This is a question regarding ads on website.

[RoseburgHelpDesk]

What are some opinions on advertisements on my website? I currently don't have any but is anyone doing this? Of course it would be related ads. Good idea or bad idea?

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Absolutely not.

 

[aweston]

Absolutely not.

^^^ This ^^^

Do you really want people to think you're so broke you have to resort to collecting a few pennies from ads that only serve to drag people away from the content you WANT them to see?

Ads are for people that have a broken business model, nothing but garbage to offer you and only want the money they can make off you. Remember that the next time you see a site drowning in ads.

 

[jft135]

I don't know that I would ever run external ads. The closest I've come is inserting ads for products that I sell such as AV, Carbonite, etc. on my blog posts, but never on the main site.

 

[frederick]

External ads? No.

Internal ads? They are your services, and your products. For many of my clients, say the new guy who as never come to me before, my website serves as their first stop, so seeing what services we offer, and what these might cost is what needs to attract (residential).

 

[bodgan]

"Absolutely not" +1 for external ads. How about seeing competitors ads on your site?

 

[codegreen]

Absolutely not.

To expand on this, here are just a few of the reasons why external ads are a very bad idea:

1. Your business model is to provide computer services (and sales?). Your website makes you money if it converts web visitors in your service area into customers. Running ads to make money on a site is a completely different business model, which involves maximizing visitors and convincing them to click the ads. These two business models are fundamentally incompatible.

2. The money you make from ads on a local computer service website would range from "nothing" to "so close to nothing you can't tell the difference".

3. Ads annoy people. The more you annoy people, the less likely they're going to call you for a job.

4. The few ads that don't annoy people will draw people away from your site when they click on them. You get a fraction of a cent in exchange for a lost customer.

5. You'll be advertising for your competitors. Ads for remote computer service companies, both legitimate and shady, will be shown.

6. Ads will hurt your credibility. You will give the impression that you are not confident in your business, and have to resort to completely unrelated side-lines to pull in cash. It will make your site look more like a scam rather than a legitimate local company.

That's just off the top of my head. If you want to experiment with the "run ads on a site" business model, feel free. Just don't do it on your computer business site.

 

[Xander]

The only type of ads that are remotely acceptable would be for those companies with whom you have a referral/affiliate deal and those shouldn't look like ads.

 

[Rosco]

The only type of ads that are remotely acceptable would be for those companies with whom you have a referral/affiliate deal and those shouldn't look like ads.

This is it. I have links to companies i work with like drivesavers.

I dont want people think i am running a site and angelfire or geocities(am i dating myself). I run a business.

 

[CLC]

Absolutely not.

Agreed ^

 

[frederick]

I have a client, a few million dollars a year client, who had ads on their websote. It was well put together, etc, exxept the ads part. They said the people who built it for them put the ads on there because "it would pay for the hosting all on its own". Which it didn't. It brought in $29 a year. They were getting thousands of visitors a month, but less than $30 a year in ad revenue. We took over their website as part of the SLA and my web girl replaced the ads with promotions for the client, and each time a customer clicks on one, it gets recorded as a potential sale. To increase the tracking, each ad takes the customer to a jump page where they can request more info, which this gets recorded.

Since we took over the site, and replaced the ads, clicks on those ads jumped up 800%, with a potential profit of $35, 000 in the last month and an actual profit from those around $8000 last month. We did this change about 4 months ago, and when we met for our monthly meeting, our client has been happy with the website cause not only does it bring in money to pay for the hosting and everything now, but the website is also starting to pay for their overhead such as utilities. They've also grown in net profit by 6% just from customers who saw the website and just called them rather than clicking on an ad.

 

[RoseburgHelpDesk]

Thanks for all the feedback. When I said ads I should have mentioned relative ads. The only current ad I have is for Drive savers. It is a small ad on the side of my page. I also have my data recovery page which has lots of info on them. Other than that I don't have ads.

 

[Rocco]

If you create websites for companies, a portfolio section on your website is not a bad idea to link to those websites. Otherwise, absolutely not. Link to your affiliates (ie Carbonite) is OK. Think about it, when you are looking at websites of businesses you want to use, what are some things that turn you off?

For me, is the following, in descending order:

1) Videos that start automatically.
2) Music. This is not 1993.
3) Ads
4) Flashing stuff. I do not like to visit any website where half of it is flashing at me.
5) Grammar/spelling
6) Silly fonts. (You all know what I am talking about.)
7) changing fonts. Consistency is key.

If it is supposed to be a professional site, and I see any of that, I leave it immediately, without giving it a second thought.

 

[frederick]

1) Videos that start automatically.
2) Music. This is not 1993.

HAHAHA, +1. Let me start the video, don't make me freak out cause I don't know where the sound is coming from. I normally have 20 browser tabs open...

3) Ads

1 or 2 ad spaces don't bother me. Having 90% of your page nothing but ads for butt cream and losing weight...I'm gone.

4) Flashing stuff. I do not like to visit any website where half of it is flashing at me.

I don't like having seizures. I've never had one, but with some of these sites, it's only a matter of time. I leave immediately if my screen starts doing a light show.

5) Grammar/spelling

1 or 2 errors here and there, no biggy. We all miss things. As long as the site continues to look professional, I will over look...to a point.

6) Silly fonts. (You all know what I am talking about.)
7) changing fonts. Consistency is key.

Getting tired of web sites done in nothing but Comic Sans.
Having your title text and your body text two types of font is ok. But having it switch from one type of text to the next....yeah, a bit unprofessional.

@RoseburgHelpDesk, let me say this to ya sir...are there any services you resell that you can rebrand as your own? If so, don't have ads for them when you can advertise yourself. People like to know when they call you you aren't going to go to some other person right away. Even if that's what you're going to do.

Relative ads are good, say...linking to Carbonite. This isn't a bad choice, usually. But make sure whoever you link to isn't also doubling as a competitor in one of your areas of work. Because if they go to their website and see they can get the same thing and more for less....you just gave them your lead.

Other good things to have (if you call them ads) are BBB logos, and if you belong to a local chamber. BBB logos bring a sense of quality to your business if you have a good ranking. Darn my A- for not being in business long enough to earn the A+. Local Chamber logos also help if you are trying to attract other Chamber members. And if you have a Chamber, like mine, that is so invested in the community and is considered a positive influence on the area that is well known, locals will pick this up that you are of quality and character. Things to keep in mind. Results may vary.

 

[Bryce W]

I see quite a few techs copy content websites because thats what websites should look like to them. However, a service website is something totally different. Everything needs to be optimised to get them to contact you. Why give a client away to Adsense for a few cents when that job was probably worth $60+ to your business?

Technibble has and needs ads because my Technibble expenses were almost $10,000 USD last year.

I often see technician websites scrape Technibbles RSS feed and have it appear in a "News" sidebar or something. While I enjoy the backlinks, your client isnt interested in my articles of how to be a better tech. Its strictly for technicians.

Anything on your site needs to help build the client up to contact you. Whether that is phone numbers, contact forms or things that builds up trust like testimonials, logos etc.. Everything needs to help them convert into a paying client. Externally pointing ads and RSS feeds wont do that.