Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 29 Jan 2001
From: Jon
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Pop Ups

I prefer large banners over pop-ups any day.  Mcafee has
started using pop-ups to advertise products.  This really
annoys me, as I am checking for updates to a product I have
purchased and I am still bombarded!.

Banners and mid story adverts are easier to ignore.

If banners really annoy then there are a number of products
that filter them out.




From: David Buckingham
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Limited payment method for online shopping stuffs up banner ads

Ok sure, some will say that this is a weak link, but most
banner ads are attempting to get someone to an online shop
and buy some service or commodity.

The reality is that it is almost impossible for a huge
number of people to purchase goods via the Internet as they
don't have a credit card.

In addition many people are not concerned with losing
$24.95 + postage so much, but in fact their credit card
number and therefore huge amounts of money though fraud.

There needs to be a system which will expand the userbase,
and therefore

1. Open up the market to people who were once excluded
2. Allow those with serious security concerns to test the
system and allow the system to be more accepted.

Online sales site will then have a more stable revenue
stream, and therefore more money to spend on advertsing on
content sites.

In addition to this, I think it is also important that
these sites consider charging for their content. Though an
e-coins system, where very small amounts of money can be
paid to websites for their content each visit.

Much of the content will remain free, however you will have
the option of either - having lots of ads, or no ads at all
for a small fee. This is a system which is used by many
childrens websites (sorry, I don't visit these very often
given my age, and the fact I don't have children - so I
can't give examples)

Another issue is that banner ads usually get "burn out",
the selection of banner ads which I see most of the time is
just repeating stuff I have seen many times over - if I
were going to buy it, I would have by the third time I saw
it.

Then there is a problem with the calculation of the value
of banner ads. How about the fact that many banner ads may
not result in immediate sales, but that the customer may
instead make a phonecall after looking the number up in the
book a week later after thinking about the product, see
their ad in the yellowpages, and because the name seems
familier (because they saw it online) purchase the product.
- Click though isn't everything!

A ad on a website which results in 100 phonecalls
(resulting mostly in sales) with low click though, is
better than one with high click though that results in a
five minute look at the site, but never purchases

The reality of any advertisment is that it is almost
impossible to figure out what is the most effective method
of advertising.
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