Forced ads. They're everywhere, on nearly every website you visit, plastered all over e-mail newsletters. Many of them are in-your-face, obnoxious flashing animations that clutter up space on the page, increase the page downoad time and fill your browser's cache.
People actually pay to have ads placed claiming that they drive visitors to their website. But are ads really effective?
In my opinion, I hate ads. I make it a point to NEVER CLICK on it, but to type the URL in manually. If I want to purchase something, I will research it myself and make an educated decision instead of randomly clicking on an ad. Ads repel me rather than draw my attention.
One thing I've found to help keep ads out is AdBlock Plus, an add-in for FireFox, and a replacement Windows "HOSTS" file that points many ad servers to an invalid IP address, thus preventing my computer from downloading the ads or clicking on the URL.
People actually pay to have ads placed claiming that they drive visitors to their website. But are ads really effective?
In my opinion, I hate ads. I make it a point to NEVER CLICK on it, but to type the URL in manually. If I want to purchase something, I will research it myself and make an educated decision instead of randomly clicking on an ad. Ads repel me rather than draw my attention.
One thing I've found to help keep ads out is AdBlock Plus, an add-in for FireFox, and a replacement Windows "HOSTS" file that points many ad servers to an invalid IP address, thus preventing my computer from downloading the ads or clicking on the URL.