Top 10 Reasons Not to Use In Text Ads

If you’ve been reading this far, you probably know by now that I like in-text ads as a website monetization solution that doesn’t interrupt visitors, and that I even work for Infolinks… But I do know that some people out there are still against in-text. So to help them out, I thought I would come up with the top ten reasons not to use in-text ads. This way, when your in-text-loving friends brag about how good they are, you will be armed with some reasons why not to use in-text ads.

1. They don’t jump around

We all just love flashy animated banners that do anything technology allows them to interrupt our reading, especially the banners that expand to cover half the page, make creepy noises, and hide the shut-down x so you can’t find it. So, as a website publisher, why would you want to use ads that are subtle, non-intrusive, quiet, and do not disturb your visitors while they’re reading your content. Tell them you want the jumpy ones, with a video character that walks vividly and steps on your precious writing, not those cute little double underline links.

2. Too much money is corruptive

Having too much money leads to the illusion of power and then to corruption. Who needs it? In text ads are known for generating extra revenues from a website without affecting other sources of income. Having all this extra cash is a slippery slope en route to corruption. When someone tells you about monetizing your website by placing in-text ads – just say no. No to doubling your revenues. No to too much money.

3. Web programmers are losing jobs

These are rough times and with the economy downturn, web programmers and developers are losing jobs anyway. Integrating in-text ads into a website is way too easy. It can take less than a minute to simply paste a line of code into the website and that’s it – the in-text ads are there. They require no changes to the website, no new code, no programming or developing, no IT, no QA – what will all our colleagues and friends do? Avoiding in-text ads will help keep their jobs.

4. They make affiliate programs look bad

Affiliate programs rule. We work hard to cooperate with affiliate programs and promote links to their sales efforts. Good affiliate plans have conversion rates of about 1%, which means that for every 100 clicks we get on our website, we get 1 affiliation fee payment. Those in-text ads are on pay per click basis (PPC) – the website publisher gets paid for every click. Every click. This makes our favorite pay-per-acquisition and pay-per-lead affiliate programs look bad.

5. You have to create real content

When you have nothing new to write about in your blog, when you can’t find any nice videos or images to upload, when your website is left empty of new content… Who do you turn to? The advertising banners! We cover our website with real-estate for ads: big squares, skyscrapers, leader boards, whatever we can get our hands on to fill all that space. Who needs quality content when you have good ads? But those in-text ads, they don’t take any space on the website, they don’t cover real-estate. In-text ads just blend smoothly into your content, so they actually force us to come up with original content. It’s terrible.

6. No new un-related topics

It’s nice that the ads around a website’s content throw in different ideas that are not related to the content. You can read a historic post about The Manhattan Project and the banners will announce the new season of Project Runway. It opens up your mind to new horizons. As opposed to that, those nasty in text ads insist on being relevant. Since the ad is hooked on an actual term within the content, it’s mostly relevant and supplements the content. This way, with in-text relevancy, how will you get exposed to new topics?

7. We’re addicted to ad interruptions

We breathe ads. From the moment we wake up, on our way to work or school, in our office or classroom, in the afternoon, in front of the TV and PC, all day long until we close our eyes to sleep (well, sometimes even in our dreams) – advertisers fight for our attention, interrupting us in whatever we do. In text ads are different. The double underline links tell us there’s an ad behind them and ask for our permission – interested? Give it a hover. Then, only if we’re interested in the ad within the bubble, we click on it. In-text ads are not stuck to our faces. But we got used to those ads everywhere. If all advertisements will ask for our permission, like in-text ads do, we might lose all those precious interruptions. Tell them that you need those interruptions like the air you breathe!

8. Nobody likes advertisers

People generally don’t like advertisers and marketers. Sad but true. In text ads get high quality scores from advertisers. It makes sense. Since the visitor actually gives permission to get exposed to the ad and actively demonstrates interest (by hovering, and then clicking), there’s a good chance he will be genuinely interested in the advertiser’s content. From the advertiser’s point of view, it’s the next best thing after search ads, and way better than banners and contextual ads around the content. When you use in-text ads, you make advertisers happy, and why would you want to do that?!

9. You need to analyze eCPM and CTR

Do you prefer getting paid without work related incentives? If so, stay away from in-text ads. Integrating in-text ads into your website is very easy, and money comes in instantly. But then, you can always earn more with simple changes. Consider the color, the format of the underline, the number of hooks, the location in the page, blacklist keywords, whitelist keywords… there are improvements that take little work and can add up on your bottom line. But alas, to get these higher revenue numbers, you need to look at your eCPM and CTR and analyze some data… doubling your money is possible, but if you’re afraid of some work, you’d better keep your distance.

10. Another reason anyone?

The tenth reason is up to you. When thinking about the top 10 reasons not to use in text advertising, I came up with the fact that they don’t jump around like our favorite banners; they make you too much money, which can be corruptive; they threat web programmers’ jobs by being too easy to integrate; the pay per click model makes affiliate programs look bad; you have to create real original content; they are so relevant, that we don’t get exposed to new un-related topics; they lower the volume of ad interruptions, which we’re so addicted to; and they might even make advertisers happy with high quality scores, and nobody likes advertisers… that’s 9 reasons.

Can you think of another reason not to use in text ads?