Why Should Online Advertisers Fear Web Savvy-ness?

I was reading Technology Evangelist and had an ‘aha’ moment when I read these lines:

Digg users don’t click ads. Why does this matter? Because Digg users are sophisticated web users.

As more web users become as sophisticated as today’s Digg users, click through rates will plummet.

Read the whole article for the context, but the gist is that when Digg visitors come to your site, your CTR drops a great deal (he mentioned as much as 75%). If web savvy users don’t click ads, what happens when the percentage of web users who are savvy gets bigger? What happens when the non-web savvy spend time online and get savvy?

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Internet has created many opportunities for people to earn money off of it. An affiliate program is the simplest way of cashing in money. Within six months time one can reach up to a hundred dollars per month given that some time is spent on the seo of the site. Even the best hosting packages are easily affordable with that sort of earnings. The sites can be hosted on dedicated web server once it grows to the adequate size. And to give a fresh look after a few years a web designer can be hired to create professional website templates.

11 Replies to “Why Should Online Advertisers Fear Web Savvy-ness?”

  1. Agree with the notion that web savvy will equal less CTR, however, if I appreciate a web site and I notice pay-per-click advertising I am more aware of what it means to the webmaster and will click relevant adverts, almost like a reward for a good site. The key is to not to fear web savviness but create good content and not fill it with tons of junk adverts.

  2. I rarely click an ad, but sometimes the ones that are really well done (or really relevant) still get a click. I suppose the challenge is finding a way to increase relevancy AND continue to make them better (cooler). Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment 🙂

  3. Robyn,
    It depends on your monetization model.

    I think the more effort you put in, the more income you stand to make.

    Less effort = contextual advertising
    some effort = affiliate marketing (time spent reviewing the product)
    Most effort = developing and marketing your own product (most effort!)

    Frankly I’d prefer to spend more time (a one-off effort!) to develop a quality product and keep 100% of profits.

    The problem with CTR type advertising models is that I’m always reminded of the fact that I work so hard to bring a visitor to my site…and then I’m sending them away for $0.50 a click…

    It may be just me, but I’d prefer to make 10x or 100x that amount from a completed affiliate marketing offer…

  4. Agreed, this is the reason there are no contextual ads on my site. Was too little pay for the loss of a visitor. I have advertising from Wash Post on here and every now and then I’ll put up an affiliate ad, but that’s about it.

    I’d rather have *this* blog earn me nothing, than drive away visitors for less than a dollar. I’ll make my money on other blogs or other monetization methods.

  5. I think almost all savvy bloggers will know that intangible benefits from blogging way outweigh the pittances 99.9% of bloggers will earn from adsense, kontera, etc.

    By the time you’re a shoemoney or problogger, you’d likely have your own product/service/blog network.

    Personally I’ve found that the benefits from contacts, JVs and branding I’ve got from my blog, have far outweighed even the product sale/affiliate income that I’ve earned.

    PS: the ‘subscribe to comments’ WP plugin is really useful for notifying readers to come back for blog updates. If you’d like to check it out, i’ve uploaded it at: http://www.whoisandrewwee.com/wordpressplugins/wpSubscribeToComments-1-5.zip

  6. Andrew, that is a good point. I have always known about that plugin but i am only thinking about including that on my blog now, due to your reasoning behind it.

    Cheers for your help!

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