Google Ad's - Your Say

[SueA]

Although the ads are a bit annoying we're not obliged to click on them & can just ignore them & if they bring in valuable revenue to keep the vine going I'm happy to put up with them. I just clicked on a couple to see how they worked & as someone else mentioned didn't like the fact they didn't open in a new window & if you closed them you lost the vine link. Tried the back arrow as suggested & that works O.K., also clicked on one link to Alan Titchmarsh seeds (Suttons) & it didn't appear to work. I generally ignore ads on the net though so not sure if they will add much to the GYO coffers!

[Squirrel]

As I said elsewhere I don't like them. BUT if it means that it helps the Vine, then fair enough. I don't like the fact that we lose so much space at the top of the page, I don't suppose they could go down the side could they?

The idea of featuring more of what goes on in the Vine within the magazine, is I think, a good idea! In a lot of cases it is experience rather than qualifications that matter as nasties don't read the text books!

[Slug]

I didn't like the hurricane ads ones I saw yesterday. They were big, bold and really in your face (and not related to gardening). I don't mind the smaller links at the top if they're gardening related.

[MissyMoo]

I did indeedy see the piece on Piggletwillies allotment in the last mag. Very impressed I was too and I want more!!!!!!

As for banana's...I was having a fight with one at the time and as much as it sounded funny....imagine how it looked!! Seriously tho, how are you supposed to open them if they wont co-operate? I had to resort to my teeth!

[Paul Wagland]

A fight? With a banana? Missy, please tell us you won.

I think we are all coming to terms with the fact that the internet is a commercial place - and the grapevine isn't getting any cheaper to run. So long as our ads are kept discreet (and these seem to be, compared to other sites) then I think it's a great idea. There's even a tangible benefit - some of the ads are quite useful. The rest are easily ignored, which is something we are all used to. I can see six adverts out of the window at GYO HQ - and that's not including the ones driving past.

BTW - I like the idea of a feature dedicated to forum posts. I wonder which of our 'ask the experts' panel would get involved...

[Paul Wagland]

I think I have a window in the third week of January... Oh, how you all work me.

[User Removed]

Lesley, Why don't we have an 'ask Lesley' feature as well ???

[smallblueplanet]

Why don't you try selling ad space to some of the companies (with websites) that advertise in the magazine? Or maybe a thread with gardening special offers that can be bought online?

[poultrychat]

I'm afraid I'm going to be a spoil sport and say I don't like the ads at all, nothing to do with scrolling down the page or the space, I think it is because they remind me of sites that I don't bother going to because they have adverts everywhere. If you need revenue to make the site pay for itself why not approach some of the advertisers who don't advertise in your magazine because maybe it is too costly for them, some of the smaller 'boys' who maybe need some help to get their company name heard and can't afford to pay for glossy adverts but could afford for a banner at the top of you forum?

[nick the grief]

Lesley, Why don't we have an 'ask Lesley' feature as well ???

How about Googling by LJ

[nick the grief]

Ads nauseum

Hee hee, I just thought of the title sorry guys

Hi David,

I appreciate your comments about costs & the keeping them down. If thats the case well OK but not in your face like this please.

To illustrate:-



This is what I see. Half of my screen is taken up with the banner for GYO & the Vine & these ad's

I assume that the content s fixed by google so how will GYO feel if Kitchen Garden, GW or Garden News advertise at the top?

I used to take GN every week but jacked it in afer it became 3 parts adverts for Pilot shirts & trusses - How many pilots do you know with a hearnia that gardens

I would hate the vine to go the same way. Sorry if I have whacked the e-hornets nest with an e-stick (well it is high tech we're talking) but I just find it frustrating.

Theres one at the moment offering me "knowledge base of gardening tips from a number of experts"

Why would I want that - I have a whole forum of people to ask (even though I am an all powerful Guru )

Just my ten penneth. so if we must have them can you move them so I can see the threads from my admirers please

[JennieAtkinson]

You're lucky to get that much on your screen Nick. I get the Vine banner logo, the advertising then "Post Reply". I can't even see the first post!

And no I don't think I can change the resolution either. Its the same on my screen at work.

[nick the grief]

I rest my case m'lud

[Dave]

Hee hee, I just thought of the title sorry guys

Hi David,

I appreciate your comments about costs & the keeping them down. If thats the case well OK but not in your face like this please.

To illustrate:-

[ATTACH]585[/ATTACH]

This is what I see. Half of my screen is taken up with the banner for GYO & the Vine & these ad's

I assume that the content s fixed by google so how will GYO feel if Kitchen Garden, GW or Garden News advertise at the top?

I used to take GN every week but jacked it in afer it became 3 parts adverts for Pilot shirts & trusses - How many pilots do you know with a hearnia that gardens

I would hate the vine to go the same way. Sorry if I have whacked the e-hornets nest with an e-stick (well it is high tech we're talking) but I just find it frustrating.

Theres one at the moment offering me "knowledge base of gardening tips from a number of experts"

Why would I want that - I have a whole forum of people to ask (even though I am an all powerful Guru )

Just my ten penneth. so if we must have them can you move them so I can see the threads from my admirers please

Nick, ideally, what would be your prefered way of advertising? Please note it can't go down the side we are limited to a 800x600 layout.

[Peter]

I get enough rubbish delivered to my mail acccount without having to wade through it on websites I like to visit.
The damm things are too intrusive where they are and I have gone off on their links a couple of times due to mis-mousing.
If you must have them, then put them down the left or right side of the screen, that way they would be visible all the time without gettin in the way, thus satisfying your advertising requirement.

Allow me to quote something from the re-vamped "Car" magazine October Issue. I have omitted some bits and discarded their emboldening of fonts, the bold below is my own.

"By now, many of you will have stumbled upon or possibly even registered on CAR's excellent new website, <left some bits out here>
If you visit www.carmagazine.co.uk you'll discover that its content - breaking news, a fully searchable GBU section which lists details of every new cart on sale in the UK, first drives that are filed the nano-second we're allowed to upload them, and lots more - is being updated thrice daily. It's very, very good indeed and what's more it's free.
The magazine clearly isnt free. But in the process of migrating the elements which best suit the functionality of the internet , we've decided to really concentrate on the things that only a magazine can really deliver on. More than ever, CAR is packed with long beautifully written features, a news bulletin section that offers an insightful and analytical overview rather than just paying lip service to the month's big issues, expertly crafted drive stories and definitive comparison tests, as well as provocative columns and heartfelt opinion. It also looks pretty good, and most of the photographs are in focus.
In other words, in an era when everyone from Rupert Murdoch to my own mother is wondering if the magazine format might be on the way out, we're saying no, it isn't. Only people in crass Hollywood movies use lap-tops in bed, and most of us spend far too much time in front of PC's as it is"

There is more, but the above contains points pertinent to this GYO issue.

1/. They view their website as an adjunct and indeed complement to their magazine.

2/. They have carefully seperated distinct parts of their "product" and now carry it on distinctly seperate media.

3/. The website carries adverts. They are from spefcific people who (I believe) have paid for their adverts presence. The adverts are NOT intrusively blocked in.