Megan Casey has posted an update about the 2 week Squidoo ad experiment on SquidU. There are two main points to the update.
1. Leaderboard ads on the top are here to stay.
I already have explained why I don't like them in my previous blog post. I just don't think a few dollars higher lensrank payout justifies putting huge leaderboard ads on the top of all our content! It's not like it will double the payments from the ad pool, but it can turn off readers in the long term or reduce affiliate sales. I am sure everyone prefers visually appealing sites that are easy to read and aren't overcrowded with ads.
jeffryv nailed the problem perfectly with a screenshot of his lens where the ads are outlined:
2. Text links or inline ads.
The so-called inline ads appear in the content of your lens, turning random words or phrases into links. A lot of people dislike this type of ads. I'm no exception, but at least here Squidoo gives you a chance to opt out - and you don't even have to set your lens to send all its profits to charity for that! Simply login to your Workshop, check the according checkmark in your Lens Settings and Publish it.
Megan also said that if these text links will stay there will be a separate ad pool for them and that it would be optional. This is easily the best news from this ad trial so far, and I can only wonder why didn't they offer the same option (opt-out & a separate ad pool) for those annoying leaderboard ads.
2 comments:
Sup Andrew,
I found your site through a comment you left at mine - cheers btw :p
Interesting blog, I've not really gotten involved with Squidoo but hear about it all the time. Do you find it a good promotional tool?
And when you say reduce affiliate sales, can you have affiliate links in your Lenses?
Hey jackmo,
As a promotional tool, Squidoo won't send you much visitors but it might help a lot with your search engine rankings.
And you can add affiliate links, yes. Anything HTML. JavaScript does not work though.
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