First, a quick note about the subject line. A friend challenged me to post on Twitter only in haiku for a day. I thought these subject lines would be fun, too.
Anyway, ads. As I’ve focused the past few years on marketing, I have no issue with web ads. Currently, they’re the way many web personalities and other sites pay their bills. Family feeding is a fun, fantastic feeling.
However, web designers need to build advertising around mobile. Too often advertising either destroys the user experience, or critically hampers it. Pop ups that can’t be cleared are big issues. Several times this week I’ve struggled with sites where the “close” button was off the screen, AND clicking on the ad took you to a new website. (Sidenote: web devs and designers, use the target attribute on anchor tags. Don’t build ads that push your readers away from your site!)
These things make your site unusable on mobile. And, let me reiterate what’s been stated myriad times: the web’s future is mobile. If your mobile experience sucks, you’re are already behind. Perhaps you’re ahead of the curve on being an anachronism. It’s hardly ideal.
Last year’s whole Google mobile-gedon thing should have pivoted sites over, but, well, nope. But then folks still build auto-play videos on their sites. Thought that went out with MySpace. Since I’m simply griping now, let me add popups asking me to subscribe upon page load. Let them learn what you’re about first. I’ve neverr subscribed to a site BEFORE I’VE READ ANYTHING! NEVER!!!! Build the pop-up to launch towards the end, if you must use them at all. I’d put the ask in the post body, personally.
Developers, build sites for positive experiences. Delight your readers, inspire them to come back again. Don’t give in to greed or desperation. They’re ugly.
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