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Ever Have a Download Site Blow You Away?

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Edvard:
What the...??

Oh, I keep forgetting; I run AdBlock so I NEVER see those things and then get all confused when folks complain...  :huh:

Sourceforge must be really hurtin' for cash by the looks of it.
Webroot is on my list of software that defines shameless self-promotion of a broken product.
My son got 3 months of Webroot free with his laptop at Best Buy and I can't remember all the stuff that either was broken or acted 'twitchy' after installing it.
Windows Firewall, email, the list went on...

We ripped it out two weeks later and installed Microsoft Security Essentials.
Bliss...

Carol Haynes:
@iphigenie

That screenshot is pretty damning...
-Renegade (April 03, 2011, 12:40 PM)
--- End quote ---

Actually I think that screenshot is less damning - at least the first thing on the page is "your download will start shortly" and there is a clear direct link if it fails to start. The Webroot Ad is clearly an advert and has a clear statement to that effect at the top of it.

I find other download sites more difficult to defend (including the one promoted by this thread) when it is difficult to actually find the download link you are looking for and large "Download" buttons head you off to different products obscured behind huge google ad links without any warning.

At least SourceForge are up front about their advertising and it is very clear what is going on. Whether you like the companies who sponsor them or not is a matter of opinion (and with WebRoot I agree with your assessment) but at least I know it is a sponsored ad - and actually I have heard of WebRoot as a company. On Softoxi they are pushing disguised ads and I don't even know who is really behind them.

Actually maybe google should step up to the challenge - how hard would it be to put up a page after the link saying "you are now being directed to a sponsored link - if you prefer to go back click here" which would at least let people know they are being driven to a fund raising partner site rather than what you are actually looking for. Google shou;d make something like this part of Google Ads as standard as it would also force websites using Google Ads to be clear that the link is a Google Ad as pissed off people won't allow the click to go on and they won't get their income from the link!

Renegade:
@Carol - It seems to me that having ads take up almost the entire screen confuses the issue. I'm guilty of that too though:

Photo Resizer Download Page (Pops the download in a meta refresh.)

It has a large "post download" ad similar to above.

Really, I don't like it. It's almost tricking people.

But, looking at the number of clicks, it's pretty low. I suppose that it's clear enough on my download page there that they are ads.

I still don't like the form ad above though. Too many sites require registration, and that's what it initially looks like. Anyways, I just hate ads period.

mahesh2k:
Actually maybe google should step up to the challenge - how hard would it be to put up a page after the link saying "you are now being directed to a sponsored link - if you prefer to go back click here" which would at least let people know they are being driven to a fund raising partner site rather than what you are actually looking for.
--- End quote ---
At the risk of being attacked for strong opinion let me share my two cents.

Do you know what will happen to conversion rates of merchants if google applies this ? Google's own ad platform will drop to 50% or even low if they become vocal about this. It's really hard to make money without being mysterious/sneaky online, if they openly state their intention then not a single ad platform will be able to convert visits into sales. Sorry but what you're expecting here in this thread is from user perspective and not from the data that we see from merchants and their conversions on web ads and networks. If big companies or any merchant wants to make money these days online then they need to slip through like this or else conversions will go down and it's hard to make money off people.

If you don't trick people on website it's hard to make money off CPA/CPM/CPC ad platforms. This is sick truth, because surfers want things for free and if you give it to them with upfront notice and without any tricks then you'll hardly sustain in online ad networks/conversion game for long.

Renegade:
Actually maybe google should step up to the challenge - how hard would it be to put up a page after the link saying "you are now being directed to a sponsored link - if you prefer to go back click here" which would at least let people know they are being driven to a fund raising partner site rather than what you are actually looking for.
--- End quote ---
At the risk of being attacked for strong opinion let me share my two cents.

Do you know what will happen to conversion rates of merchants if google applies this ? Google's own ad platform will drop to 50% or even low if they become vocal about this. It's really hard to make money without being mysterious/sneaky online, if they openly state their intention then not a single ad platform will be able to convert visits into sales. Sorry but what you're expecting here in this thread is from user perspective and not from the data that we see from merchants and their conversions on web ads and networks. If big companies or any merchant wants to make money these days online then they need to slip through like this or else conversions will go down and it's hard to make money off people.

If you don't trick people on website it's hard to make money off CPA/CPM/CPC ad platforms. This is sick truth, because surfers want things for free and if you give it to them with upfront notice and without any tricks then you'll hardly sustain in online ad networks/conversion game for long.
-mahesh2k (April 04, 2011, 11:52 PM)
--- End quote ---

At the risk of sounding not cynical, you sound a bit cynical, but to redeem my cynicism somewhat, I still think you're pretty accurate~! :D :P

But I also think that at the root of things, we just don't read. We're lazy. We skim. The only way to make things obvious is to have a MASSIVE bold, red, 99pt, centered, flashing, marquee sign that screams it out. Otherwise nobody would notice.

Same thing as above, only written as above. (40Hz - don't click~! :) )

SpoilerJUST KIDDING~! :D

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