It’s inevitable, advertisements will always be on the majority of sites and we should be thankful that they are. Strictly form a publishing standpoint, they keep free sites just that, free. Great, right? Well, let’s go with great-ish. With many free sites relying solely on advertising revenue as their only income source, their goals sometimes stray. It can quickly become a cash grab and credibility can easily be lost.

Beauty and the Beast

Before Google Adsense came along, there wasn’t much hope for small to medium sized sites to get anyone to advertise. It’s a fantastic tool to generate a little bit of revenue however it’s ugly as sin. It takes away from the professional look, it’s plain and it has no personality. My dad may tell me that I was hatched and that I’m funny looking on a regular basis, but I like to call it character. Something Google Adsense lacks.

Information Overload

The site that triggered this article was Forbes.com. It almost seems that I’m calling out the giants, but these are the sites where it’s noticeable and something that I see frequently. I truly like a lot of the content that’s on this site, I just cannot be forced to respect the site itself. The layout is another can of worms that I won’t open, but the advertisements themselves are crammed amidst a mess of information. If you have an abundance of information on your site, don’t add to the congestion. Set aside a reasonable amount of real estate on your site for advertisements and stick with it all while keeping a nice flow. If you’re going to get creative with advertisements beware. This brings me to my next point…

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