As you might have noticed The Next Web blog has been growing steadily over the past year.
February 2008 we generated:
49,541 pageviews (25,073 unique visitors)
February 2009 we generated:
272,991 pageviews (175,020 unique visitors)
The increase in visitors and pageviews also means that we are getting more interesting for advertisers. We are seeing more and more interest in our 125×125 button in the sidebar here and are spending more time in finding new advertisers now.
At only €99 a week for 75,000+ pageviews we have a very attractive proposition too.
We are planning a new blog design with more integrated ads after the conference, which will have room for a larger horizontal banner in the header and a skyscraper in the sidebar.
So far so good.
Right now we have an advertiser in the sidebar which you might want to take a look at. It is an ad for a gambling forum. The advertiser asked us if it would be appropriate to advertise on our blog and frankly, we didn’t have an answer.
In today’s economy you would be a fool to turn away money. On the other hand, we don’t want to show inappropriate ads and scare away our audience. The advertiser, NoLuckNeeded, explained to us that they support responsible gambling and good causes like Earth hour. They do not spam and only promote good online casinos.
So, where do we go with this? Do we accept ALL advertisers, no matter what they sell? Should we accept only ‘good’ advertisers that fit our audience? Should we just take the money and run? Who can say?
Your feedback is appreciated, as always…
I would always say no to online gambling ads. It’s a slippery slope. Also, in these hard economic times in my opinion gambling is one of the things that makes things go from bad to worse for people when they get tempted to try and gamble to get some more money.
So no I’d personally keep my moral standards up and not accept gambling ads, no matter how ‘nice’ the company seems to be. There are nice drug dealers too, but they’re still drug dealers, right?
“Good” is quite subjective, Is it not? What criteria are you using to label an advertisment “good” or “bad”? Perhaps if you are thinking of censoring advertisments, then you should lay out an actual criteria for that censorship first. Does it have politcial or ideological motivation? What exactly is GOOD.
Nal
Do we accept ALL advertisers, no matter what they sell?
No, if it was up to me. I only would accept advertisers who fit with the audience and the content. It’s all about being authentic.
Should we just take the money and run? It’s always an option, and only if you need the money for the greater good.
Hi Jon, we sure took money for the 125×125 but the post was my idea and didn’t cost anything. I’m not THAT stupid… ;-)
I realize you can’t really do that. However I would go with something like “no gambling, porn, prescription meds, weight loss pills and loans etc.” rules. The ‘bad’ are fairly obvious in my opinion :)
Um….are you seriously suggesting that you have not already taken cash from this ‘potential’ advertiser as payment for this blog post with 3 useful links to their website? Come on, do we look stupid (don’t answer that one…)
Gambling sites live or die by their google page ranks and love text links more than any paid for advertising. I call foul and tag this whole post as a blatant advert for your gambling client.
Nice creativity tho’ ;-)
Jon
Fair enough, Boris. I retract my earlier comment.
Although I bet money they are happier about the links in the blog than the display ad. Even if the ad will get them more traffic, it does nothing for their page rank.
Go on…have fun…screw with Google’s algorithms without getting sandboxed :-)
Hello All,
I bought all the ads before Boris decided to do the blog..
I am the one who raised the concern about whether my ad was cool here or not. I am not trying to advertse to people who are not interested.
I did not pay for the blog, just the ads.
I guess it is true, a slippery slope. Porn would be offensive to me personally, so I respect that gambling ads would offend others.
I appreciate all your feedback, whether it kills my ads or not.
Good luck to everyone! :)
And yes I was overjoyed when Boris told me his blog idea..
Also excuse my poor spelling.
Slots or ads? A true dilemma. With the kind of money you’ll make from referrals you can do both!
I’ve got a pretty good PDF guide to SEO if you want it. Let me have an email addy and I’ll bang it over to you.
BTW I work for a company that publishes iGaming Business and hosts the CAP events. I’ll put you in touch with the guys in that department if you want.
Cheers
Jon
No worries – just started to follow you. I’m DirtyBadger!
DM me your email addy and I’ll send the PDF file. Alex and the rest of his crew at iGaming are in Amsterdam at CAP Euro (The Amsterdam Affiliate Conference)but I can give you some contact details for when they get back.
Alex looks after all the commercial aspects of the iGaming dept so he’ll probably try to get you to buy something but he’s a top bloke and knows the industry inside out.
Cheers
Jon
To be honest, I don’t really care what kind of company is advertising on here. I myself don’t really pay that much attention to the ads. (Maybe I do while I’m not really aware of it, but that’s not the point.) So why not accept a gambling forum…
What I’d suggest not to accept though, is ads made in Flash. Those who pop open and play a movie, or just pop open covering the whole page, are really annoying.
… forget the ads if no one looks anyway! :)
Seriously though, the monkey banner is cool. I want one like that!
In my opinion ads are disturbing my surfing time on the website. I would like to see ads that are similair to my interests. I am here to read the new trends for the internet and not for gambling stuff. So keep the advertising the way the user wants it to be. Thats better for the user, advertiser and thenextweb.com.
Anyway, I have been buying ads from twitter counter to thenextweb in hopes Boris will follow me on Twitter!
It has not worked after about $500, so I give up anyway.
No more offensive gambling ads from me… Maybe I will just put up a banner for my twitter account on Amazon! LOL
Have fun and prosper Next Web Crew.
stock tips, financial advisers, politics, the snuggie..
The list is long but distinguished!
I really like that idea…
1) dont visually spam us with more adverts, charge more for the existing space instead. You’ll make the same, we thank you.
2)i got curious about the reason for 3 links as well. May be just you guys trying to justify why they are not so good ‘do, no SEO conspiracy theory from my side. Gambling, i wont click it, wont needed, so nothing against it. “our” blog has a specific target audience. Relevant banners for our industry (whatever that is) will increase value ad space so selling to an “outsider” will in the long-run help to decrease that.
Why not make a like/dislike button on every ad, to create the opportunity for the visitor to express their opinion. It also gives you the possibility to create more value for companies with ‘liked’ ads. You can even raise your prices for them, since their meeting a liking audience…
Lots of chances in there!
For me any ads are fine. I think Gambling ads are just not the type TNW viewers would click on, so this would provide less value for advertisers and users alike.
Tip for advertisers: Tell me about the product and its benefits in the banner, just a picture of a chimp won’t get people interested ;) (hint).
Take all advertisers that can legally advertise in your country. Yes, casinos, adult industry, cigarettes etc. I simply cannot believe that people here would be too sensitive for them. And I don’t even smoke anymore.
Better question is can you actually provide value for those advertisers? If not, you will receive a 100 to 300 payment and the client is lost forever.
Being one of those who read your post via RSS feed I would rather like text links. Try something bold, gather a decent inventory of advertisers and jam those links right after the actual post. If it contextual it could work great. In fact, jam them in the middle too. Shouldn’t The NextWeb be about new things and experimentation?
And yes, I am serious. I would like to see you making money out of this.
Thanks J!
We tried to have stock market and derivative gambling on my site, but
everyone lost too much, so we went back to gambling on casinos only. LOL
I think relevance and design are the key questions.
If it is relevant for your audience then it is a win for everyone….if not, don’t take the money, because no one will be happy. Of course, you can never make everyone happy.
Design also counts, especially with your MAC leaning audience.
I only gamble in the securities markets, but I do like the No Luck Needed logo.
J~
So what is the verdict? What’s the Deal? Should I renew for this week or not?
I have a follow me at twitter banner in the works,
so can use that for week #3 instead of linking to the gambling website. :) The design will hopefully be cool enough not to offend anyone here.
I don’t think we would accept a button from a drugdealer. Well, unless it would be for LSD which is what built Apple and various other great companies. That would fit our audience just fine.
Just kidding.
Your point is valid but how do we put it into a ‘rule’. What is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’? Can we enter a companies name into a database somewhere and get a verdict? Should we always consult our audience?
Hi Jon,
I am new at the world of SEO.. I was told by an expert after the fact that a blog would help me in google rankings or whatever.. I have PR 2, and am fine with that.
I just discovered the google dance and not sure I want to continue. It takes too much time from my gambling.
I just really like seeing my banner here… but I could use the 99Euros on slots just as easy.. :)
Shh! Don’t tell our advertisers you don’t watch our ads! :-)
We don’t allow Flash and we don’t even allow animated GIFs. Ads should be nicely integrated and nonintrusive.
I need your help Jon, THANKS! I do not want to post my email here, are you at Twitter? I am @noluckneeded
These are really some of our first banner ads anywhere.. actually, they seem to be working ok. As a gambler I do not have the expectations of most advertisers, so I am happy with one cool new forum member, as opposed to 1000 clicks, visits, or blogs.
I have been to a few CAP Conference events, met most of those guys, but need your inside info and help. ;)
Cheers!
Thanks! I decided to skip CAP Euro this year. Went twice last year.. they must have 4 conferences a year in Amsterdam! not that there is any place I would rather be :)