Pop Ups?

My old version of Firefox easily takes care of popups. I never have popups when comig to this website, and when I do, Firefox always put it behind my main browsing window.

I have Firefox and still get alot of popups.

same here, they seem to get smarter or whatever, now that I updated to the newest version I get one only once and a while. I dont think pop ups really work, why companies still use them I dont know. I think its so the same company can make the expensive software that "swears to block every one" for other companies...

"Pops pay ten times what banners do"

Jeff said that earlier, in case you neglected reading that part.

...and the reason is...they work!

These guys aren't stupid. They know what their clickthrough rate is, and they wouldn't be paying more if the popups didn't generate more clicks.

How many of those "clicks" are people rushing to click the "close" button but missing? I'm willing to bet it's a statistically signifigant number.

Indeed. I've done that often enough.

Yeah, and you guys have figured it out while the advertisers and advertsing companies who have millions of dollars invested in that sort of thing have totally missed the obvious. :)

Whatever. Online advertising was only a $12 billion business this year.

Yeah. Whatever.

To tell you the truth I don't like the Pop Up ads here either. However I do a lot of click troughs with the ads that tell you to shoot the ducks, punch someone out, whack a mailbox, and so on. Those banners that do that are hard to resist and are fun and I sometimes click on the same one 3 or 4 times.

I know that this site isn't real bad with pop-ups compared to some other sites that I've been too. Some are real bad where it displays a pop up that scroll and down with the page and blocks everything. Another bad example is the sites that require you to install stuff like Cool Web Search Spy-ware to be able to even view their sites. I hope Coasterbuzz doesn't stoop to that level.

*** Edited 12/24/2005 11:45:43 PM UTC by Sawblade5***

An industry being big doesn't necessarily mean it's not overrated, which I think certain forms of internet advertising are. Good thing is, those things check themselves in due time...

Yeah, that due time was a few years ago. With less people watching TV, do you honestly think that Internet ad revenue is going to go back the other way and start shrinking?

Maybe. I guess it depends on how long it takes companies to realize what works and what works better. I'm sure there will come a point when certain types of internet advertising are proven less effective than initially thought (pop-ups top that list).

And if internet advertising doesn't start to decrease, I still don't see the rate of growth remaining steady as more people switch from TV to the internet as their primary source of home entertainment. There are simply too many attempts to block internet advertising, whether it be on the market, bundled with software or on the horizon. Resistance is going to have consequences at some point.

Online ad spending is not going to decrease. It's just not going to happen. There is no wiggle room about what is effective, because what advertisers "initially thought" isn't thought at all, it's hard facts.

Where the biggest transition has yet to happen is the notion that brand advertising can work online. "Success" has always been measured by clicks and subsequent action, which might be applicable to some things, but generally speaking it doesn't apply to certain traditional market segments like cars and soft drinks. Those are the advertisers I've been waiting to come on board for a long time.

A lot of advertising is just getting the name out there and getting a brand recognized. Why major companies haven't realized that the internet is a good vehicle for that, i do not know.

I think a lot of the click through advertising will start to disappear as more traditional "billboard" advertising takes its place in the future. There may still be click through on those ads to say a soft drink company's main site. I just hope that some day we will see an end to the "Click here for a free X-Box 360!" ads ;)

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certain traditional market segments like cars and soft drinks. Those are the advertisers I've been waiting to come on board for a long time.

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I've been seeing auto ads on nytimes for quite some time. Higher-end cars, to be sure, but they've been there.

Yeah... and that's the problem. They've been very specific in the areas that they've bought space, starting with the online counterparts of the traditional media they're used to. That's the trap a lot of advertisers have fallen into because they just don't understand the possibilities. I hate using the term but they can't think "out of the box" at all.

You're right though, Bob, in your comparison to billboard advertising, and I too hope that transition happens sooner than later. I mean, you see enough BMW billboards, you'll eventually think of them when you want to buy a car, and the same holds true for online ads. You can't just assume that if there's no click, there's no return on investment.

I have a question since I never listened to the Pod Cast. Do you have sponsers/ads in your pod casts to help off set the bandwidth cost to it?

Jeff, I understand that Banner ads and Pop up ads are necessary to run your site but as for as Google goes . I have seen many sites with Goggle ads and others and they have not had the Example: Gay men/Lesbians searching for Sex on those sites. I do believe though what you want on your sites as for ads is your decision.. Just that sometimes those ads lack taste unless that is what floats your boat.