How many Ads is too Many Ads

[shanerichard]

My website is a gaming site, as such its important to attract new visitors regularly, i woudnt mind some pocket money from ad sense. over the long run

to do this ive installed non intrusive level of google ads a side banner and a link style at the footer

however ive also entered into arcade banner exchange programs, with the purpose of getting visitors from other game sites.

My query is, how many ads is too many...does my site look enriched by the ads or does it draw too much attention away from my site, or even create a level of annoyance, and how annoying??

id appreciate candid opinins, please note that none of my game pages will contain ads, that is my declaration at the moment, to enrich the gameplay experience and perhaps get bookmarked by those that appreciate it

view the site here - Quality Flash Games - Quality Flash Games

[DaveSawers]

Many of the ads you are showing have lots of annoying movement. This of course comes with your territory because games need to be flashy to try and attract attention. But in my opinion, even one ad with movement is too many. If you use static pictures and text then you can get away with many more ads on the same page. Perhaps you should allow a maximum of one small ad with movement and make the rest static.

On the other hand, though I'm not in the demographic you're trying to attract. I have no interest in computer games.

The most annoying ads that are becoming more prevalent are those that pop up in the middle of a page you're trying to read. They force you to either find the close button to get rid of them or look for your reading matter elsewhere. I see you haven't succumbed to those yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

[shanerichard]

i can assure you i will never have popups on my site, i hate them myself, also i wont succumb to ads on my actual game playing pages no way known, thanks for your observations, id rather be a site that didnt depend on ads that recieve impressions and and traffic from other sites, but its apart of the threat in the industry, not being connected to others, so it has to be done really, well at least in the short term establishing some regular visitors, i want the site to be fun, i want to learn and make things better as i go

i cant control the ads im sent which is a problem
i dont like the really fast flashing ones, some are ok though

[craigmn3]

Anything that takes away from your users experience. Anything that would be in the way of normal navigation.

[jordanmcclements]

Very good question.

Once I have struggled with myself.

See Ireland Photos / Desktop Backgrounds / Irish Wallpaper for another example of a site that perhaps has a few too many adverts (but does bring in some half decent advertising revenue).

(I will be taking the annoying top right advert off completely soon as it doesn't earn enough to warrant its 'annoyingness').

I personally dont think you have too many adverts on your own site. but if it was me, I would mix the adverts in with the content a bit more rather than have them in separate columns..

[shanerichard]

Originally Posted by jordanmcclements

Very good question.

Once I have struggled with myself.

See Ireland Photos / Desktop Backgrounds / Irish Wallpaper for another example of a site that perhaps has a few too many adverts (but does bring in some half decent advertising revenue).

(I will be taking the annoying top right advert off completely soon as it doesn't earn enough to warrant its 'annoyingness').

I personally dont think you have too many adverts on your own site. but if it was me, I would mix the adverts in with the content a bit more rather than have them in separate columns..

thanks for the feedback i looked at your site and funny enough i thought that the ads in yours mixed with content took away from the overall feel of the site, i would make your google ads the link version without text descriptions

im not sure i would like to see my sites content mixed up with ads, im trying to make my site different from alot of flash games sites, ie., definately no popups etc they are worst, glad you opted not to have any in your site,

[jordanmcclements]

I agree - no popups under any circumstances.

But with regard to mixing the ads in with the content - try a proper split test for a decent period of time - to see what the difference is in revenue before deciding that you definitely do not want ads mixed in with your content (if it is 300% different - you my change your mind...

Having said that, if your site is fairly new - it will be easier to get people to link to it, and increase its popularity with much less intrusive adverts..

Good luck.

[kgun]

Visual search (read that article and look at the examples) and visual mechandising may be the next big trend, where tools like Photosynth may be used.

Then sites with images, videos and dynamic content may increase their ad potential.

[Chuckmiser]

I believe that it is a moot point as gambling sites are against the TOS of Adsense as I remember.

I use normally to 160 x 600 towers and a search box with a small text link under the header for most of my pages on Cheap Charlies Hotels Asia Budget Accomodations

[jordanmcclements]

I think they do allow gambling sites now...

[Wristbands]

as long as the ads don't flash and distract your user its okay to have a Header banner, inlin box, a few text link spots, and a footer..... you always want to stay away from pop up and pop unders. Also you want to make sure you limit the text links as to many random outbound links can hurt your SEO and page rank.