Couldn't help but post this...

check this out www.chrisg.com/article.asp?article=113 , the ads stay in your face for about 15 seconds, and THEN the page loads...I honestly thought the page only had those 2 ads on it!

 

It took about a minute for the article to load for me, I would hate to see how long it takes on dial up. Surley thats against TOS.

 

Yeah, I timed it and it took 20 seconds on broadband. Useless article that didn't even help me out either.

 

Looks like someone implemented the serverside solution to that:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=82355

or codes with his feet

 

HMMM not sure that is a TOS violation as the T&C stand but it sure should be. I know sometimes websites have a slight delay in loading content but that is obviously done on purpose.

 

Yup, his code shows the function that sets visibility. Sneaky.

 

I'd be interested to know if this is a breach, because if you implemented a more appropriate 5 sec delay I'd imagine it would go a long way to removing a bit of ad blindness. Has anyone emailed Google about this?

 

I don't understand why you would delay your site on purpose though, I mean you'll get some clicks, but to be honest, I won't be clicking on that guy's website if I see it in a search engine, so I guess if someone wants to just get visitors and have them click out as soon as they open your page, then thats okay
edit: typo

 

Well when designing a website I think it needs to be primarily a quality site that is of service to its visitors, but I think that if a minor tweak like making your content load 3 - 4 seconds longer will produce maybe a 20 - 30% improvement in CTR (I'm just guessing what it might be) that it is definitely something worth implementing. I think that if you genuinely have a quality site then waiting 3 - 4 seconds for it isn't going to scare many people away. Sure you might lose a couple in every hundred but the gain far outweighs the loss.

But hey that's just my take on the idea - if you are all about developing quality sites where your visitors are always number 1 then obviously this isn't something you'd opt for. I personally am always out to find a happy medium.

 

That page froze my laptop and I had to kill Firefox!