Advertising Banners and Google Ads

[CPSDarren]

Effective immediately, small, static banner ads from our major sponsors will be visible to all users in all styles/skins at the bottom of each forum page, as they have been in the default style for some time. In addition, all visitors except for sponsors, benefactors and supporters will also see a Google ad placement below the bottom sponsor banner ads.

Guests, newer users and basic members will also see targeted Google ad placements in a top banner, above the Google Custom Search bar, after the first post in all threads and after the forum thread listing. These ads will not be visible to Community Members (Members who have 10 posts, 10 reputation points and who have been registered 30 days), Technical Professionals, Supporters, Benefactors or Sponsors.

In the future, these various Google placement banners may also appear to all other usegroups, except for supporters, benefactors and sponsors, similar to the bottom Google ad placement. Supporters, Benefactors and Sponsors should not see any ads on Car-Seat.Org, except for the bottom banner from our major sponsors (currently Couponsurfers.com, Seatcheck.net and iMountain.com) . If you are a current donor and see any other banners or Google placements, please let me know and I will look into it.

Your feedback is welcome on these placements and whether or not they are too obtrusive.

If these ad placements are effective, they should ofset the need for increases in donation amounts for supporters and benefactors next year. There may be some changes to sponsor benefits and costs in the future, however.

[CPSDarren]

I'm still tinkering with advertising placements. Community Members, SCM and Technical Professionals should see minimal changes, other than the bottom banners now appearing in all styles/skins.

Feel free to logout and see what you think of the Google ad placements. Please let me know if they are too obtrusive. They seem pretty tame to me, compared to many other forums. Plus they are targeted and mostly have ads of interest to people surfing for information on car and carseat safety.

[CPSDarren]

Some minor changes. The bottom google ads that appeared to all visitors have been removed. Instead, this banner now appears above the quick reply box for all visitors (including me, admins, moderators and usergroup leaders) who are not donors.

Community members no longer see the Google ad bar after the first thread in each post, but do see the bar above the forums on each page.

I think that is about it for the changes. Most long time members in the senior community member usergroup or technical professional usergroup won't notice most of the ads visible to unregistered guests. This may change in the future, but it shouldn't be necessary unless we have a large increase in hosting costs over and above the additional amount now being paid for increased backup frequency to avoid loss of data in a major crash.

[crunchierthanthou]

okay, so I haven't gotten around to renewing my benefactor status and am able to enjoy the banner ads. I'm sure you don't have much control over the content, but what the crap is this?



http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z157/crunchierthanthou/ohsbannerad.jpg

An OHS ad above the quick reply box that all visitors see. I know it's third party, but do guests?

[CPSDarren]

I can't see the image :-( I think I may be able to reject specific advertisers, but probably not specific ads.

[crunchierthanthou]

hmm, strange. I just checked from dh's computer where I wasn't logged in and it showed up. It's a target ad for an evenflo OHS. some of their others have been sceneras- no real complaints there.

[CPSDarren]

I think it's my computer, for some reason I am seeing some missing photos. I should see if they are all from the same photo hosting site.

[mommy2env]

Yuck, this could lead to big confusion with newbies.

They may think we "support" that type of seat. :(

[CPSDarren]

I had to eliminate the "accessories" category from the upcoming amazon store to avoid having all the harness covers and stuff being shown on the main page lol.

[emandbri]

Well, I did give it a bad review! ;) That might help.

[Kecia]

I saw that ad for the Tribute OHS and had the same reaction. I did notice Emily's review :thumbsup: but I also tortured myself by reading some of the rave reviews for this seat <gag>. I doubt there's a way to prevent this from happening again but if we see a questionable CR or product being promoted is it possible to skip forward to the next ad?

Kecia

[CPSDarren]

I saw that ad for the Tribute OHS and had the same reaction. I did notice Emily's review :thumbsup: but I also tortured myself by reading some of the rave reviews for this seat <gag>. I doubt there's a way to prevent this from happening again but if we see a questionable CR or product being promoted is it possible to skip forward to the next ad?

Kecia

There's also this;-)

http://www.target.com/gp/help/display-contact-us-form.html?displayLink=tci

[CPSDarren]

okay, so I haven't gotten around to renewing my benefactor status and am able to enjoy the banner ads. I'm sure you don't have much control over the content, but what the crap is this?


After a little more research, I may indeed be able to block it. I will need some help, though. The next time someone sees that specific ad, I need you to right click on it. Then in the menu choose "copy shortcut" or "copy link location" or equivalent in your browser. Then post that as a reply to this post!

[CPSDarren]

Hm I found the ad myself but it's not working the way Google said it should, of course. I submitted all the details to Google to see if they can block that specific ad somehow.

[emandbri]

There is still a target ad but now it has the Scenera~ :D

[CPSDarren]

I actually got a reply from Target yesterday saying they would look into it.

[TerisBoys]

Back to the Tribute :(

[Patriot201]

Not all the ads are bad, though. I liked this one

[emandbri]

I've now seen a scenera and graco safe seat 2 but still see the tribute 80% of the time.

[Admin]

Some minor changes. The bottom google ads that appeared to all visitors have been removed. Instead, this banner now appears above the quick reply box for all visitors (including me, admins, moderators and usergroup leaders) who are not donors.

Community members no longer see the Google ad bar after the first thread in each post, but do see the bar above the forums on each page.

I think that is about it for the changes. Most long time members in the senior community member usergroup or technical professional usergroup won't notice most of the ads visible to unregistered guests. This may change in the future, but it shouldn't be necessary unless we have a large increase in hosting costs over and above the additional amount now being paid for increased backup frequency to avoid loss of data in a major crash.

The Google ad placement before the Quck Reply box has been replaced with our affiliate links, including elitecarseats.com and Amazon.Com!

This will prevent random ads from appearing to most community members. The other Google ad placements will remain, but most of these are only visible to unregistered guests and newer members.

Also, welcome to our newest premier sponsor, elitecarseats.com ! Their banner will be appearing shortly. Please be sure to support them!

[crunchierthanthou]

I still only see the random google and Target ads, including the Tribute OHS. In fact, I'm seeing it as I type this. I've been watching and haven't noticed any of our affiliate ones come up yet today.

[CPSDarren]

I still only see the random google and Target ads, including the Tribute OHS. In fact, I'm seeing it as I type this. I've been watching and haven't noticed any of our affiliate ones come up yet today.

The new setup is only in the default, classic and shellebelle skins right now. Once I'm finished with a few other changes, it will appear in all styles.

[crunchierthanthou]

The new setup is only in the default, classic and shellebelle skins right now. Once I'm finished with a few other changes, it will appear in all styles.

It's skin dependent? What a hassle. Thanks for all the work you're putting in.

[CPSDarren]

It is a bit of a hassle. It used to be that you'd have to remake everything almost everytime they issued a new version of the forum software, too. Now that they've made it a little more streamlined to insert banners and customizations, that may be a thing of the past, too.

[CPSDarren]

The new, static affiliate banners- better or worse than the random Google banners?

[joolsplus3]

I like them better so far!

[CPSDarren]

I like the Albee Baby ad I keep seeing about the "Eddie Bower" 3in1 seat lol.

[murphydog77]

Ah geez! :eek: I simply have to go bang my head on my desk. I can't take it any more. :crying:

[scatterbunny]

I haven't noticed the Eddie Bower ad. :p I just keep looking down to see the OHS Tribute ad (I think it's Target).