What would people think of this type of ad?

[Toefur]

Instead of popups, or banners, or a standard text link... I'm thinking a more indepth text linking method.

It would involve much more work... but hey, one has to work hard for their money, right?

I'm thinking a text linking system where the users page is manually modified to change random words into a link to an advertiser.

Now, no content is changed, the site is still exactly the same... just normal pieces of text on the page are turned into a link. For example, we have the text:

"Hello, and welcome to my website"

The word 'website' may be changed to a link.

Does this make sense?

What do people think of this?

[Docevl]

I wouldn't like it. Seems annoying.

[Toefur]

Originally posted by Docevl
I wouldn't like it. Seems annoying.

How so?

To me it seems like it would be less annoying and intrusive than other forms of free-host advertising.

[Canuckkev]

It's strange...people would sure click the links. They would be like "WTF??!?!", and click it, and make you some money. Now, you need Allclicks or some other blind link program to sponsor it though. I don't think SI would allow this becaue it wouldn't be on a site "you" control, even though you do have control...

[mysteryman]

Didn't GATOR get in trouble for doing something like that? Covering others links with it's on when it was installed and you visited sites. Very deceptive either way.

:rolleyes:

[doofynz]

no that was top text which is bloody scammy ---- . I have a hate for spyware and ---- like that death to spyware

www.cexx.org/adware.htm will tell you about that kinda stuff

[Cracker]

Originally posted by Docevl
I wouldn't like it. Seems annoying.

Yeah, there's a site located at http://www.sphtml.com/ that uses blink links (in addition to the normal banner and pop-up ads) because the webmaster is paying loads of money to keep up his site because it's using mad bandwidth, and many people complain about that in his forums. You could expect to see a lot of complaints about that as well, and nobody would want to visit one of your members' pages.

Note: This trick can easily be thwarted (from the site visitor's side) by simply looking at the URL at the bottom of the address bar that appears when your mouse hovers over a link before you click the link.

[PaRaDoX]

TopText does that kind of crap. They got sued for "defacing" websites without the owner's consent :D

[dvondrake]

The big-boys (microsoft, netscape, ISPs) are already thinking about using this sponsored text-links concept to make even more money for themselves. They would do it at the ISP level or thru the browser. sorry, i can't find the link.

[Toefur]

The thought of blind links didn't actually cross my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of one of the search programs that uses text links.

However, blind links could be better. :D

You can use a fancy bit of javascript so that it doesn't look like the link is going offsite; which helps a lot with ctr.

It wouldn't be like toptext or anything; users would of course agree to it in the TOS.

Personally... i don't see what's so bad about using it as a form of advertising on a free host.

But then again... I spose most people that use free hosts want the world given to them on a silver platter. :rolleyes:

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by Toefur
The thought of blind links didn't actually cross my mind. I was thinking more along the lines of one of the search programs that uses text links.

However, blind links could be better. :D

You can use a fancy bit of javascript so that it doesn't look like the link is going offsite; which helps a lot with ctr.

It wouldn't be like toptext or anything; users would of course agree to it in the TOS.

Personally... i don't see what's so bad about using it as a form of advertising on a free host.

But then again... I spose most people that use free hosts want the world given to them on a silver platter. :rolleyes:

How would it be any different than TopText, if you're randomly sticking links on pages? It's very deceptive, and while it may help with the CTR, it's more annoying than the Java/Flash ads some hosts have.

[DCI]

I dont know why nobody likes it but I think its a good way to advertise and not have popups/popunders..

It wouldnt bother me.

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by DCI
I dont know why nobody likes it but I think its a good way to advertise and not have popups/popunders..

It wouldnt bother me.

It bothers me, especially as a websurfer, because you wouldn't know which were real links and which ones weren't.

[Toefur]

Originally posted by conkermaniac


How would it be any different than TopText, if you're randomly sticking links on pages? It's very deceptive, and while it may help with the CTR, it's more annoying than the Java/Flash ads some hosts have.

Toptext was deceptively installing itself on peoples computers, and then putting it's links on any and all pages a surfer went to.

The method I am talking about only places links on pages on my own server; exactly like what other free hosts do when they automatically insert their ads onto user pages.

[Cockmonkey]

I agree with the comments that people have made about this being a deceptive practice. The people you're hosting may have agreed to this, but anyone who views their site and believes that the link they're clicking is related to the site's content or placed there by the author is being mislead.

Another concern is that by "randomly" choosing something to make into a link, you could be messing up the site's intended design, or worse, messing up what could be a real link.

Personally, I wouldn't like it and wouldn't use your services because of that alone.

[Cracker]

Originally posted by DCI
I dont know why nobody likes it but I think its a good way to advertise and not have popups/popunders..

It wouldnt bother me.

I'd rather have popups/popunders than deceptive links. At least with different windows, visitors KNOW they aren't part of the site (well, in most cases they aren't), but visitors who click on "blind links" will feel deceived and will probably not return to that site again.

[Canuckkev]

Hmm...well maybe not blind links, but by searching out words related to specific terms, then linking it to the search results, that makes sense. I wouldn't feel "deceived" because if I click on a link title "Gambling", and am transfered to a page with lots of search results for "gambling", it makes sense.

It is messing with a users content, but if you are using a free host, the host reserves the right to do whatever they want to your pages. As long as it's in the 15 page TOS that no one reads but must agree to before signing up, it's legit.

Remember, it's not try to milk money from users websites, it's trying not to lose money by offering free hosting.

[Toefur]

Originally posted by Cockmonkey
Another concern is that by "randomly" choosing something to make into a link, you could be messing up the site's intended design, or worse, messing up what could be a real link.



No, it would be done in such a manner that any current links wouldn't be modified; it wouldn't interfere with any current navigation system; and it would in no way mess up the site's intended design.

[Toefur]

Originally posted by Canuckkev
Hmm...well maybe not blind links, but by searching out words related to specific terms, then linking it to the search results, that makes sense. I wouldn't feel "deceived" because if I click on a link title "Gambling", and am transfered to a page with lots of search results for "gambling", it makes sense.

It is messing with a users content, but if you are using a free host, the host reserves the right to do whatever they want to your pages. As long as it's in the 15 page TOS that no one reads but must agree to before signing up, it's legit.

Remember, it's not try to milk money from users websites, it's trying not to lose money by offering free hosting.

Well said, well said! :D

[conkermaniac]

That would be fine, if Toefur could do what you said, Canuckkev. Blind links would be absolutely unacceptable. However, you also must make sure that links aren't everywhere. Just a few would be fine. But it definitely would have to be targeted.

[Cracker]

Originally posted by Canuckkev
It is messing with a users content, but if you are using a free host, the host reserves the right to do whatever they want to your pages. As long as it's in the 15 page TOS that no one reads but must agree to before signing up, it's legit.

I'm not saying it isn't legit, I'm just saying it's mean and would probably cause visitors not to go to its members' pages (at least most of the internet audience accepts that popups/popunders are commonplace).

[Canuckkev]

Me, being the visitor to a site, would prefer a few extra words underlined rather than large banners or whole other windows that pop up and I must close.

I don't even think you can call this advertising. No advertising is done until the user clicks on the link. Before, it's just linking to advertising.

Also, in order to not change the appearance of the site, users could specify certain parts of their html to be browsed for keywords, and if no word is found, then maybe insert the banner or popup. Gives users choice. So in a page:



<html>
<body>

<!--BEGIN KEYSEARCH-->
This is my site. I hope you enjoy your stay.
Some of my interests are football, gambling, and long
walks on the beech.

Click on a link to the left.
<!--END KEYSEARCH-->

</html>
</body?


Gambling, being a keyword, would be changed with

<a href="http://targetedlinks.com/?ad=gambling&aff=toefurswebspace">gambling</a>

I would think this is better than large banner ads or poop-ups (sp?). Also, there would be hella more clicks.

[Cracker]

Originally posted by Canuckkev
I would think this is better than large banner ads or poop-ups (sp?). Also, there would be hella more clicks.

Yeah, but what's the point of building a website if all the traffic is going to advertisers? You should at least make the links open a new window by using target="_blank" . I still say pop-unders are the best form of advertising, as the surfer doesn't even see them until he or she has left the site that spawned them.

[satine]

Just a thought...
If this was a largely-publicised adsystem, such as banners/popups, (which are known to not be part of the user's website), it would work fine. As it is, the majority of visitors would never have met with this system before and therefore would be pretty confused when confronted with a completely off-topic site when clicking one of the links. You would have to make it very clear which links were advertiser's and which were not, for example by a colour change, and as far as I can see this would be quite impractical to sort out. Sorry if I'm wrong, but don't you need CSS to change the colours of individual links? Not all browsers support CSS.
The adsystem's an interesting idea and a pretty clever one, but in my opinion it wouldn't work very well.
Sorry if I've gone and barked up entirely the wrong tree. :o

[Cracker]

Actually, if you want to change the color of an individual link, you just add <font color="[insert color here]"> link text </font> in between the <a> </a> tags.

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by Cracker
Actually, if you want to change the color of an individual link, you just add <font color="[insert color here]"> link text </font> in between the <a> </a> tags.

:confused: I always did this: <a href="http://www.linkhere.com" class="nav"><font color=red size=3 face=arial>text here</font></a>

[satine]

Oops, sorry :o . I did bark up entirely the wrong tree. My mistake.

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by satine
Oops, sorry :o . I did bark up entirely the wrong tree. My mistake.

Hehe...don't worry; I used to make the same mistake. :D

[Webdude]

I think it is a perfectly good way to advertise, but only on free hosts. Sorry, but people ignore ads and use freehosts, but dont support them. The webmaster only looks out for #1, so the free host must look out for itself.

...and your right, if you pay for hosting, then by rights the host cant touch your content. If you are hosting for free, then that is a different story. The general opinion is that if you want no ads that arent your own, dont use a free host. The TOS of any freehost allows it the rights to place any ads on your site using any method. If this means linking to your "words", then that's what will happen. The free host has a right to self preservation. If all current ad method dont work, then they can resort to a new method, regardless if anyone likes it or not.

And before anyone says they wouldnt use a service like that....for every person that says they wouldnt, there are a thousand more who would. Free hosting is mostly for newbies, hobby, or personal sites anyway. Myself, I ignore those who say they wouldnt use my hosting because it doesnt matter. I have more members than I want now anyway. Funny part of that is I have had people actually threaten to take their business elsewhere. Ok, go ahead :D (what business? it's free! LOL)

[therock]

this would interfere with already linked texts...also why don't you try getting rid of ads rather than finding more ways to put them...

ads are f*cking annoying no matter what...on tv, computer, subway, whatever...ads rarely attract people and frequently annoy