Yes Frosty, you're absolutely right, which is why I'm pleased that Google is serving that kind of ad today. We've earned more today than any other day, and it's not even the most pageviews that we've had. Abysmal doesn't do justice to exactly how low the click through rate is.

As an example, in 14,000 pageviews yesterday, there were 10 clickthroughs -- and that's not an anomaly, that's fairly indicative of what the clickthrough rate has been for the past few days.

The biggest reason for this is that the ad selection has been pretty static over the past few days -- we had a decent number of clickthroughs in the first 36 hours or so, but after that it really died down to almost nothing. Not terribly surprising if the content of the ads doesn't change.

I've no problem with adds from search engines... I don't think I've ever gotten pop ups from this site and that's one of the reasons I love it...

Keep up the good work all...

You will never (ever ever ever) get popups from this site. I'd take a sledgehammer to the server myself before I'd stoop to that level.

Well thats not entirely accurate Neuron, the PM's pop up

I've been clicking through every day that I am here, and can. I'm sorry to see that it isn't getting a lot of clicks though.

Hey, would it be possible to force the clicks to open up in a new window?

If you're on Firefox, either hold CTRL and click, or click with the middle mouse button (the scroll wheel). That'll open it in a new tab.

Edit: Or not? Apparently Google ads doesn't like Firefox's new tabs...

unfortunately,theres alot of things like that. I blame microsoft. Hell, even though i have firefox as my default browser, there are STILL programs that insist on opening crap up in IE, which i still keep around for those rare websites that insist on it being used. AIM and Norton Internet Security being two off of the top of my head that i know, if i click a link will open up IE.

However, it's also possible that it is hard coded (either by Neuron, or the goggle ad's themselves) to load in the same page as you see the ad, which i find absolutely annoying.)

EDIT: Actually,f or me, middle clicking the mouse wheel does work, but it's a PITA

I think it's hardcoded by Google. It's an image that uses link embedding to link to certain pages based on the images it loads into the ad.

I might send a request their way to open in a new window, as Firefox can easily be setup to open new windows into new tabs instead.

I'm with you, Neuron Basher.
If it helps DS, I'll not say a word against it.
Other SR fans shouldn't complain (If you like Dumpshock help the admins! ).

This thread is very old, but this is the first time that I've looked at it. I was just curious as to why, for as long as I've been on Dumpshock (about five months?), the same Google ad has been at the top of the page: BikerMatch.co.uk. I don't know if Shadowrun players are predominently lonely Hell's Angels, but it just seems odd to me.

-K.

Google ads is keyword- and match-based. When I'm at work (no adblock there), I get lots of ads about D&D or other RPGs. If I'm looking at a thread about, say, guns, the ads are more gun-oriented.

It all depends on the keywords that Google finds for the ads.

Yeah. I've clicked it though I'm not a biker and I'm not looking for a biker-date. Just morbid curiousity really.

I've been paying more attention to them since I posted this and I have seen a couple of others, but it's usually those lonely bikers. I can see it up there right now!

I'll click on any new ones that look interesting.

-K.

Maybe it's telling you something...

I've gotten to the point where I don't even see the adds. I'll try to make a point of clicking a random add each time I visit though.

Out of curiousity, how are the ads doing for DS? I know I've clicked on them whenever they happen to interest me, and hope that other DSers have done the same.

I actually didn't even notice the ads until just now. They're very unobtrusive.

The great ad experiment is over, at least for now. Some interesting stats since September 1st:

Impressions: 1,319,481
Clicks: 451

There are a couple of reasons why I think the numbers are so bad:

1. The ads were (intentionally) very unobtrusive, tucked in the header like they were.
2. The context was terrible. They were very seldom relevant to Shadowrun or RPGs at all.

It's possible that we might try again in the future with Google ads or with a third party sponsor, but we'll just have to see what happens. Thanks to everyone for your support.

No sweat man.

I know that the company I work for was shelling out around 20K/month on Google ads at one point, and to not much avail. I wonder if they really work for anyone.

They appear to work pretty well for Google.

~J

Heh. Yeah, what with the whole "business model" thing.

Man, the header looks so ... empty, now.

Make a banner for NERPS or something then?

Y'know, it's weird not seeing the Google ad anymore.