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Posted by Lara Feltin, Seattle, Washington | Jun 25, 2012
Biznik now displays ads
Earlier this month we began placing banner ads on Biznik's site and it's working for us.
This will come as a surprise to paying members who remain logged-in to their Biznik accounts, because they are not visible to you.
If you're paying for Biznik Basic, Biznik Pro or Biznik ProVIP and you're seeing ads, simply login and voila! the ads will disappear.
A little background...
Since the inception of Biznik in 2005, Biznik has been ad-free. With the exception of the occasional sponsorship or partnership-focused promotion, providing an ad-free experience was deliberate. This was both an aesthetic decision and a personal one. Personally, I love participating in ad-free environments.
In February of this year we made some changes to Biznik. The most significant being the end to free membership. One of the benefits of paying the nominal fee for a Basic membership is a site free from moving banner ads.
Biznik is a solid community of users who trust each other and those building and facilitating this community. We've worked hard to earn that trust and we feel very fortunate.
As you well know, Biznik Articles are one of the leading ways to build a reputation as an expert in your field and increase SEO around the content you create. The content that makes up the Articles secion is curated, edited and promoted, the Biznik admin in lockstep with the member-authors.
(Huge. Where else does that happen?)
The community has come to rely on the articles for honest and smart business perspectives and advice -- as well as a place to ask questions and engage in discussion.
Given the degree of social sharing that happens from the Biznik articles, there are a lot of new visitors coming to Biznik, and many of them create profiles.
Advertising to free users of Biznik Lite, and non-logged in members provides us another revenue stream so we can continue to develop new tools and functionality for the community.
We have learned a lot about advertising, and have a lot more to learn.
The Biznik Team would love to hear your feedback, and your experience with advertising, either as a publisher or as a content creator.
10 Bizniks have posted replies
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Posted by Matt Lawrence, Seattle, Washington |Jun 26, 2012 Do you have the little box checked that has you stay logged in?
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Posted by Laura Dodson, CPA, Seattle, Washington |Jun 26, 2012 No, I choose not to use that box for any website.
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Posted by Tshombe Brown, Portland, Oregon |Jun 26, 2012 I actually like advertising that is relevant, timely, and useful.
I noticed the ads here on Biznik, and truthfully, I would not have known of a couple of opportunities or resources were it not for the advertising.
My assumption (untested, of course) is that those who have strong feelings against or objections to interruption marketing is when it isn't "relevant, timely, and useful." That's when they actually notice it consciously.
The truth is, advertising at its best is a win-win (yes, I know "win-win" has become cliche) if it adds value.
Why not generate revenue by sharing something of value?
It certainly requires, as you say, continually learning how it all works as well as being ever-alert that what's advertised is aligned with your values . . .
(For example, I remember when Biznik last advertising experiment that didn't work out so well)
AND I "get" the concerns people typically have with in-your-face-me-me-me-buy-now advertising and salesy copy.
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Posted by Jim Dickeson, Mercer Island, Washington |Jun 26, 2012 I usually come to Biznik just to check things out and never log in. I noticed them, but did not notice that they went away when logged in.
Actually, I don't mind them. You're obviously not plastering the entire page with them. So, no complaints. Some site have so much crap that you actually have to search for the real content, and then you find more ads between the paragraphs.
Forbes.com is really bad. A bunch of ads that load and unload, making the real content jump up and down for 10 seconds or more, which is an eternity on the internet. I hate it that I can't even read until the page settles down.
You know those full page card stock ads that lawyer put in the yellow pages? That kind of in-your-face advertising makes it impossible to thumb through the pages. So it's the first thing that gets ripped out and thrown away. I wonder how many lawyers know that. Now if I can only figure out how to rip out and throw away the obnoxious ads on Forbes.com.
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Posted by Matt Lawrence, Seattle, Washington |
Jun 26, 2012 Tshombe - I totally agree. The ads that are being served are relevant. And I think that is because of the hyper degree of focus on the content that is being shared here.
Jim - There are some sites that I really like that I simply will not go to anymore as the ad choices they have made make my experience there so frustrating.
Thank you both for your comments and insight.
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Posted by Tshombe Brown, Portland, Oregon |
Jun 26, 2012 Jim, 3 words: You. Crack. Me. Up.
Okay: 4 words.
LOL
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Posted by Nadir Zulqernain, Ph.D., Kirkland, Washington |Jun 27, 2012 The Ads look great and are relevant.
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Posted by Kate Phillips, Seattle, Washington |Jun 29, 2012 I know that Biznik has always had a strong commitment to being ad-free. To be honest, I think it was more important to the owners than to us users.
Though now I understand why I saw ads on my iphone (not logged in) and then didn't on my computer! (logged in). Thought I was going batty, or someone had "snuck" ads onto the website somehow... but only for mobile phones!
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Posted by Jacob Warren, Olympia, Washington |2 weeks ago I usually login when I'm on the site so I didn't even realize this might have been an issue.
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