Skip to main content

Ad Blocker Software: I'm Going to the Dark Side

I am going to the dark side: blocking ads. I've been in business since 1994 on the Internet, making my first money off of an advertising-supported site, eg3.com. Generally speaking, I recognize that ads support the "free" content on the Internet, and I am decidely NOT against ads.

I am Not Against Ads. I am Against Slowness


But... we're reaching the tipping point.

Ad Blocking Software
My Web browsing is getting slower and slower and slower. I was recently at Content Marketing World in Cleveland, and at one of the presentations (on advertising), the jolly presenter talked about ad-serving software, and all the wonderful data it gave advertisers (on me and my habits). I'm not opposed to that: I recognize that "personally non-identifiable" information isn't bad - I'd like to get relevant ads.

I don't mind ads.

Ads Slow Down Your Browsing


What I DO mind is slowness. As I watched the presenter, I realized that it was the ad serving - the remarketing, the lookups to ad networks, the "slow waiting till they figure out who I am, what demographic and what I am" that is SLOWING DOWN MY WEB BROWSER.

So here I am: going to the dark side.

I simply Googled "ad blocker for chrome" and installed the #1 result from the Chrome store (rather ironic, no?).  AdBlock.

Note to all Internet advertisers: you gotta increase the SPEED of advertising if you want us to play nice. Until then, I'm blocking ads.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Quality Issues on Social Media Marketing Workbook?

Grrrrrrrrrr.  Amazon is reporting "quality issues" on my Social Media Marketing workbook . But, oops - there are NONE.  I've called in to complain and get them to remove that annoying "warning" but so far, nothing. Oh readers.  Those fun folks who have trouble with their Kindle and blame it on us poor and struggling authors. #OHWELL.  Always, contact me if you have issues with the books. I'll move heaven, earth, and Amazon to fix it.

Google Penguin, Meet Panda: A Quick Negative SEO Primer

What is negative SEO? I am getting this question more and more. So here's a quick primer on Negative SEO. Google has launched two big "updates" to the Google algorithm of late: Panda (focusing mainly on 'keyword stuffing' and low quality content) and Penguin (focusing mainly on low quality inbound links, especially the overuse of embedded phrases). Along with this, Google seems to have increased its awareness of manual spam complaints . All of this is creating some unintended consequences. Unintended Consequences of Panda and Penguin I doubt that Google meant to increase the availability of negative SEO tactics. Negative SEO is the use of faked or aggressive tactics by your competitors to make your own site look "as if" it is doing something against Google's terms of service, or just as bad, to call Google's attention to something you are doing that many other competitors are doing as well. So think about it this way: Panda = low