They used to be the rage, back in the day when Porn was about all that you could find online. Long before the advent of Google, and the explosion of home computers, pop ups were nice little message boxes, that imparted some words of wisdom.
Some told you that you had to be a certain age to enter, while other’s reminded you that saving images were a big no no. They ran to being all kinds of sizes, even colors, as the technology improved.
Then, like any good marketing tool, they became abused, so that when you closed one pop up six more took their place on your screen. It became a secondary business, designing pop up blockers, so you could simply enjoy the sites you were visiting, though these days, I wonder why one would want to visit those type of sites?
Pop ups have become more sophisticated. At times it feels like there is a race going on, between the designers of pop up blockers, and pop up tools. While there are times when I wish I had a nice pop up, I also realize that my customers are important to me. I don’t need ticked off people, just to show some stale advertising copy.
Marketing is supposed to be about selling your products, not pissing off your customers. Yet that is what many who use pop ups or exit consoles do. They piss off the very people they want to sell to. Now Exit Consoles are a bit different, at least, so the theory goes. However the bottom line is simple, why piss people off?
Now there are times, when a pop up can be handy. Take forums, where you can use a pop up to add a link to a post, or upload a picture, but thanks to those who fuck around, many of today’s pop up blockers prevent the legitimate sites from using them, or make it harder to use.
One good example of using a pop up, is for age verification. Now there are some good one’s out there, that defeat most pop up blockers, but for how long? It is a vicious circle, thanks to those who abuse the technology. An age verification popup saves valuable site real estate, which means money in your pocket.
Marketing is to make sales, and yet we keep on using tactics that are contrary to that basic principle.
Now the Peel Ads (affiliate link included) are different. They are sort of a pop up, but they don’t alter the main pages. They reside under, with only a corner showing, to entice the buyer, and that makes sense. They are not annoying, as pop ups are. They simply draw attention to the eye, and that is good marketing.
In addition, they can be easily changed, to offer special deals, rates, or whatever. They serve the same function as a pop up, can be placed on the various corners of a page, without the annoyance factor of a pop up or exit console, or pop under.
I actually use them on several of my mainstream sites. In adult, I use them to offer special video on demand promotions.
Like any Brick and Mortar outlet, you don’t want to do things that piss the customer off. So why would you do it online? So next time you look for a script, to add pop ups to your sites, think long and hard on it. In fact, it shouldn’t be rocket science, it should be common sense, because you know, you use pop up blocker software yourself, and I really don’t see how you can promote something you hate to find, yourself.
Feb 16th by Malcontent