As someone who runs a content-based website, I understand that the goal is to generate ad revenue. I work hard to build a readership and tailor my content to my target audience, all in the hopes of bringing in more advertising dollars. But what happens when the ads become too overwhelming?
I recently found myself questioning this while visiting the Chicago Sun Times website. I’ve been a reader of the Sun-Times since high school, and I still enjoy many of the writers and columnists who call it home. However, as soon as I loaded the page, I was bombarded with pop-up ads, Google Adsense ads, private ads, contests, and contextual ads.
It was overwhelming, to say the least. I tried to ignore them and continue reading, but it was impossible. Every time I clicked on a new page, there were more and more ads to contend with. I began to wonder if this was just monetization gone wild or if they were trying to compensate for the decline in print media.
Whatever the strategy, I don’t believe it’s paying off. After looking at the Alexa chart, it seems that the Sun Times, and many other major newspapers, are experiencing a decline in traffic. This surprised me because I assumed that more people were turning to online sources for their news.
But as I dug deeper, I realized that it might be because of the overwhelming amount of advertising on these websites. Perhaps people are turning to alternative sources for their news because it’s become too difficult to see the content through all the ads.
It’s definitely something to think about. As content creators, we need to find a balance between generating ad revenue and providing a positive user experience. If we don’t, we risk losing our audience altogether.
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