Comments on: Google AdSense in RSS!

By: Drew Olanoff

Drew Olanoff — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:45:50 +0000

I think it's great. The fact that they're at the bottom of the feed makes it that much better.
I've never had a problem with text ads, and once in a while I'll click on them if they make sense. Google has a strong product in AdSense, and it's just getting stronger.

By: LordKaT

LordKaT — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:24:38 +0000

Cameron, maybe you're missing the point: web sites, like Lockergnome, have costs to cover. Lots of them. Advertising can sometimes help offset those costs, or help turn a profit.
Somebody needs to pay for the space, computational time, and bandwidth.
The government isn't going to pay for it, and the providers of those services are not going to accept monopoly money.
For a site like Lockergnome, a $10/hour job, or even a $100,000/year career, would not pay for it either. So, the money will need to come from somewhere else: either directly out of your pockets, or via advertisers who attempt to get the attention of promising prospects.
While the Internet in general is already flooded with advertising, Google Adsense (and contextually relevant text advertising in general) is a wonderful alternative to interstitial, pop-ups/under, and those damn animated GIFs that cause you to have seizures, because it's (for the most part) contextually relevant to the content on that web site. That's a good thing for all three parties involved:
It's good for you, as a consumer, because it's not so much crying for attention as it is saying “here I am, here's what I have to offer, and here's why it's relevant to this site.” So, when you click on that ad, you're, very often, going to get something that interests you. That enhances your web experience.
It's good for advertisers because they get a consumer who is already interested in what they're attempting to sell. It's a very targeted way of getting prospects, which makes selling a product easier, and offers a very high likelihood that the product will make the consumer happy (assuming it's a good product), which means the likelihood of that particular consumer returning is very high.
It's good for publishers, like myself and Chris, because not only do we get additional content for our site, but that content is often very relevant to what we're writing about, which means we get to offer an additional service to our readers. Which, in turn, means you, as a reader, can not only find what you came to read about, but also additional information, products, and other sites relevant to what you're reading.
Also, Google AdWords (the AdSense auction engine) has certain terms and conditions for web sites. You're not going to find certain things from an AdWords click (pop-ups/under, for example). And, if you do find these things, a simple report to Google Support will nix those sites from advertising via AdWords.
Google AdSense also has some rules for placing their ads: no more than 3 Google ads can be displayed on non-premium sites (I have no experience with their “premium” service).The ads cannot be placed in pop-ups/under, and cannot be used as interstitial, because the AdSense terms of service state that the web site using these ads must have relevant content.
When used properly, AdSense makes a lot of, well, sense for content-driven websites, and especially technology like RSS. So, Cameron, I do not see how this would make your life more difficult.
Heck, you block ads, so why are you complaining?

By: Robert McLaws

Robert McLaws — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 07:26:06 +0000

Jason, it's not javascript. That was ruled out long before we ever got serious with the project.

By: Roger Benningfield

Roger Benningfield — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 06:52:56 +0000

Chris: Unless they do it via some sort of server-side include, AdSense in RSS won't fly. Most credible desktop aggregators disable Javascript by default, and since the security implications are even more dire, virtually *all* web-based aggregators do the same.

By: cameron conner / desk003

cameron conner / desk003 — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 06:14:30 +0000

DAMNIT! NO! WE DO NOT NEED MORE FUCKING ADS! NO!!!! I do not understand why people want to put ads everywhere? People just block them anyway! Why waste our time? It wastes your bandwidth and our time scrolling by or blocking em. IDIOTS!

By: Brandon Paddock

Brandon Paddock — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 00:53:00 +0000

Scratch that. I see the ads, but I get a cookie error when I click on one. Not sure if it's Outlook for Maxthon's fault.
Still, AdSense in RSS is a wonderful idea. Wasn't I suggesting that to you just last week ;)

By: Brandon Paddock

Brandon Paddock — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 00:51:31 +0000

They seem to work fine in Newsgator for me.