Remember pop up ads? Remember how annoying they were? Nearly every website used to have them, even the most reputable ones. It started off small, a pop up or 2 when you went on the homepage. But fairly quickly, online advertising got greedy and your screen was buried in ads until you couldn’t even find the screen you were looking for. Eventually, pop up blockers started (excuse the pun) popping up and users downloaded them quickly to end the madness. Then, nearly every other browser followed suit, and companies moved to the more palatable and sane approach of banner advertising. We’re reaching the point of madness once again, though, and the madness needs to stop!
Ad Blocking and Online Advertising
Yes, that’s right, things are starting to get out of hand again. The reason users were O.K. once everyone switched to banner advertising was because a banner ad was so much less invasive than a pop up. The average millennial has probably never even seen a pop up ad, though. Also, because users were fine with banner advertising, slowly but surely the page started to be covered once again in advertising. At least once a week, I go to read an article and I cannot read the article at all. There is advertising covering the words, the whole reason I came to the site in the first place. Banner advertising can work for certain businesses, but when the ad distracts from the content, it is annoying to the user and they may not visit the website again. Even worse they may begin a personal vendetta against the advertiser, especially in today’s ever-changing marketplace full of choices. The other day I tried to watch a 45 second YouTube video and there was a 2 MINUTE ad before it, and that is not hyperbole!
So what’s the solution? Well Ad Block software is on the rise. Apple just allowed Ad Block software to be used on the iPhone. If we don’t do something about this soon, I can assure you banner advertising will go the way of the pop up ad and browsers will come standard with the software. I think there’s a couple of solutions and I’ll discuss them in detail. First, you need to figure out if Banner Advertising is the right way to market your business. Who is your ideal customer? Will they avoid banner ads like the plague? If so, then maybe spending that money in Google AdWords, or improving your website may be a much wiser decision.
Speaking of improving your website, if your website is covered in other companies banner ads, maybe it might be time to weigh the lost traffic against the potential lost revenue. If your website is covered in ads, I can guarantee you that you’re losing traffic. The solution is simple: if you’re doing the website yourself, you may want to hire a professional to mitigate the eyesore of the banners ads or remove them altogether. If the professional is also able to offer digital marketing packages, they can consult you on where to spend your advertising dollars, or if the problem is ads on your website they can assist you in pulling in revenue from other areas.
The problem isn’t going to go away unless we as marketers decide to pull back on the use of banner ads. That’s probably the only solution. The other solution is to let them die. Let them go the way of the pop up ad. Users are fed up with them, and in today’s marketplace there are so many other creative and more professional ways to market your business to your customers.