Flashing Words Before Showing Ads

[tlainevool]

I just stumbled across a site that uses an interesting technique. It flashes a bunch of words for a few seconds at the top of the page, and then displays an AdSense ad.

See: http://www.freepromopage.com/

I couldn't find anything in AdSense policies that directly prohibits this, but I would be sure to ask Google before I used this technique.

Any thoughts on this?

[Nitin M]

Damn ... that's pretty cool.

[honey]

Nice one. Very creative.

[iskandar]

Cool .. but I think that it draws too much attention.

I won't go to such extent

[INV]

This is really creative. Very impressive as well. Cheers to the webmaster

[maverick]

Nice idea, I was also went into the feeling of clicking the ad... cause it got my attention to the flashing text and then suddenyl the relevent ads.. nice job!

[sgthayes]

It doen't seem to work in mozilla though. Works fine in explorer.

[INV]

Works fine in Firefox 1.0.6 for me, sgthayes.

[sgthayes]

I'm using Mozilla 1.5 on this comp and the top part just says "HOW TO EARN FROM HOME" and doesn't change.

[jumble]

that is really cool! now all we have to do is figure out how to tone it down a bit so that it doesn't breach the TOS..any ideas?

[mopacfan]

That is pretty cool. It almost got me to click. Very innovative.

[Ajeet]

As soon as anyone asks Google about this, could you please post here

[T0PS3O]

Pretty sure it violates TOS. ASA should have the definitve answer on that. But IMO if the ads aren't there pretty soon after the whole page is loaded, it's bound to be dodgy.

[webmistress]

Yeah, i agree with TOPS50, i don't think google would agree on this tactic

[MattL]

It's interesting but way over the top IMO. I wouldn't go there either.

[Smyrl]

I wonder how a tasteful interactive header placed above an ever present leaderboard would convert? I don't mean that click here gif someone was running?

Shannon

[SEbasic]

Niiiiiiiiice.

Originally Posted by Asdense Policies

# Up to three ad units may be displayed on each Web site page.
# A maximum of two Google AdSense for search boxes may be placed on a page.
# A single link unit may be placed on each Web site page, in addition to the ad units and search boxes specified above. Link units are considered to be 'Google ads' for purposes of these program policies.
# No Google ad may be placed on any non-content-based pages.
# No Google ad or Google search box may be displayed on any domain parking websites, pop-ups, pop-unders, or in any email.
# No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.
# Elements on a page must not obscure any portion of the ads, and the ad colors must be such that any ad elements, including text and URL, are visible.
# Clicks on Google ads must not result in a new browser window being launched.

I'm gonna run with that one for sure.

Nothing there says you can't do it...

[TooHappy]

Too risky for me! I have to admit, it's a groovy and creative method of drawing attention to the ad! There is something here, something BIG! I see dollar signs

[aeiouy]

Originally Posted by tlainevool

I just stumbled across a site that uses an interesting technique. It flashes a bunch of words for a few seconds at the top of the page, and then displays an AdSense ad.

See: http://www.freepromopage.com/

I couldn't find anything in AdSense policies that directly prohibits this, but I would be sure to ask Google before I used this technique.

Any thoughts on this?

Maybe they did it without modifying the code, but I think under the concept of not drawing undue attention to your ads it may be questionable.

My personal opinion is the flashing is annoying. I would probably not be inclined to stick around a page that was flashing in my face like that.

[tlainevool]

The more I think about it, the less comfortable I am with this technique. I think the appropriate paragraph from AdSense Policy might be the "Labeling Ads" one:

Publishers may not label the ads with text other than "sponsored links" or "advertisements." This includes any text directly above our ads that could be confused with, or attempt to be associated with Google ads

I'm thinking Google could bust you for that one.