Ok, ok… I know, I know… ads suck! But just hear me out.

I’m just going to jump into the deep end concerning this whole debate… for lack of a better word… debate. It seems to me that Adblock is for people who like to read those sites that are created specifically to adorn a center stage advertisement with fluff. We’ve all seen them, we all know what they are. Or do we?

The real answer should be, to be able to quickly tell the difference between sites with original quality content and the ones that exist to fluff up an advertisement strategy. I think using Adblock makes making this distinction more difficult. I tend to avoid sites that have autoplay video ads that you have to look for and pause or else listen to them, not because of the ads, per se, but because those sites very rarely have enough unique quality content to maintain my interest. I have noticed that sites with lots of ads… especially if the ads have an audio component or that are not even relevant to the site topic… usually have unoriginal low quality content.

Glady, Google has done an excellent job of ranking those kinds of bogus key-worded sites much lower than they used to, which has forced those webmasters to offer more unique quality content in order to stay ranked higher, which has resulted in fewer of those sites because if unique quality content was at all what those webmasters wanted to offer.. that’s what they would have made their sites to begin with.

• If you ARE NOT using Adblock… good, you can tell the quality sites from the bogus rehashes by whether or not it has annoying or irrelevant ads. Seriously… relevance is a good rule of thumb to follow concerning unique quality content… assuming that is what you are looking for.
• If you ARE using Adblock… don’t despair, I will give you some heads up concerning how to navigate the web by way of kinds of advertisements and the lack thereof. That way you can take the training wheels off the bike, so the speak. Much of this is what most people already know, but have fallen into the bad habit of accepting, because of laziness or for lack of passion for the topic they are researching.

If you are reading a site that you know has ads that are so annoying that you are glad your Adblock is blocking… therein is the problem. You are reading unoriginal rehash! Why? I don’t know… because you like to see Adblock in action??? Is your experience of the web hindered because subconsciously you are an Adblock fanboy or fangirl? Think about it.

These kinds of sites that people are glad they have Adblock because of, ALWAYS exist for the sole purpose of dressing up ads. They NEVER contain unique quality content… at least not comparatively.

Whereas sites with unique quality content that have ads, have ads because they are individually owned by people who do not have a lot of money, but who want to share their unique quality content as freely as possible. They put a lot of time and energy into educating, informing, and entertaining… YOU… for FREE! They deserve some support… if they have communicated that they could use it… which they are communicating if there are any ads. These are sometimes Google ads, but are more often than not ads that the webmaster genuinely and personally believes may be of use to people interested in the site topic.

Then again, some webmasters don’t need the support, but wouldn’t mind it, AND choose ads specifically because they believe the product or service advertised to be helpful to the kind of person interested in their topic. These kinds of ads usually won’t be Google ads… because Google chooses the ads. Google ads are a controversial topic indeed.

I personally don’t use Google ads because I like to have complete control over what ads are on my site. As a result, my sites do not bring in nearly as much revenue. But, that said, to desire to not see a Google ad on a site that you spend time reading is simply selfish. It takes 2 seconds to click out of a site by way of a Google ad, costing you absolutely nothing while at the same time showing some appreciation for the webmaster who gave you all that info for free.

For those of you who don’t know, each click on a Google ad gives the webmaster a few cents. When I find myself reading a site that I appreciate, I always click out when I am through by way of a Google ad whenever possible. This is a quick and painless way to give a micro donation to the webmaster for all his time and energy. But I never click on any Google ad if the site is obviously one of those that exist for the sole reason of taking advantage of people who believe the ad will take them to something they are interested in because the site failed to deliver! Those kinds of sites deliberately contain little useful information, and offer the big Google ad as a quick way out… perhaps, thinks the reader… to a site with more information. I think these are the sites that people who use Adblock are trying to block the ads on. But with Adblock, you cannot tell immediately that that is the kind of useless site you are on until after you waste a considerable amount of time reading through, only to be disappointed by the lack of original quality content. So, in effect, Adblock ends up… “protecting”… you from seeing that the site is bogus, thus wasting your time.

On the other hand, there are sites with quality unique content that have ads that are very relevant. Adblock by default even blocks some text and images that link to valuable pages within the site that are not ads. For example, the image link on this page (image shown left… I had to change the name of the image to keep Adblock from preventing it from being shown… and yet it is in no way an ad) is blocked by Adblock, thus disabling navigation of the full site.

Shown below is what a part of this page looks like with Adblock off and on… it is literally the difference between a well thought out sidebar and one that looks retarded.

I suggest that if you use Adblock… that if you find a site you value for its unique quality content… that you do an experiment and disable Adblock and take a look at what ads and links do appear. If the ads and links that do appear are annoying and spammy (non relevant to the site topic), then you may want to reevaluate your web surfing skills, because I have found that on sites that I go back to for reference… the ads are not at all annoying or spammy, and are in fact sometimes helpful.

I design my sites with this in mind, carefully choosing ads specifically that lend to the overall topic and design… it is my goal to offer a full website experience… classy and relevant… with quality original content and links to other sites and purchase opportunities that I have myself personally used and fully endorse.

The thought of someone coming to my site that I give away unique quality content for free at the expense of my time and energy… and using Adblock, personally feels as if a tick was biting my neck… a very unappreciative thing indeed! Where is the symbiosis? Where is the relationship? If you are going to visit somebody’s site, at least give the idea of showing some appreciation for the webmaster’s time and energy a chance. You might be surprised to find that some ads point to exactly what you might not yet know that you are looking for.

I feel so strongly about this that I almost feel like suggesting to Google that they provide a means for sites that rank high on their search engine… the option of only being accessible to those people who agree to donate a small sum (anywhere from $0.05 to $0.25) that will grant access to the site for 30 days. Google could implement this into their all encompassing Google account matrix. Why shouldn’t webmasters receive compensation for their work? Why is it so difficult for people to appreciate individual websites for the labors of love that they are? Do people really feel so privileged that they feel the need to deny themselves every opportunity to show some small degree of appreciation for a site they visit by way of Adblock?

I don’t exactly expect a return on my freely informing and entertaining people on the web, but I do at least expect that visitors remain open minded concerning that it is a possibility. I hope my opinion is of some value… and if you do use Adblock… do me a personal favor and disable it while visiting my sites… or please simply don’t visit any of them to begin with. Just kidding… but only kinda. Much love. 🙂

Do you use Adblock? If so, how do you suggest showing support for the webmasters of the sites you visit?

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About me, the author… Troy Boylan
Ecoculture Village Founder & President, Anthropology BA, Interdisciplinary Studies: Ethnobotany BS. Two things I think are worth anything at all… all things wilderness and ecoculture… and well, RPGs… and skateboarding!
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