Mashable has a lot of ads
I normally read Mashable, the uber-comprehensible news service of the social media world, through an RSS reader, so I was a little bit surprised when I browsed around the site last night.
Is it just me, or does it have a lot of ads?
The center column is ad-free for the most part, thankfully. But there’s a lot of color and blinking lights and ads that run on and on down both the right and left column of the page.
Far be it from me to criticize a website for trying to make money, I’m all for it! But there’s a balance between content and advertising that’s part art and part science.
I don’t think that Mashable’s use of ads is terrible, but it was enough to be distracting. Which I suppose is good from the advertiser’s perspective!
Taking a look at TechCrunch, arguably the site which Mashable most hopes to emulate in terms of popular and financial success, it’s pretty clear that there are a lot fewer ads and the layout and balance between content and ads is cleaner. There’s a wide body of content on left, with a sizeable column on the right set aside for ads and other stuff.
The appearance of the ads is less distracting on TechCrunch as well. Less bright flashy things going on, lack of Google text ads.
Hey, we all have to use Google text ads from time to time (ahem), but lets face it, they’re not the greatest thing that you can do for the overall appearance of your site.
