What was the last time you visited an ad on someone site?

[Alexis]

I get 100 to 300 views per day on one of my website and get 1 to 8 clicks on ads. But i don't remember the last time i clicked on ads on someone website if it is not custom banner ads. And you?

Is online advertising possible if everyone is like that?

 

[Rihtar]

I click ads once in a while if they're no offering me a chance to "hook up with pretty girls from your region!" or "secrets to incredible skin!" and if they're advertising something in interested in.

And no, it wouldn't work if everyone would be blocking ads and/or not clicking on them. However, considering that 99% of ads I see are complete bullshit or are scams, it's no wonder that not many people click on ads in general due to being afraid of being scammed or getting malware on their system.

 

[Alexis]

I agree. On my website, i block such categories to get better ads to be shown to my users. worst ads offer highest CPC bids to involve in no click because everybody are afraid of them.

I like to see high quality advertising that really interest me.

 

[Shortie]

I will be honest and say that I tend not to click on many ads unless the ad I am seeing is offering something I am interested in and I want to find out more about it. Too many websites now I find have ads that advertise just about everything leaving nothing for me to be interested in.

 

[ormaybeso]

To be honest I use adblock plus, so the last time I've clicked an ad would have to be sometime between 1-5 years ago. Although on some web design sites, I've seen some wicked amazing looking ads, and I've clicked on them solely because they were designed so well, and worked in well with what the blog/site was about. If advertisers and find more ways to make ads like that, I'd be clicking them all the time.

 

[AresBlade]

I clicked on one recently for Mystery Tacklebox, but that is the last one I can remember. Most of the time I ignore the ads because they're the exact opposite of what I'm looking at or for.

 

[lludawg]

I never seem to click Google Adsense ads but on a heath site I visit, they sell direct advertisements and I sometimes click those ads because they are related to health. That is why I don't really like ad networks that display random ads. I prefer selling ad space to advertisers who are advertising something related.

 

[hedonologist]

I always used to wonder this too. "who on earth is clicking my ads because I know I never click anyone else's". It was actually a few days ago and I ended up buying a package from them. Normally though probably less than twice per year.

 

[PhilA]

This is a topic that interests me. I am always a little surprised when anyone clicks an ad on one of my sites. But I think (we) are looking at it from a webmaster perspective, I can understand why some of my friends would click ads and not think anything of it. A lot of people don't even know it generates income for the site.

 

[cyberpuppet]

I must admit I was utterly shocked that someone clicked the ad on my site - because at the time all the visitors were "paid" to be there though post exchanges and the like.
However having said that I am finding I am clicking ads in general slightly more often (like once or twice every 6 months instead of never) simply because they are becoming more targeted for me - I presume this is Googles doing. Its like I might do a search for cheap camera lenses, then find that I am seeing ads for lenses possibly from places I had not looked at. Years ago the ads I saw all seemed irrelevant for me - they seemed to pick my joke searches rather than things I actually wanted so I never clicked on them.
I think the most important thing to remember these days is that with targeted advertising what you are seeing in an advert is not necessarily what your visitors are seeing - they may well be seeing things that are very relevant to them and it makes sense for them to click on them.

 

[Ed321]

I am absolutely incredulous that this group rarely clicks on ads! You KNOW that is how revenue is generated. If you want to pay someone a compliment on their site... click on an ad.

I am NOT advocating clicking on numerous ads or any means to skew numbers radically which is unethical. What I am saying is... don't go out of your way to ignore ads on sites you like and do give that token click when there is an appropriate ad. We should not only be doing this ourselves, we should be educating the public how their favorite sites are supported and encourage them to take a second look at ads and reward sites they enjoy with a click on a relevant ad.

 

[cyberpuppet]

I am really worried about such clicks being spotted as what the ad placers consider to be fake with the result that they stop you having ads on your site.

 

[Ed321]

I am really worried about such clicks being spotted as what the ad placers consider to be fake

That is why I made sure to say you can't be clicking on multiple ads. There is nothing fake about clicking on an ad that interests you vs. ignoring all ads and not even realizing there are ads there that may introduce you to something relevant. I clicked on the domainsnoop ad here today to see what it was. Nothing fake about that click and my small part to reward a site I use.

It is these clicks from various IPs spread out all over that gives the click-throughs legitimacy. You aren't going to make anybody rich with your one click, but in my opinion... this needs to become second-nature from more people to look for these win-win situations. If nothing else, you can justify the click as a webmaster calling it research. Anybody spending money on ads is more likely to have a professional design team and you are "researching" the overall appearance of their website to gain ideas you can incorporate into your own site.

I repeat... don't cheat the system, but remain receptive to ads that may interest you and take the moment to make that click knowing it WILL help someone ELSE and MAY benefit you.

I do understand what you are saying and you can't set up pre-arrangements for click-trading. That would be considered a "scheme". What I advocate is going out of your way a little bit to find relevant ads instead of going out of your way to ignore them... big difference.

 

[Azareal]

Almost everytime that I have clicked on an advert, it has always turned out to be a highly misleading advert, so I will never click on an advert these days and I have AdBlock on most of the time anyway to get rid of those annoying video adverts where a video randomly starts playing on a random tab and I have to spend 10 minutes trying to find the right tab in order to silence it.

 

[AresBlade]

Almost everytime that I have clicked on an advert, it has always turned out to be a highly misleading advert, so I will never click on an advert these days and I have AdBlock on most of the time anyway to get rid of those annoying video adverts where a video randomly starts playing on a random tab and I have to spend 10 minutes trying to find the right tab in order to silence it.

Do you host your own websites with ads? I never use Adsense, it just feels wrong. Like Ed says, if you're going to hope for people to click on your ads it's pretty hypocritical to completely block other people's ads. I can understand not clicking on a ton of ads, because I don't, but if I see something interesting to me, I'm happy to click through and check it out. It's a great idea to tune your ads and not just let your network run wild.

 

[alphaguild]

The last time I clicked on a banner ad was probably a year ago. Banner ads aren't usually too enticing for people who are avid internet users.

 

[Azareal]

Do you host your own websites with ads? I never use Adsense, it just feels wrong. Like Ed says, if you're going to hope for people to click on your ads it's pretty hypocritical to completely block other people's ads. I can understand not clicking on a ton of ads, because I don't, but if I see something interesting to me, I'm happy to click through and check it out. It's a great idea to tune your ads and not just let your network run wild.

I generally don't use adverts for my sites. When I mention these video adverts, I more or less mean a massive number of sites that I've seen across the board. I have no obligation to sit through a number of video ads. If your site is compelling enough then, I might whitelist it on the adblocker.
Heck, I have seen many forums where the malware adverts run wild including some fairly high profile ones. This really is a large trust factor.

 

[kfander]

I don't earn my living on AdSense, but I make enough to pay most of the costs associated with about forty domains that I have sites on. Since I depend on people clicking on my AdSense banners, I make a point of clicking on others every now and then, if I am on someone's site that I enjoy or have gotten something from. After all, someone has to pay for this stuff. Usually, the ones I click on are something that I have at least a vague interest in, but I have been known to click on an ad just because I thought the site deserved it.

On my own sites, I usually use only one AdSense block. In that way, my site doesn't appear cluttered, and if you display only one ad on a page, the one that will be displayed is the one that has bid the most for the spot. Thus, it is the one that you will earn the most from. It seems like a win-win to me, and I know that I appreciate it when people click on mine, so I tend to reciprocate.

 

[xTinx]

I couldn't remember the last time I clicked an ad on a company website or someone's blog. If I happened to click such an ad, that would have been entirely by accident and I usually click the X button immediately afterwards. Most of the ads look spammy. If I'm genuinely interested in a product, I would simply visit the product website for more details. Now, to ensure your ads are effective, you have to place them at various locations. Don't just rely on your site. Partner with high PR sites that generate thousands of views on a daily basis.

 

[Goat of Departure]

I think it was last week. At first I thought ads are just a nuisance because I don't really find them useful but that was a long time go when ads are just a mess on the web and adblockers are a must. Now I think ads are far more targeted which is really beneficial for both parties.

When I was on this forum site that I frequent in I noticed the ads on the sides and sure enough their targeted ads based on my browsing habits so with no hesitation I did click on one of the ads and I realized that for the first time, an ad has caught my attention.

But I tend to be more careful with ads. I would only click on legitimate looking ads and not those kinds of ads that are just for the sign ups which you can see most of the time on adult sites. But most of the time the targeted ads that appear on my screen are products that I've been searching for the past days so it's very useful in my part.