of my speakers. The ads became too distracting, so I could no longer use the site efficiently.
   
   The outcome: I was forced to download an ad blocker in order to be able to continue using the site.Therefore, the site owner's greed has had the opposite effect to what was intended. I now use the site without seeing a single ad. What is more, the ad blocker is now active on every other web site I visit.
   
   If HP forces too much garbage down the throat of its visitors, I am fairly sure many of them will also resort to ad blockers to the detriment of us all.

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7. 87

   Nell Roseposted 11 years ago

   I actually like the side Ad now that its near the top, makes it look much better, but thats just me! lol!

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   1. 69

      Michael Willisposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I really don't mind the top right skyscraper Ad. We had the square larger AD before the layout change.

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8. 80

   jimmythejockposted 11 years ago

   maybe instead of the ad choice being on or off maybe we could have the options High, medium, low or off that way if we think it is too much we can choose how the hubs look on our impressions compared to Hubpages impressions.....jimmy

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9. 84

   earnerposted 11 years ago

   My CTR on hubs is WAY lower than my own badly written and unoptimised personal website .... and, with all the knowledge, skills, tools, at Hub Towers you'd think they'd be able to get a better CTR....
   
   And yes, way too many adverts.  Especially adverts for which hubbers receive no revenue share (eg Related Searches).
   
   Oh ... and ... gotta love Mark Ewbie.  His hubs rock.

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      Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      <slightly embarassed> - Thanks you!

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         earnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         My cat will never forgive you.... he also points out there should be more cat food adverts on your hubs.

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         1. 60

            Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I will this very day go and purchase a cat from a cat shop and dedicate a series of pages to it.  It will have pictures of it with funny writing on its head, and adverts for cat bows and worming tablets.  I will feed it choice cuts of meat and parade round my room in a negligee while soft music plays.

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10. 91

    Will Apseposted 11 years ago

    People have blamed so many things for the recent downturn in their traffic. A day will arrive when there is only one thing left to blame. It will not be a happy day.

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    1. 60

       Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yes.  There will only be you left to blame.

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          Will Apseposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          lol

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11. 0

    chrisinhawaiiposted 11 years ago

    Yeah, Google hates on sites that have a bunch of ads above the fold.
    
    And below the fold.
    
    And alongside and inside the fold and behind the fold.
    
    I like the idea of being able to adjust the level of ads on a hub.  Maybe that would be a cool little option to have right in the Hub Tool.  So hubbers can select how many ads to have in any particular hub.
    
    For instance, if I'm doing a hub and I plan on having several Amazon items in it, then I can reduce the other ads to balance it out and make for a better user experience.

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