![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
First Generation - The Popup
Popups, if you're somehow, strangely, not familiar with the term, are those little windows that open when you visit certain sites.
Popups are secondary browser windows that are opened up using JavaScript code. The properties of this new browser window are set in such a fashion that the new window does not have a address bar, status bar or the menu.
Until about a few years ago the popup was considered to be the biggest breakthrough in advertising on the web.
When they were first introduced they were a great success and click-through rates went through the roof.
Exit the banner ad - enter the popup.
Web marketers could interrupt whatever a visitor was viewing, by launching a secondary window on top of the first to draw attention to his advertisement or opt-in list or any other item that he wished to get the attention to.
After a while like most good marketing tools, popups started getting abused. Popups would open secondary popups and eventually by just visiting page that has a single popup in it, you would end up with a barrage of say about 15-20 popups. This was exploited by unscrupulous marketers to the fullest, especially those hawking porn sites.
Of course, webmasters who were in tune with the sentiment of visitors, soon began to use cookies to track if the popup was already shown and ensure it was not shown more than once per visitor.
Frustrated visitors soon began complaining about popups.
Looking at the need of website visitors, software companies soon came up with popup blocking software. These applications read all the code that's going to the browser and if they find any JavaScript in the page code that's trying to open a window, BAM, it deletes that part of code. So Bye Bye popup!
Not to be left behind, web marketers came up with another version, the popunder, which still launched a secondary window but placed it below the primary window. In most cases, the visitor didn't even notice this popunder until they closed the primary window.
Of course this was less intrusive, but a pain nonetheless and you don't get an award for guessing what happened next.
Yes you guessed right, the popup blockers soon started blocking popunders as well.
What the beejeezus are Hover Ads? They are floating ads that popup blockers can't stop.
The technology that creates Hover Ads is not new. In fact, it's been available to web designers for at least 2 years now as DHTML (that's Dynamic HTML to those who don't know).
These ads cannot be seen by older browsers like Internet Explorer 3.0. But since most netizens are using browsers (IE 4.0 and above) that are capable of displaying this code this type of advertising has started enjoying a rise in usage.
Hover Ads are DHTML layers which can be selectively moved and displayed over the primary page that's being displayed. The basic code is still JavaScript, but since a new window is not being opened, the popup blockers can't figure out that an advertisement is being displayed.
These layers can be animated, moved around, made to appear once per session, shown after a delay, etc.
The one and only compelling reason. Popups can be blocked! Hover Ads can't.
So the bottom line is, if you use popups as a part of your online marketing strategy you're losing out on a lot of potential revenue, coz what they can't cant see they can't buy!
Some statistics that make Hover Ads a compelling technology to use:
Bottom line: 40 million customers never see your advertisement!
Hover Ads, on the other hand cannot be stopped by blocking software. Their technology is regular JavaScript that runs well in all modern environments, so they are relatively safe to deploy on your site.
If you are looking for a free way of doing this then there are freely available JavaScript snippets that you can put to use on your site today without buying any fancy software.
A sample of code can be obtained from CodeLifter. com
The drawback here is that you would need in depth knowledge of JavaScript coding, which not many people know about.
Another approach is to use high end HTML editors like Dreamweaver which have DHTML scripts included under the "Layers" menu. Then again, Dreamweaver is an expensive software.
One software that quickly automates the creation of Hover Ads, using a simple 3 step interface is the Hover Ad generator.
The Hover Ads created using this software can be fully customized and are very professional looking.
I especially like the opt-in style Hover Ads which lets your prospects sign up for your opt-in list by simply clicking a button. You subsequently receive a mail with their name and email-id.
I'll let you look up the other four styles on your own.
If you use popups on your website, chances are pretty good that they are being screened away by some software or another. Perhaps even by your visitor's ISP - without any active attempts on your visitor's part to block them. You'll need to do something about this situation and soon.
1. Do nothing. Pray that your content is good enough to attract visitors.
2. Visit CodeLifter to get your FREE layer generator script. You will be stuck with one style, though, if you just cut paste. If you know JavaScript you can modify it as per your liking.
3. Use Dreamweaver or your HTML editor, if it has layers support.
4. Check out Hover Ad Generator . They offer a FREE trial.
Satyajeet Hattangadi is the Owner of Novasoft Inc, a software solutions provider, who specialize is affordable customized software solutions.
1. Use reward programs to keep people revisiting your web... Read More
Viral marketing can work wonders for any business, web site... Read More
Quickly making money with a website is the dream of... Read More
How to market your business? It needs your continual effort.... Read More
Streaming Media?now a well accepted Internet technology. Yet streaming is... Read More
Would you attempt to use a cell phone with a... Read More
Website advertising, the unending quest of every website owner. And... Read More
Until recently, audio, video, Flash, and static graphics were all... Read More
Holding a contest or sweepstakes can draw a lot of... Read More
Write it, offer it for free on your site and... Read More
On the Internet, links are very important for websites to... Read More
People are so focused on promoting their websites on the... Read More
Here are the website promotion tactics to reinforce and increase... Read More
Writing effective web copy begins with an understanding of what... Read More
In this article I discuss some ineffective and/or unethical website... Read More
No matter what you're marketing or promoting, if your Ad... Read More
Contests and Sweepstakes.They are web advertising magnets that draw huge... Read More
Niche markets and mini sites are taking lately by storm... Read More
One of the most frequent questions I get asked by... Read More
Often, website owners would like to promote their new business... Read More
A prospect's mind is an intimate place... Read More
If you are a small business owner with a website,... Read More
This could be the most amazing article to ever be... Read More
Well I started out with seven, Free and low cost... Read More
If you have a website promoting any product or service,... Read More
The Internet can be a confusing place to do business.... Read More
It's no big secret that banner ads have become less... Read More
Repetition is the key to getting your adverts and promotion... Read More
1. Using Hidden Links to increase subscribers or for a... Read More
Interested in boosting your link popularity, raising your Google PR,... Read More
Once your web site is done, it does you little... Read More
If you own a website, you definitely want to improve... Read More
OK. So you took the leap and started your online... Read More
If you are a small business owner with a website,... Read More
Promote your website using articles - Internet is all about... Read More
Links are the main pillar of your website. To navigate... Read More
Google is the most popular internet search engine and even... Read More
According the National Association of Realtors(R) ("NAR") surveys completed between... Read More
I created my first website in 1995 - it was... Read More
Search engine optimization by some is considered a science and... Read More
Keeping it clean could give you a boost.By Mark White... Read More
You may have created and established the best Web site... Read More
Measuring and understanding your Website's success is a critical process... Read More
With the increase competition on the Internet, it can be... Read More
Acquiring relevant backlinks to your website is one of the... Read More
If your website sales are down and you desire to... Read More
Imagine that you have a $25,000 marketing budget for your... Read More
You have your site into the search engines, but where... Read More
Almost anyone who has tried submitting to free-for-all sites will... Read More
Promoting a Website is not an easy task. New Website... Read More
Web Site Promotion Web Site Promotion |