Should I add ads to my website?

[timns]

A question for the intelligentsia:

I have been asked if I would like to host an ad page on my cartoon site: Head in the Clouds

Apparently I would have to post some pre-defined text in my blog, and have it linked to a page where you are invited to download some wallpapers.

I actually removed google ads from my site a couple of years back - they were making it look a bit crummy. But this was an interesting, generous and slightly flattering offer from a large telecoms company so I promised I'd give it some thought.

I also figured it would be quite a fun thing to run as a poll - how do you guys feel?

[mouser]

To me this is a really easy answer and that is: YES, TRY IT!!

Try it and see what the results are.  Would be silly not to.

Only then will you get to the potentially much more difficult question of whether it's worth keeping an ad on your site.  That's when the hard question comes.

[timns]

To me this is a really easy answer and that is: YES, TRY IT!!

Try it and see what the results are.  Would be silly not to.

Only then will you get to the potentially much more difficult question of whether it's worth keeping an ad on your site.  That's when the hard question comes.

-mouser (February 28, 2011, 04:19 PM)

Problem is that I would have to commit for a year. Sorry, I should've mentioned that in the original post. Well, or can it and presumably have to pay all the money back 

[mouser]

A year is a long commitment.  But if you can always cancel and refund their money without any hard feelings, then it's really not a problem and still seems easily worth a try.  The main thing i would be concerned with is making sure you can stop if it brings in no money.

Personally i don't see how there is any harm in putting ads on your website.. If it were a site where a single user is re-visiting it 100 times a day it could get annoying, but otherwise i don't see any harm at all.

[Renegade]

+1 for do it.

I'm putting ads on the site I'm currently working on. I gave up ads years ago after a brief trial, but I'm going to give it a shot again with a much more deliberate approach.

I never put ads on

NSFW site URL

http://www.fucksatan.com/

. Mind you, I really should go back and redo the site as well...

But it boils down to the fact that ads really do help support a site. Imagine that ads there replaced all your other income. You'd be free to dedicate yourself to the site.

Another way to look at it:

Money = Freedom

You're not putting "ads" on the site -- you're making an escape route -- putting little freedom factories on it~!

[timns]

You're not putting "ads" on the site -- you're making an escape route -- putting little freedom factories on it~!

-Renegade (February 28, 2011, 04:56 PM)

Now that is a beautiful phrase. Right up there with "cellar door" 

[Ath]

I'd let it depend on the amount of intrusion of the adds compared to the usual site-shape & tone. If it where to be all high-contrast colored adds, compared to the rest of the site, I'd nay it, but if the tone of color is quite 'do-able', I'd try it for a year, and then see if you can live without the money adds

[Renegade]

You're not putting "ads" on the site -- you're making an escape route -- putting little freedom factories on it~!

-Renegade (February 28, 2011, 04:56 PM)

Now that is a beautiful phrase. Right up there with "cellar door"  

-timns (February 28, 2011, 04:59 PM)

As I'm always driving, I don't really get to enjoy the cellar doors that I visit as much as I'd like to (swish, suck & spit). Hopefully you'll enjoy your freedom factories a lot more~!

[Renegade]

I'd let it depend on the amount of intrusion of the adds compared to the usual site-shape & tone. If it where to be all high-contrast colored adds, compared to the rest of the site, I'd nay it, but if the tone of color is quite 'do-able', I'd try it for a year, and then see if you can live without the money adds

-Ath (February 28, 2011, 05:09 PM)

When you read about ad placements, the general recommendations are to make them look like they are a part of the site and to mingle them with content. That's kind of hard to do with some types of ads, but it's still possible to frame things so that they are peripheral but accessible if they contrast too much. I'd expect the ads the telco to have ads ready that would work well.

[worstje]

I'd say it depends on where they want the ad to go and the way it looks. It shouldn't have random sound effects, animation is way too annoying already, etc. But yeah, freedom factories sound good.

[vlastimil]

Why not? It is a kind of site that can benefit from a ads, if there are not too many.

Requiring to commit for a year seems a bit unusual. Did they offer you a fixed amount of cash for the year? Also, it is worth the effort to find out whether they are in for the visitors it can bring them or if they are just looking for the links to get better search engine rankings. I would stay away from them if it is later case.

[cranioscopical]

I have a slightly negative reaction, always, to ads on a site (which is quite irrational, for a particular reason).
I am not, however, averse to making money when the opportunity arises.
Trying it as an experiment seems a perfectly rational step, unless the advertiser is likely to perform any unpopular action(s) that might redound negatively on your site.

[f0dder]

Now that is a beautiful phrase. Right up there with "cellar door"  :Thmbsup

-timns (February 28, 2011, 04:59 PM)

Why are you wearing that funny ad suit?

[app103]

Can I make a recommendation?

If you are going to put ads on your site, use something you have full control over, works well with web comics, and you will feel good about displaying.

Don't use Adsense, which relies on a fair amount of text to display anything relevant and has been a poor performer for web comics. You will end up with all the trash ads that don't pay well on clicks, stuff nobody would want to click, for some of the sleaziest sites on the internet. That is pretty much how it performs on a web comic site.

Try out Project Wonderful. Web comics were among the first to embrace that ad network, it doesn't rely on text. You will have full control over the ads that run, before they run, if you want it. The ads you are likely to see displayed are mostly for other web comics, blogs, and games. It's pay per day advertising rather than pay per click.

I think you'd enjoy it and even maybe look at it as a site feature, rather than the average run of the mill ads.

[Renegade]

Don't use Adsense, which relies on a fair amount of text to display anything relevant and has been a poor performer for web comics. You will end up with all the trash ads that don't pay well on clicks, stuff nobody would want to click, for some of the sleaziest sites on the internet. That is pretty much how it performs on a web comic site.

-app103 (February 28, 2011, 06:17 PM)

Something to try out is putting a storyboard script into the alt/title tag. It will add text and help with SEO. Another thing to try is putting a mouse-over invisible div over the lower right/left corner that has full HTML for the storyboard script. A small watermark helps for people to identify that section. Check out stuff on accessibility for the blind to help out there. Anyways, just a thought.

[timns]

Thanks all. At the moment I'm talking about an offer from a specific company to run their ads. I would certainly not go back to adsense.