Spam - The Original Web Advertising
It started out simple enough. A way to reach a lot of people with little effort. Then the next guy had to take it a little further. Then the next further still, then money started changing hands. Soon so many were doing it that email communications were becoming almost too difficult to be practical.
Laws had to be passed, abusers prosecuted.
How Far We Have Come
The advertising continues down the page, not sure why it ever stops, runs out of advertisers?
The site owners maintain the key positions to re-inforce their brand. Everyone else is pretty much fending for themselves. Visitors come for the content, ignore the rest, and continue on their merry web browsing way.
Which is Worse, Spam or Current Web Designs?
To get noticed on the web, you are going to have to provide some of your own content in a context useful to site visitors. Just that simple.
Then surround your own content with 80-90 percent chaff if you can line up the advertisers to pay for your online presence.
TV Weather
I stopped watching weather news when it got to 50 percent pure advertising, a lot of techno hocus pocus, then about 2 seconds of forecast flashed on the screen and gone. The communication value is simply not there. The chaff ratio too high. It is easier to hit a bookmark to the latest National Weather Service forecast whenever needed. And with a data plan on a cell phone, from wherever I happen to be.
Going Mobile
How much of this advertising displays when visiting this site from a Blackberry? With the Opera mini browser, essentially none. Pan to the actual content, push to zoom, view just the content of interest. iPhone, same, with a little more screen real estate.
iPad
How much did the big media wheels pay Steve Jobs and Apple to "innovate" users into a bigger playing surface? Now they can assure advertising will display in all its glory. Visitors will still ignore it. The more flashy and intrusive, the less likely the casual viewer will ever return for another dose. Everyday people are the ultimate economists when it comes to where they spend their time and money. Bury them in chaff, run them off. iPad may delay that, will not change it.
Google, Wired, Email from your Buddy
Anybody remember how Google became pre-eminent in search when Alta Vista had the market conquered? Simplifying the search experience, and providing exactly what web visitors came seeking with no chaff had much to do with the rapid success. Then Google tried too much advertising, confusing searchers a little, while monetizing the concept of "free" search beyond what any had ever imagined. Now Google has struck a sensible advertising ratio that seems to be working well for them, and searchers. Most importantly, the ads are geared to the search terms, allowing advertising in context, without clutter.
Wired, loved the print magazine, no need for it when the information is more conveniently accessed online via a newsfeed. Maybe 40 percent advertising on their site pages, all of it easily ignored. Recently, a single small ad displays, embedded with the feed link. Importantly, that tiny ad fits within the context of the link. It makes an impression. Ads on their site pages may or may not have become more relevant to content. I don't know. I have learned to ignore ads on site pages completely, no matter whose site. Web savvy means learning to ignore chaff, just that simple.
Email footers. The evil empire is the master of these. Embedded at the bottom of every email, an ad for Bing, or Live, or 7, or whatever is the latest promotion. Probably has something to do with ubiquitous control of the desktop. Regardless, these are effective at generating some level of interest rather than being totally ignored. A good email chuckle, read all the way to the bottom, boom, there it is. Hardly noticed but imprinted all the same.
Moral of the Story
Web advertising at 80 percent or higher ratios versus content offers much opportunity to sell advertisers advertising. If advertisers will pay to increase your online presence, why not? But the high chaff ratios are still an abysmal waste of bits, bytes, and bandwidth. Even when they help pay off your site. When the chaff ratio gets too high, all chaff is ignored. Just that simple.
If it is your advertising dollar, create your own content, or find the right context. Every big flashy animation not in context, is just one more distraction that gets the baby thrown out with the bath water. It is not lightning strikes or gold mining, hocus pocus, smoke and mirrors. It is as simple as asking yourself how you use the web. The information super highway can be an autobahn or a giant pothole. Eighty percent chaff is an 18 inch pothole. A detriment to the cause. Just that simple.