In The Hands Of Geeks, Web Advertising Actually Works

from the well,-look-at-that... dept

This article is actually from last week, so I missed it when it first came out, but I still think it's worth posting. Basically, it's a Fortune article realizing that (oh my goodness!) the type of advertising found on Google actually seems to work. Big companies are finally realizing that unobtrusive, but very relevant text ads are much more worthwhile than annoying, flashy, intrusive ads. It's about time. This is why I still believe that Google's move to put their ads on content sites is a much bigger deal than most people realize. It's going to put some serious hurt into just about every other online ad selling business. If I were running a content site that sold ads (and, no, we have no plans to do so), I don't think I'd want any ads other than relevant, Google-style ads.
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  • identicon
    noadman, 11 Apr 2003 @ 2:29am

    No Subject Given

    Googlew has ads? I have never seen them, but them I am a geek and I have lots of ad stopping gizmos and I use the /ie page too. Why would anyone read an ad on the Internet anyway?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 11 Apr 2003 @ 6:43am

      Re: No Subject Given

      Actually, I was surprised to admit it, but I often find Google ads very useful. Sometimes they turn up exactly what I wanted, when Google's search engine doesn't. I know. It sounds crazy, but it's true.

      The good thing about Google's ad system is that they require the ads to be relevant - and if they're not, they disappear. So, the ads, which aren't intrusive at all, often provide very useful information.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dr_stein, 11 Apr 2003 @ 9:43am

    No Subject Given

    True, but just try to explain "small, simple ads" to these overpaid marketing executives. They keep thinking that ads need to be *bigger* and *more* intrusive.

    Fools!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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