Thursday, February 26, 2009

Too Much Online Advertising

Sometimes, websites go a little too far with their online ads - to the point that you can't find the content you're looking for; or even sort the content from the ads.

A couple months ago, my wife and I visited my family, back on Long Island, for the Holidays. We had dinner at the Maine Maid Inn, in Jericho, NY, which was built in 1789. This afternoon, my mother and sister contacted me to tell me they had heard that the restaurant had closed down. But, they couldn't find any information about it.

My first stop was the leading Long Island newspaper, Newsday. I ran a search for the Maine Maid Inn and I was surprised that I couldn't find anything about it. So, I turned to the best place to get real time information, online: Twitter.

Here is what I found (click image to enlarge):
Hey, wait, there was an article published online by Newsday. Why didn't I find it? Well, I did, but didn't know it.

Can you find the article here? (click image to enlarge)
I'm sure, now that you know the search results I was looking for are really on that web page, you can see the article at the very bottom of the page. Unfortunately, for me, it wasn't very obvious. Should the Favorite Inns Guide, The Match, and the latest Newsday corrections really be the Top Results? Of course not.

Obviously, well placed ads are the key to getting results - unless you simply intend to bombard your viewers with as many ads as possible. There are more than half a dozen ads on that Newsday web page - I'm sure six, well placed ads, could be more than ten times as effective.

Twitter Search
If you search for most anything on Twitter you'll find what people are saying about it right now - and what they ever said about it. Next time you're watching a significant event, live, on T.V., do some searches on Twitter - you'll be amazed.

Update 3.1.2009
I just read this article about Newsday - they will probably end free access to current news articles on their web site. I just don't think they get it.

Cheers,
Joe