Lone Salmon in Dublin
October 10, 2003
Like a lone salmon leaping from a fast-flowing river, pursuing in the opposite direction to the global marketplace, I see Mark Tarbatt of Generator. In the press yet again banging on about banner ads and how great they are. He may have convinced Dick O’Brien of the Sunday Business Post but he has not convinced me.
Just because they’ve added a bit of Flash to the banner doesn’t mean that users are going to click on it. Banner and skyscraper ads are still annoying, and users continue to block them out when surfing the internet. That’s why they failed in the 90’s and it’s why they are a waste of money now. The article neglected to mention that the browser Mozilla is designed to block pop-ups and that there’s talk of the new version of Internet Explorer will follow suit. Does Generator inform its clients who wish to use pop-ups about that?
The article in last Sunday’s Business Post gives a mere nod towards Google’s efforts to revive online advertising. It mentions AdSense, but not AdWords.
Google AdWords is where it’s at.
It enables advertisers to bid on the keywords they want and advertisers only pay when their ad is clicked on. Unlike certain Irish high traffic sites that demand exorbitant rates to simply be included in the site. In sites like these, the advertiser must pay for the potential of eyes to see the ad, whether anyone actually clicks through doesn’t really enter into it.
If you’re reading this, and you would like to know more about how to get a Google AdWords campaign off the ground for your company – from as little as €100 – then you should contact us.