# How much donation to buy out one ad.



## DixieSax

It's getting ridiculously cluttered with banners now with the google ads top and bottom. A general rule of thumb for maximizing return on a web page is 2 to 3 ad units per page. We're up to at least 5 now.


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## Bebopalot

I hadn't even noticed the google ads until you mentioned them. The more clutter on a page, the easier it is to ignore it. If it pays the bills, clutter on.


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## tbone1004

The thing is ours stay the same from page to page except the google ones. I'm not a fan of the top google ad, it's in a really irritating place. Harri is still playing around with placement and what not.


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## bandmommy

In a way I hope Harri keeps playing for a while longer.
It's getting interesting to see just what pops up from day to day.


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## tbone1004

You should have seen some of the guys when the Mauriat thing left. They leapt for joy. Oh well.


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## gary

Ref new layouts, I'm going to use the Quick Reply zillions of times before using the Bookmark or Tag bar, so it's neither functional nor aesthetic for me to have them where they are right now, between the last post and the Quick Reply. They form a visual and, for me at least, non-functional barrier. Similarly do the ads at the top of the page between the CP - Log Out bar and the main thread body make much visual or functional sense to me.

Regarding the initial complaint of this thread, I just don't understand it. We should be glad - proud even maybe - that there are merchants wanting to support this forum. And the forum can use the financial support. And I'll even add this. If it ever gets to the point where there is a significant excess of funds, I have no problem whatsoever with some of those funds going directly to Harri for his work over the years nor for a few extra shekels going in the form of gift certificates at Christmas to the moderators for a year's hard work well and selflessly done.


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## warp x

gary said:


> Ref new layouts, I'm going to use the Quick Reply zillions of times before using the Bookmark or Tag bar, so it's neither functional nor aesthetic for me to have them where they are right now, between the last post and the Quick Reply. They form a visual and, for me at least, non-functional barrier. Similarly do the ads at the top of the page between the CP - Log Out bar and the main thread body make much visual or functional sense to me.
> 
> Regarding the initial complaint of this thread, I just don't understand it. We should be glad - proud even maybe - that there are merchants wanting to support this forum. And the forum can use the financial support. And I'll even add this. If it ever gets to the point where there is a significant excess of funds, I have no problem whatsoever with some of those funds going directly to Harri for his work over the years nor for a few extra shekels going in the form of gift certificates at Christmas to the moderators for a year's hard work well and selflessly done.


What he said.


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## al9672

thanks for reminding me I haven't made a donation for this year yet.

I hadn't even noticed the google ads, been reading and posting mainly from my iphone and the ads don't show up.


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## jazzbluescat

DixieSax said:


> It's getting ridiculously cluttered with banners now with the google ads top and bottom. A general rule of thumb for maximizing return on a web page is 2 to 3 ad units per page. We're up to at least 5 now.


Harri wants to retire? :twisted:


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## Harri Rautiainen

bandmommy said:


> In a way I hope Harri keeps playing for a while longer.
> It's getting interesting to see just what pops up from day to day.


I was certainly intrigued with the easiness of placing Google ads with the new vBulletin version.

Thus far I view them as new content to the forum. Without them I wouldn't have known of The Loudhorns "One for Maynard". Apparently we get also ads for "Hotel Saxon" and "Hotels in Alto Alentejo". 

Before I had only a modest Google ad on the bottom of page which no-one noticed. Now the initial financial results (after two days) have been surprisingly good. We'll see what happens when the novelty wears out?

Anyway, it is pleasing to see how attractive SOTW has been as advertising medium.

How can I know which donations were sent because of genuine satisfaction with the SOTW Forum, and which were merely to remove Google ads?


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## fballatore

My comments retracted due to a misunderstanding. Thanks for clearing that up Al.


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## al9672

Frank there's a bit of a difference between raising money for charity and commercial ads.

As I read it he wasn't complaining about having adverts but the way they are placed on the web page / getting a bit crowded. 
i.e Not best practise in web design.

I personally don't mind the layout at the moment


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## Jazz House

It would be great if the google ads could be moved up next to the Kessler and Roo pad ads and the SOTW logo. It would be less obtrusive I think, but it would still be there. I acknowledge that we need money but we also need a well organized interface.


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## Gizmo Hall

Am I special? All I'm seeing is the Kessler and RooPad adds on top and the Mauriat add on the left side.

:?:


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## al9672

What I see at the top of the page
www.alexthegeek.com/Picture1.png


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## fballatore

al9672 said:


> As I read it he wasn't complaining about having adverts but the way they are placed on the web page / getting a bit crowded.
> i.e Not best practise in web design.
> 
> I personally don't mind the layout at the moment


Maybe I'm biased because the smallest display I use (other than my laptops) is 22". The only new ad is the Google ad at the top of the page. I certainly noticed it, but it doesn't bother me at all. I frequent quite a few other free forums (and some pay forums), and you wouldn't believe the ad placement on some of those - the ads are right in the middle of thread posts! I mean literally in the middle!


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## tbone1004

Gizmo, apparently you are special. Mauriat should be on the right and there should be google stuff both above and below


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## al9672

Thats why I said I don't mind the layout as I'm on 24" monitors at home and work and the ads don't show on the iphone (or I haven't noticed them)
and don't use my netbook (eeepc 901) for web browsing 
(commuting coding machine).

Just don't use those stupid, ultra annoying sliding ads the newspaper sites have started using, I'd like to strangle or drown the person who thought they were a good idea. 

They start as an image box then slide out and expand to cover half the page content and they won't go away until you click them.


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## tbone1004

I'm spoiled. My desktop has dual 22" screens so that's nice, but I do a lot of programming for school so one is tipped vertically. AMAZING for reading long threads. I try to avoid this on my laptop, but oh well.


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## hakukani

I don't like the red banner ad for guitar center. It's really, really ugly. I don't mind the text google ads quite so much.


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## al9672

SaxPlayer1004 said:


> I'm spoiled. My desktop has dual 22" screens so that's nice, but I do a lot of programming for school so one is tipped vertically. AMAZING for reading long threads. I try to avoid this on my laptop, but oh well.


Yep.

The problem with pcb/cad programs these days is they assume you have dual 24" monitors.


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## tbone1004

but red is an AMAZING color. GO PACK!!!!! I haven't seen the GC add though.


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## Rackety Sax

That's a novel use of Google ads - gum up the works so members contribute to remove them. I'll be interested to hear if the ads generate any direct revenue from Google.


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## Enviroguy

I, for one, am very happy that SOTW is attractive to advertisers. This shows just how relevant this site is and helps assure that there will be SOTW for us to enjoy for a long time. 

Plus, I didn't even notice the Google ads until someone mentioned them.


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## fballatore

chitownjazz said:


> I'll be interested to hear if the ads generate any direct revenue from Google.





Harri Rautiainen said:


> Before I had only a modest Google ad on the bottom of page which no-one noticed. Now the initial financial results (after two days) have been surprisingly good. We'll see what happens when the novelty wears out?


Voila.


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## tbone1004

hakukani said:


> I don't like the red banner ad for guitar center. It's really, really ugly. I don't mind the text google ads quite so much.


you sure the Guitar Center one wasn't on the woodwind forum? Haven't seen it on here yet, but it's all over the WW forum


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## spartacus

I don't mind the ads, in fact every so often i click the Mauriat ad just to listen to Greenberg play some classical music. 
It would be nice to have small, unobtrusive ads from WWB or Weiners just for the direct link. How about Dorn publications? People are always asking for links to classical and exercise books.
Then theres that guy in New Orleans, can't think of his name....


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## jrvinson45

I'm not a fan of any ad that is a click-thru because I frequently use my iPhone to access the form and the scroll function frequently fires off a link when I touch the screen. I also have to enlarge the screen to click on individual pages in a thread and often just trying to enlarge the display will fire off a link. If Harri gets paid every time I misfire, so much the better!


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## jthekk2

All I'm seeing are the Kessler and Roo ads at the top and the Mauriat add on the right side. No google ads and no guitar center ads. I'm on firefox, but I doubt that makes much of a difference.


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## spartacus

jrvinson45 said:


> If Harri gets paid every time I misfire, so much the better!


My wife is happy when I misfire.


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## Seasax

maybe if you click the a google ad link every time you visit the forum, harri will get enough money that they can be moved to a less obtrusive place, but harri gets free money by everyone taking a couple of seconds to click on one and then close the new page?


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## CooolJazzz

jthekk2 said:


> All I'm seeing are the Kessler and Roo ads at the top and the Mauriat add on the right side. No google ads and no guitar center ads. I'm on firefox, but I doubt that makes much of a difference.


Firefox *can* make all the difference in the world. I never see ANY ads...no matter where I go on the internet...courtesy of a Firefox add-on called Ad-Blocker Plus.

By the way...I don't use it to deliberately block the ads here. I was using it long before I signed up on SOTW. I use it universally...and this is just one of the pages I visit regularly.


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## Harri Rautiainen

SaxPlayer1004 said:


> hakukani said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't like the red banner ad for guitar center. It's really, really ugly. I don't mind the text google ads quite so much.
> 
> 
> 
> you sure the Guitar Center one wasn't on the woodwind forum? Haven't seen it on here yet, but it's all over the WW forum
Click to expand...

I remember seeing it a few time on SOTW front page. If you see it again, please PM to me its domain name, and I will make sure it won't show up again. In any case it is not very relevant to saxophone players.


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## DixieSax

Harri Rautiainen said:


> SaxPlayer1004 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hakukani said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't like the red banner ad for guitar center. It's really, really ugly. I don't mind the text google ads quite so much.
> 
> 
> 
> you sure the Guitar Center one wasn't on the woodwind forum? Haven't seen it on here yet, but it's all over the WW forum
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I remember seeing it a few time on SOTW front page. If you see it again, please PM to me its domain name, and I will make sure it won't show up again. In any case it is not very relevant to saxophone players.
Click to expand...

It's a flash ad for "Guitar Center" at (edited out).com. There are actually two of 'em. One is red, one is yellow, both are from the same place.


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## Harri Rautiainen

DixieSax said:


> Harri Rautiainen said:
> 
> 
> 
> I remember seeing it a few time on SOTW front page. If you see it again, please PM to me its domain name, and I will make sure it won't show up again. In any case it is not very relevant to saxophone players.
> 
> 
> 
> It's a flash ad for "Guitar Center" at XXX.com. There are actually two of 'em. One is red, one is yellow, both are from the same place.
Click to expand...

It is gone now. I xxx'ed over the domain name to cover my trails.


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## bandmommy

Sorry, but it's still here. 
Must be they can't take a hint.


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## kcp

Harri, I think that the ads may be related to thread's title or certain keywords found in threads - For instance there's this ad about business cards (vistaprint_DOT_com)which I got when viewing the business cards thread


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## Pete Thomas

chitownjazz said:


> That's a novel use of Google ads - gum up the works so members contribute to remove them. I'll be interested to hear if the ads generate any direct revenue from Google.


I'm sure they do, I have been using Google ads for over a year and generate quite a lot of income.



kcp said:


> Harri, I think that the ads may be related to thread's title or certain keywords found in threads - For instance there's this ad about business cards (vistaprint_DOT_com)which I got when viewing the business cards thread


They definitely are, this is the way Adsense works. Unless you filter out ads by domain or by using an ignore code for various parts of a page's text (not really possible on a dynamic forum), the ads are chosen automatically to go with page content.


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## jrvinson45

spartacus said:


> jrvinson45 said:
> 
> 
> 
> If Harri gets paid every time I misfire, so much the better!
> 
> 
> 
> My wife is happy when I misfire.
Click to expand...

Come on baby light my... misfire? Hey, whatever works!


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## jrvinson45

Without mentioning the name of the aforementioned "center," I'd point out that it has been a good place for me to try out and purchase keyboards, microphones, amps and such... a real "touchy-feely" kind of store. Also has competetive prices... at least I've found that on electronic keyboards. GAS is GAS...


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## Harri Rautiainen

jrvinson45 said:


> Without mentioning the name of the aforementioned "center," I'd point out that it has been a good place for me to try out and purchase keyboards, microphones, amps and such... a real "touchy-feely" kind of store. Also has competetive prices... at least I've found that on electronic keyboards. GAS is GAS...


The ads for aforenamed "center" were supposed to be depressed for the past few days. I do not know if you've still seen them?

Anyway, based on J.R's post, I feel that it is not fair to penalize a bona-fide advertiser for a poor choice of ad colors. It is up to you, the viewers to vote with your mice.


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## retread

Harri Rautiainen said:


> It is up to you, the viewers to vote with your mice.


I never vote with my mice. They can be bribed with a small piece of cheese and always select politicians I cannot tolerate.

PS -- just after posting this I saw a bright yellow banner about a guitar trade-in sale. I back clicked before it registered, so I don't know for sure that it was Guitar Center. In any event, it was not offensive in any way.


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## Harri Rautiainen

I am learning interesting facts from these Google ads. E.g. Sharon Stone's IQ is 154.
That will compete favorably with the average IQ of SOTW Forum members


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## Morry

I don't blame Harri for doing whatever is necessary to keep this boat afloat, but I HATE the ads. Between Kessler, Google and P. Mauriat, over 1/2 of my initial screen is covered with ads. Keep doing what you have to in order to pay the bills, but at some point the content may become too cluttered to bother with.


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## Pete Thomas

Morry said:


> I don't blame Harri for doing whatever is necessary to keep this boat afloat, but I HATE the ads. Between Kessler, Google and P. Mauriat, over 1/2 of my initial screen is covered with ads. Keep doing what you have to in order to pay the bills, but at some point the content may become too cluttered to bother with.


I think that a law of advertising is that the more ads on page the less each ad is actually effective. (unless it's a page that is dedicated to ads specifically.

This is what I have found with Google ads, ie if there are too many they register with people as "noise" and are effectively filtered out. This is why many advertisers insist on exclusivity.

It's all very interesting, I have been working in advertising in one way or another for years (either as a composer of music for ads, a advertiser and as a publisher of ad space) and I still find the psychology fascinating.


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