Should Hitsquad.com Kill Pop-Ups? - Enter To Win

Jason

We are giving away two (2) $100 Amazon.com vouchers - read on for your chance to win.

As you may know you will often receive Pop-Under advertisements when you visit this website. Pop-Unders are web browser windows containing advertisements that open underneath your main web browser window.

Most people don't like them - and neither do we - so we would like your help to get rid of them.

Now here's the tricky part - because Pop-Under advertising generates high levels of response for advertisers, they form a large part of the income this web site receives. In fact, this web site would not have been able to pay the web site hosting fees and would have been forced to close down years ago if it wasn't for the income from Pop-Under advertisements.

So to get rid of Pop-Unders we need to find different ways to generate high levels of response for our advertisers so they that will continue to advertise with us, but without using Pop-Unders.

This is where you come in!

We want to hear your solutions - it could be a way to double the number of visitors to this web site, or it could be a new kind of advertising that doubles the response rate, or it could be something completely different!

We have set up a special discussion thread here at http://jam.hitsquad.com/vocal/about1071.html where you can post your idea.

We will select the best ideas, and then let all the visitors to this site vote for which one they think is best.

The person with the winning idea will receive a $100 Amazon.com voucher.

Everyone who votes will also have the chance to go into the draw for a $100 Amazon.com voucher.

Here are the competition rules:

1. You must be a registered user of this forum, and you must login to enter the competition. Although guest users will be able to submit ideas, they will not be allowed to win prizes or to vote on the best ideas.

2. All ideas must be submitted by clicking on the "post reply" button on the special topic at http://jam.hitsquad.com/vocal/about1071.html

3. You can provide as many separate idea submissions as you like, however you may only vote once in the voting stage of the competition.

4. Hitsquad Pty Ltd reserves the right to remove any ideas submitted if we believe they are offensive, illegal, or for any other reason we deem necessary.

5. Idea submissions will close at 11:55pm 30 November 2005 GMT, and voting submissions will close at 11:55pm 2 February 2006 GMT.

6. The rules may be subject to change by Hitsquad Pty Ltd without notice.

7. The winners will be notified via email before 6 February 2006.

If you have any questions, please contact Jason Horton via our contact page at http://www.hitsquad.com/contact.shtml

Now Login - Then click on the "post reply" button below to submit your ideas on killing Pop-Unders and you'll be in the running to win a $100 Amazon.com voucher!

outside underpants · Superstar Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 83

Perhaps you could run a Hitsquad Radio channel using streaming audio and have your ads in that - not sure how listeners would click on it though.

lynnmonk · Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:40 pm Post subject:

By far the least obtrusive ads, and the easiest to understand and respond to, are static ads placed in the margins of the page, like newspaper or magazine ads.

These kind of ads don't fly accross the page, obscuring what you are trying to read; neither do they try to trick you into clicking on them by impersonating genuine windows messages.

Although, the current pop-under windows are probably the least obtrusive of a bad bunch, they can slow your PC down a lot, or even crash it due to the extra memory the dozens of them can take up before you even realise that they are there!

Yes...classic, static, "classified-type" of ads placed in the margins of the page are by far the best idea! I have no problem with clicking through on those kind of ads (like banner ads) that are related to things that interest me. Obtrusive pop-ups and their like, on the other hand, are quickly closed down before I even bother to read them!

Lynn

Jason · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:44 am Post subject:

Thank you 'lynnmonk' and 'outside underpants' for the ideas you have contributed so far.

This is just a reminder that we need ideas that are different to what we are already doing and ones that will increase the number of visitors to this site, or increase the response rates to advertising generally, or increase the income we get for other ads, in order to replace the income we will lose from shutting down pop-unders.

Please keep the suggestions coming!

Spastik James · Guest

With over a million hits per month, its very likely that most of the traffic is "repeat customers." Depending on the capabilities of your hosting service, you may be able to set up an ad-free or "less ads" version of the site... where users can subscribe for a minimal amount to free themselves of the ads. Along with that, you may be able to find a software publisher willing to give away a customized piece of software that would be exclusive to subscribers. That, should raise some interest. Or you could have special content exclusively avaliable through the subscription. Maybe interviews, or preset libraries for instruments/effects, etc.

Other possibilities could be; Online store selling swag (t-shirts, hats, etc.) something like CafePress.com, or perhaps even through them. Sell a CD-Rom with the content of the site - (with the permission of the software publishers of course!) you could sell a CD for something like $20 with the entire library of software avaliable on the site. Or if thats too much, then OS specific disc's (WindowsXP-SMM, MacOSX-SMM, etc.) For someone with a slower machine, or connection, this could be a huge and welcome time-saver.

Brien · Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2005 1:34 pm Post subject:

Yea, that are just charge a fee to subscribers that don't want the ads...I'm in for a few dollars to get rid of them.

Guest · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 2:29 am Post subject:

I think that maybe instead of having popups, have a banner going all the way across the screen using text ads. Text ads are less annoying and since many people here are repeat visitors, it gives hitsquad a chance to rotate different ads be it hourly, daily, or monthly. Maybe hitsquad could feature an auction type deal with its vendors/sponsors to support one banner bi-weekly due to the hits that the site gets.

fieva · Joined: 13 Nov 2005 Posts: 1

I think that maybe instead of having popups, have a banner going all the way across the screen using text ads. Text ads are less annoying and since many people here are repeat visitors, it gives hitsquad a chance to rotate different ads be it hourly, daily, or monthly. Maybe hitsquad could feature an auction type deal with its vendors/sponsors to support one banner bi-weekly due to the hits that the site gets.

(The above Guest post was me)

velocipede · Joined: 05 Mar 2005 Posts: 2

I wouldn't mind if you put ads in your weekly email between sections as long as they were clearly identified or separated from the main text. This is pretty unobtrusive and people who read the email want to know about new products. If you go to an html version, you could really do a lot with this.

Mike · Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 1

To increase the traffic to the site it needs to be easier to find or better advertised. I came across this site by chance although I have searched for MAC DJ software on the net before. Obviously advertising costs money - hence this whole issue! - so how about trading ad space with other sites where there might be people who's interests would cross onto this site. Maybe sites that are involved in DJ'ing, concerts, music downloads, clubbing, mutimedia, music installations, computer hardware/software, software deveopling, photography, expensive cars as well as sports like Skateboarding, snowboarding, wake boarding, sky diving etc. I think also fashion mags like Mens Health, Boys Toys, Stuff.
Anyway just a thought!
Cheers

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