Jul 12 2006 at 1:41pm
Ad blockers and the future of website monetization
It seems like ad blockers are becoming more and more widespread. Now that pop-up blockers are established browser features, things are going even futher. There is the adblock extension for Firefox and content blocking in Opera (and requests for an adblock extension). Both browsers also have the ability to put in custom user stylesheets for individual sites, which many people are using to block ads. (sorry, I’m not sure what’s available for other browsers and as plugins for IE)
So what does this mean for website revenue? Will we have to find new ways to make money from our sites? How do you even know if a lot of people are blocking your ads? Do people only block the really intrusive ads or will they block everything? As ad blockers become more widespread, will online advertising disappear altogether?
As a sidenote, I think there is a fine line between obtrusive and non-obtrusive advertising. As a user I don’t really mind well placed graphic ads and minimal text advertising (as long as it’s obvious that it’s advertising and not navigation). I’m not going to try to block those. I will try to block ads that take up a large portion of the screen or get in the way of content. If they’ve got one of those really obtrusive slide-in things, I just leave. At the same time, I’ll also make an effort to support sites that I like by clicking on their advertisements or donating to them if possible.
Which brings me to another point – a lot of people don’t seem to understand what it takes to build and maintain a good website. They think they should enjoy your content for free. And you should give it to them for free. Nice idea, but not really practical for most of us. We all know that a lot of work goes into creating a good site that people keep coming back to. And hosting for a large site isn’t exactly cheap. I think it’s important to help out sites that you like by supporting them in someway. Blocking all of their ads is not helping them to continue delivering the content that you’re obviously enjoying.
Of course, we also all know that obtrusive advertising is going to drive people away, so it is important to strike a balance between covering our costs and providing a good user experience. I hope that we’ve been successful in doing that at TWF.
