I want to know who is clicking on the google ads that are placed in the middle of paragraphs, before the answer you need to find, and anywhere else they can be jammed on the web page? Okay, maybe I’m a touch intolerant of ad sense. But I have a good reason why. For example, I too fell prey to the lure of googles billions, thought I could make money and implemented google ad sense into the yellowfish website.

Hard as I would try, I could not get the ad sense placements to stop competing with the content. Now here’s where my tolerance started to go south. We are Yellowfish Technologies, an Information Technology firm. Ad sense decided to pick the word ‘yellowfish’ and proceeded to list out crap ads about water, feeding, fish types, yellow belly fish flounder and you name it. It was ridiculous to see this type of information being offered on our technology home front. The competitors it also advertised was another story. I removed ad sense from the Yellowfish site. I guess now I’m not such a big fan, but the bad news is, it continues to haunt me.

I am a victim. I really am. Bad google advertising makes me lose track of what I was looking for. Usually the rest of something interesting… When I see these odd ad blocks hogging up valuable real estate on the web page where the content suppose to be, I can’t believe they are in such big use. The ads are just plain distracting and side-track you. Honestly, I do not know anyone who would stop to click further on them. The Yellow belly fish flounder incident comes back loud and clear.

I am now convinced most people who use and those who over-use ad sense do not pay attention to what actually shows up on their site under these ads. I was having a victim moment the other day and noticed the link options very strange. I think it was out of irritation and to prove it’s all irrelevant stuff displayed in those ad sense links, but I clicked on a couple as an experiment. All 5 of the links I chose brought me to a page without graphics and that was just a series of more random links, too many choices about the same thing, with an occasional link that made a small amount of sense. It’s just as I thought…useless. Oh, and by-the-way, I never went back to that site and found another that delivered information not ads. I book marked it.

I know people are just trying to make an extra buck off google hoping someone clicks on one of them and earns them extra money, but geeze, good sites are falling prey and putting all google ads above the fold and the important stuff below. I can barely read what’s I came there for. To all you over-users of google ad sense, please evaluate if it’s worth switching out your business content that should be easy to find and read for ads on things generally irrelevant and out of your control. Do you really want visitors leaving your site to go somewhere else anyways?

Web Presence is deceptively easy to establish. I say ‘deceptively’ since most businesses simply do not understand the importance of their own ‘web sites’. We live in post-google world. Opportunities are found and lost in virtual world. Your clients (and chances are you yourself – as a business owner) are doing their research on the Web. If you don’t have an engaging and effective web presence, you’re missing out serious opportunities.

Your web site is not merely a ‘website’. It’s the most effective marketing tool ever invented. It’s the most effective commerce platform today. It’s the most effective advertising platform that you can buy into.

If you’re like most small businesses, you probably have a web presence simply because everyone else has it too. That’s a start but virtually useless in today’s highly competitive online world. Here’s a simple worksheet to help you decide if your site needs a makeover to be effective:

1. Most important: Can your potential customers find you by doing relevant searches on google?
2. Does it load fast enough? Modern technologies like Ajax can make information load on demand – making initial loads much faster.
3. Do you have a ‘web site’ when you what you really need is a ‘web application’? A ‘web site’ has merely informational content. Web Applications are interactive and let your customers engage with you via your site.
4. Do you deliver your updated messages via modern channels like RSS and twitter feeds?
5. Your Home page needs to tell your story simply and clearly. If a stranger lands on your page, does it kill them with information overload or simply delivers your message?
6. You repeat customers need to get hold of you easily via your site. Don’t make them dig through 500 pages to find a contact number or contact email. It should accessible right from your landing page
7. Do you really need that Flash animation on all your pages?
8. Conform to the old geeky wisdom : Make it work first, then make it pretty. Make sure your website delivers it’s punch in as few clicks as possible. Make your ‘Buy It Now’ button the most sought after property. Do you even have an easy to use ‘Buy It Now’ button?

You can hire high school kids and get a yourself a ‘web site’. You need to work with professionals to build engaging and effective ‘web applications’.

Finally, the sales pitch. At Yellowfish, we work with our clients to deliver Applications that work for their business. Actively and Effectively. We monitor the applications after they’re deployed to see how your visitors are interacting with various components. We are your professional partners and peg our success with yours. Send us a message and see what we can do today together.