Will Banner Blocking Software Kill Internet Marketing?

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by Aaron West

If you're a webmaster or work in the industry, I'm sure you've heard about the recent ad-blocking software, the most popular being Intermute. It seems to be a trend that won't go away any time soon, with more titles coming out, and increased usage throughout the Internet.

What does this mean to us? Is our marketing way of life being threatened? You bet it is. The fact of the matter is, people don't like banners. Banners are usually poorly designed, far too large in size, and distract from the web site. Internet. users are generally interested only in the content.

What many web users seem to forget is, that without the banner ads there would be no content and there would be no site. Truly free sites are few and far between these days. There is simply plenty of money to be made on the Internet., and so many different ways to make it. Web users blocking ads with special software is almost the equivalent of stealing a pay TV channel. The web is not free. Surfers are entitled to as much free content as they would like, so long as they hear what Sun Microsystems has to say, or what new products Microsoft has, or the fact that Amazon.com has a lot of stuff.

The trend continues, and won't stop anytime soon. Who will this hurt? Anybody with anything on the web, but it will kill the little guys. Unless ... webmasters get smart.

Webmasters have to accept that relying on banners is a losing business. Even without the software, most people tune banner ads out because they've become so common. The banner ad is not even nearly as effective as it used to be. That leaves us in a situation where we have to come up with alternatives. Here are some alternatives:

1. Be creative with your ads. Don't rely on that flashy animated GIF. Use text or HTML tags for advertisements. A nested table with a background color can be just as effective, if not more effective than a banner ad. With the emergence of CSS, DHTML and soon XML, there are plenty of alternatives that don't eat up bandwidth, and don't distract as much from the site.

2. Use Newsletters to market your site. Plain text ads can be sold in newsletters, and can be quite successful. Also a newsletter will increase traffic on your site, as every subscriber as a regular reminder that you're out there.

3. Use small graphics. (Under 5k?). Deviate from the standard 468 x 60. Try square ads, circle ads, or whatever you can think of.

4. Make sure all banners already on your site are less than 10k and 3 frames or less. The smaller your banners are, the better chance they won't upset your visitors, and possibly not get filtered out by the software.

5. Try a different approach to advertising. Instead of selling click throughs, advertise products related to your content. There are plenty of affiliate programs out there that pay not by the click through, but by the sale. These can be lucrative deals, especially if you're creative with your placement.

Or perhaps you can just wait it out. The Internet. is speeding up, with cable modems and ADSL becoming more common as well as less expensive. If everyone has a broadband connection, there would be no need for banner blocking software. Maybe the trend will eventually die down. I would bet that the software will be obsolete at some point, but I think it will be awhile.

Some sites are now blocking users who use ad-blocking software. I can see their point of view. They see ad blockers as being on the same level as thieves, and see no reason to let them in their site. This can work, however it's only going to upset people. This policy will only expose the webmasters as the ugly, greedy, money grubbing a-holes that they really are. That word can get around, and people with ad enabled browsers might decide to avoid the site. It's a no-win for everybody.

Ad blocking software will not kill marketing. It's existence only requires webmasters to dance around a little bit and think of something else. If people come, they can be pitched to, and money can be made. That will always remain the case, whether they're sold by the <BLINK> tag, a 25 frame banner, or a link to another site.