Keep the ads. Too many site visitors think they speak for the majority, which they don't. On my site, I started with minimal ads out of respect for my visitors, but wasn't making much money. I then tried ads on every page and my revenue increased 400%. I'm now an adsense whore.
If your financial priorities override your desire for no-ads then keep them. Fact is, is that you can't feed yourself without an income...nobody really likes ads, but they're a part of business. Look at TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines...none of them exist without advertisements. Easy decision for me...keep your ads, maybe try to modify slightly, but don't get rid of them.
Ergh, I learned a long time ago that no matter what you do, SOMEONE will always bitch and moan about it. Everyone who operates a site that has repeate visitors gets them -- those people that are impossible to please. They'll complain about just anything because that's who they are -- complainers. You can never satisfy them, and you shouldn't try, especially if it's at the cost of your wallet. Look at it this way: they may bitch and moan a lot, but THEY STILL COME BACK, so what does that say? For one, you're not going to lose them, because they don't want to leave. I say keep the money. It's your hard work, all they're doing is just "visiting" once a day.
15% lol...Try changing that 1 to a 7. This is my 800th post...maybe it is a sign that G really keeps like 80%
Just look at the likes of online versions of NYT and the Times in England. These are stuffed with google ads and lots of banner ads on each page. It does them no harm.
Maybe offtopic. I think ads may help your visitors come back. Let's say user searches internet and find your site but there is not the exact content/product they need on your site. In this case instead of leaving your site directly, they may click on ads and have another chance to find what they are looking for. Next time when they search for the same thing and see your site is on serps, they will be less likely to remember frustration of not finding what they wanted to find at you site.
As long as the long-term visitors hold to your site, run it better. Yes there are other ways besides ads to earn a profit, especially from a group of royal clients. Good luck!
If I had those sites I would not choose to drop my revenue even by 1% .I don't know how you sustained 50% . You can always keep putting up new business plans if you have a source of income funding you . Do what you WERE doing and use the money to create Members only site's or real content site etc.. I know I would do the same . Regards Jeet
It doesn’t feel right, but goals have been set and I need to keep that in mind! I’m going back to the SPAM (for lack of better words). Who knows what the future holds, especially with rumor that IE7 will be blocking Google ads, etc. Might as well get it while you can, right? Thanks for all the comments! It’s greatly appreciated!
Even I heard the rumour about IE 7. But that's gonna hurt micro more than would help . Just think of how many people are using adsense as an income source ? I don't think that's happenning . And don't call your work SPAM . People criticise even microsoft but keep using microsoft windows. Regards Jeet
Let me throw in another idea that supports leaving ads on your sites (and overly promoting the pages with ads, too). When a rational visitor arrives at a site that he likes and wants to be around for the next time, a natural question arises: how does the owner of the site support it? I mean, how does the site create money to make sure it will be around long enough? I personally try to steer clear of those sites that I cannot understand how they make any money (product/services sales, ads or membership - how else?). It may be fine for some hobby stuff, but even then it means that the site that does not make any money will ALWAYS be under-developed, will lack features, sport any number of security holes, you name a problem - it's usually there on a free-to-use, no-ads-here sites. There are some notable exceptions, of course, but the general idea is: if the owner can make money off the site, the site will be in much better shape. So, to sum it all up, I think you have to leave the ads there and maybe add a little disclaimer (careful with AdSense TOS though, don't encourage anything) that this site is supported by advertising revenue.
Not really, they'll have their own ads by then which I'm sure IE won't block Pretty ingenious if you ask me They don't even have to advertise this "feature" with the initial launch. Just quietly slip it in during a "security" update
First off let me confess that I haven't read all the posts in this thread. So if what I'm going to say has already been said please just ignore me. I always believe in putting your visitors first and catering to their needs. Without visitors you might as well not have any sites. People are strange things. More often than not if they find a good site, they will keep on coming back time and again. I think it has something to do with the fact that truly good sites are pretty hard to find amonst all the spam sites. My advice would be to clean up the ads, but don't do away with them. You need to find a balance with the amount of ads and your visitors experience. Especially with Adsense it's reasonably easy to implement it in such a way that they don't degrade the quality of the site, and even aid your visitors. Having a successful and highly rank site takes lots of work and effort. They can be viewed as real assets. The long term should always be your main focal point. Keeping your site as it is might provide better short-term results, but changing it will be better in the long run.
Or better yet, they can re-write the webpage actively and replace the google ads with MS ones... They'd never do that though, would they? Yes-- be sure to plan for the long term so Google can crush your site with Jagger-like updates, and ruin your chances of ever making ANY money on it... Google has made webmastering a short-term game now with Jagger-like updates, IMO... -- Derek
The key to that is to diversify and not totally depend on Google rankings for your traffic. If your site is good enough and well known enough, then you won't need SE traffic... reaching that point though is a BIG BIG challenge.
If you rank anywhere decent in Google, there's no other way you can get any source of traffic that compares. With jagger, one my one content site, I dropped from 7k/day to 2-3k/day. To many, 2-3k is still great, but it's 'nothing' compared to someone used to all that Google traffic... All for seemingly no reason... -- Derek
All fine and well, but the truth remains that Google is God of the SEs, and if you can't rank well in Google, you're not making anywhere near your site's potential.
All my friends used my law degree when it was for free when i open my company all my friends were gone. The people that say they going to pay if you go "pay site" will wanish and you have to go back to the ads. Google is a nice add do not mind them at all.