The Worst and Best Internet Ads

Here's my list of ads on the Internet that anger me and will not be included in any business I ever have any association with.

1. Those damned popups that sit over the page and you have to find a way to shut them off to keep reading what you're reading. Even worse, when they make sound.

2. Seperate pop up windows. Even with pop up blockers some make it through. Or, if they don't and you actually want a pop up you have to disable your pop up blocker. In Internet Explorer you have to click twice and reload the page to let you see pop ups. This is partially IE's fault, but I blame the pop ups. Sometimes when I use Firefox I end up with 8 extra tabs of pop-ups.

3. The sites where you click a link and you get not the page you were expecting, but an ad with a line underneath (in small font) that explains you have to click here to get what you already clicked for. I already clicked a link to take me there, why am I clicking another one to get there? Ok, it's only an extra click, but man it makes me angry.

Here is the list of the best ads that make money, help with brand recognition and (the first two) that I will be including in our new business.

1. Google listings. Most people don't even realize they are being advertised to because they search for keywords and the top listings have all paid to be there. The banner ads on the side are slightly less nice, but still relevant and handy.

2. Relevant banner ads. I'm surfing a site looking auto comparisons, and look, a simple banner ad reminding me that toyota won the most awards last year for build quality! Imagine that!

3. 15 second video ads before a professional video like the Daily Show on Comedy Central with a message that says your video will start after this short ad. These aren't a great deal different than number 3 in the worst ad section, but in this case you are getting a professional quality product, on demand and still seeing less ads than you would if you were watching the show on TV. I consider this well worth the 15 seconds.