Too much of a good thing

I once wrote a post about the “Pissed-off Bounce” where I started by saying that SeattlePI.com was dead to me. Looks like Seattletimes.com is mortally wounded as well. I’m originally from Seattle and like to check in sports and news now and again, so this is starting to be a bummer. I understand that the newspaper industry is having it hard. I get it… they need to sell ad space to make any money. But really…can’t you put something together that doesn’t make me want to kill a kitten? Is it too much to ask to have relevant advertising placed on a page in a way that might entice me to click on my own volition rather than by accident because it’s hard to click anywhere on the screen without hitting an ad? That was a really long sentence. I only write like that when I’m angry. I know, I have issues. I’m working on it.
This leads me to another point. It’s likely that the Seattle Times didn’t have a lot to do with this. It’s likely that they have their ads served by a third-party. That third-party works with advertisers to place advertising on relevant targeted pages. Or at least that’s what they tell them. It’s likely that third-party promised that advertiser a minimum number of clicks to justify the numbing amount of money that advertiser is paying them. Well, it’s toward the end of the month and looks like someone hasn’t received all their clicks yet. So let’s throw their ad up three times on one page and make sure they get all their clicks. Does that even work?

Now, I’m not going to feel sorry for the Bank of America. They’ve got plenty of money to spend (some of is mine as it turns out). But if you are a small business and you are looking into having a third-party serve your ads up on websites make sure to think about this. If you don’t get your clicks, they are contractually obligated to get those clicks for you. If you aren’t getting those clicks organically there’s a pretty good chance that these clicks at the end of month aren’t going to bring you much business as there is a pretty good chance that they are sending under-qualified leads from places that just aren’t relevant to your product or service. You’re better off purchasing less guaranteed clicks and bumping up against your limit organically and then adjusting from there. Just make sure you understand that there can be too much of a “good thing” and that can be a bad thing.

See below…

Originally published: 12/24/2011

Note: I wrote this six years ago. Both of these sites are still around. Mortally wounded… I guess not.