Even more on ad-blockers
I was reading over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, about a new extension for the Safari web browser which ‘cleans’ a lot of the extraneous material from around You Tube videos. Naturally, I’m not the only one annoyed by the ‘creativity’ You Tube’s owner/operators Google engage to interrupt my viewing pleasure. (Interruption marketing: ‘Find out what your customers like doing and interrupt it‘ — a neanderthal marketing idea.)
Here’s a nice extension for those who visit YouTube but dislike its visual clutter. A Cleaner YouTube by 200ok Web Consulting removes all of the ads, sidebar items, comments and pretty much everything else that isn’t the video you’re watching. Once installed, youtube.com simply shows a search field. Enter your criteria and hit return to review the neatly-presented results.
Select a video to watch and it appears centered in a field of white all by its lonesome. Nice, eh? …
We’ve discussed the pros and cons of ad-blockers here and here coming up with the golden rule (quoting myself, sorry):
Desperate for revenue? Then don’t annoy the hell out of your readers.
Reading the comments following the TUAW post, I saw this absolute gem from insider ‘stewy6598’:
This is BS. I work in Internet advertising, and this is how we make money. I understand ads are annoying, but just ignore them. Free content = ad supported. Just like this site and its parent AOL.
Priceless! Oh yeah, that’s a business model we can all get behind.
Self-inflicted wounds, I say, stewy6598. Why do you think TV remotes have a MUTE button?*
What future for ‘Cashflow machines’?
The implications for those selling ‘cashflow machines’ based on ‘gaming the system’ of Google Adsense and Amazon click commissions are worth considering. Before plonking down a wad of cash to learn how to ‘steal traffic’ perhaps one should consider the landscape, and how it’s changing.
Of course, the spruikers selling the systems will want you to ‘buy now!’ … because it’s “mind-blowing” and “the most incredible cash-flow opportunity I have ever seen in my life”.
Meanwhile, apparently this (below) is nothing to do with internet marketing gurus [cough] Shaun Stenning and Dean Letfus (who made such an impression with their You Tube Traffic Thieves ‘special report’ ).
Originality is not generally a spruiker's trait. Any resemblance must be a coincidence.
Oh no. This cashflow machine ‘Google Sniper’ is a different thing entirely to their ‘sni.pr’ ‘Made for Adsense/Amazon’ cashflow machines … or their ‘Twa.lk 2.0’ – ‘Make big money on social media’ cashflow machine. Not them, apparently.
But you’d be forgiven for thinking it was. Watch the similar hyperbolic claims. (‘Zero to six figures’. ‘FREE traffic for life’, ‘The complete blueprint’. ‘Holy Grail of affiliate marketing’ etc etc.)
Must be a different internet whizz kid. (I hear there are quite a few around.)
– P
* Read further down the comments on the TUAW post and you’ll see someone reports the current version extension clashes with the BBC iPlayer … so be cautious (… which is why I read comments.)
Google Sniper is a product of George Brown (http://www.gsniper.com/) Not Shaun and Dean.. They say research is key.. Maybe you should do some..
Hi Tony, thanks for your comment. I don’t see that I have I asserted anything different, have I?
My point was that I was struck by the similarities:
(a) The name Sniper vs sni.pr
In NZ we have trademark laws that concern themselves with ‘confusingly similar’ brand names … not my concern in this case, just an observation.
(b) The breathlessly hyperbolic ‘get-rich-quick’ claims.
Judging by appearances George is singing from the same ‘Internet Marketing’ hymn book as Tumbleweed Dean Letfus and co … only perhaps with a bit more class.
Although he’s a heavy user of pop-up windows …
And when you click that ‘OK’ you get this: