One month on...

I understand you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, my only request is for non-flash ads- banner ads I will interact with once in a while but, to get to me to see any ads at all I'm afraid the flash ads are going to have to go.

I browse with adblock enabled and only white list a few sites to show support so I'm afraid I can't offer suggestions as to who does it well.

 

That's a pretty fair summation of things.

From my point of view, and appreciating I have a slightly biased viewpoint, I think to get the content that modern websites give you for free is a sensational deal. Always have. And having seen the energies and efforts that go into producing a lot of that material, for it to be effectively given away for free is no small thing. The trade off is the advertising, and I think, when it comes to the crunch, 99% of people would take advertising and free content, over paying a monthly subscription fee and no advertising.

I take the point about loading times, it isn't perfect. You make the point, Technoblood, that we've taken 60 seconds of your life, though. I'd suggest in return for that, you get a mass of material that you would have had to pay a £50 a year subscription for just ten years ago, for free. Is that a bad trade off? I'm not being funny about this, I'm genuinely interested, and do appreciate there are things we need to do better.

Javaman, you mention competitions. Again, I'd suggest, and fortunately for us it's been proven (!), that you don't need an extra incentive to get people to support advertisers.

Advertising response at Bit-Tech is good, and it's appreciated that so many of you support the people that support us.

I'm really interested in all responses here. I appreciate that you choose to support Bit-Tech. Hopefully, my own responses aren't coming across as snippy or anything like that. I think this is a really important thing for us to chat about.

Simon

 

I accept your points entirely Simon, what we get is an exceptional quantity of information for free, and I would indeed rather put up with ads galore reather than pay.
But my previous point still stands; Until flash adverts are gone or at the very least loaded as the last items on a page, so the 'time to content' loading time is the same as without them, I will unfortunately find it necessary to browse with adblock enabled.

 

One thing I would like to see and was highligted greatly with the HD77xx reviews is a more "bespoke" approach taken towards reviews.

The reviews of the HD7770 and HD7750 really highlight how important this is.

There is little to gain from testing a HD7770 at 2560x1600 and have it competing against a HD7970 so why bother?

Make the reviews bespoke to what is actually being reviewed. Review low/mid range offerings at the resolutions and settings they will actually be used at. Only include cards in the same bracket and perhaps one or two from the bracket above (so in the HD7770 case the HD6950 or similar). Have an additional page which shows the max playable settings and a more subjective take on the cards - this can be very useful as absolute averages and especially minimums tell us very little about the cards actual performance.

Basically you want to do something that will make your reviews stand out from the crowd.

 

I don't deny for a minute the importance of ads on sites like Bit-Tech and I hope my previous posts didn't come across as belligerent on the topic.

My point was simply that in the course of over a decade of internet browsing I've gotten into the habit of completely ignoring ads no matter what site I'm on. I use adBlock to prevent excessive image/flash ads slowing pageloads down, but the ads themselves just don't even register in my vision when I'm browsing without adBlock.

It's not a belligerent thing, nor am I intentionally not-clicking on ads to spite the sites I read; it's just that I don't have to 'click' on other forms of advertising like billboards or passing buses because their advertising value is determined by the actual or projected number of views, not clicks; and clicking ads to support the sites I like is simply a habit I never got into.
I very much doubt that I'm the only one like that.

Most advertising is about mindshare and subliminal messaging, not about actually offering something for someone to click on while they think "Oh yes, I should buy one of those expensive graphics cards right this instant that I would have spent hours or days deliberating on if it wasn't for this excellent ad!".
Let's be realistic - People don't work that way. Impulse buys online are generally limited to eBay and Steam.

I'm not trying to demean the importance of ads on a site that delivers all of its content for free, but if ad revenue is relying on clicks rather than views, then something isn't right because I very much doubt the majority of people click on ads regardless of their desire to support the site OR their interest in the product advertised.

 

Again, appreciate all of this feedback. Apologies for the slow replies, but all of this is being read and digested!

Simon

 

20,000th post in the feedback forum!

As for feedback... I think whoever gets the 20Kth post in the feedback section of the forum should get an award

For most pointless post ever, clearly.

 

Virtual cheesecake is all yours!

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/latestissue/

Even though CPC and BT have "divorced", this should be kept up to date as it's going to be three behind in two weeks. Despite not subbing I still plan to buy the PSU labs issues when they're out and would like to know what else is in the mag without making a beeline on release day to a big supermarket.

Another vote for podcasts here, I've recorded them using Skype, as long as everyone has a good mic and connection it's fine, even if it's not Dennis studio quality - if you want that then you can just call in the freelancers including Hovis if he's about.

Ads I'm not so worried about, I'm amazed that Unilever thinks so much of a tech and gaming site to have Persil/Comfort banner ads - but I already buy Persil so the ad is wasted on me. If they don't try to take over the whole browser like that Intel one, I don't mind them.

If there are going to be any more like the Intel one, just make sure the ads team charges extra I'm ambivalent about the "fake article" ads that look like proper Bit-Tech stories, they're unobtrusive compared to the flash-fests. On balance those are the ones you can ignore but it depends if they make as much money for BT as the usual kind.

 

I have just signed up to subscribe to the mag again.

Gareth's news is the best thing for me but I am not really into modding.

I don't mind the fake article ads if they are relevant.

Hoping, like many, that you bring back the podcasts and hardware buyers guide. Podcasts first!

 

Gareth's 3-a-day are definitely a big plus, well-written and relevant [imo]

 

Gareth has certainly earned his cheesecake!

The CPC post will, if all goes to plan, be up to date shortly.

S

 

Simon

I know you're working on the advertising, and trying to get more appropriate ads for the site, but I've just seen this at the top of the page:

Now, unless this bra really does rewind time using a proper flux capacitor and some kind of miniature DeLorean, I think this clearly falls in the "not even vaguely linked to bit-tech" category. In fact, if anything, I've seen an increase in the number in non-tech-related adverts in the last couple of months - or is that just me?

 

This post made me laugh so much rep for you sir

 

^ THIS

+ 95% of the readers will already own a GPU and would be considering an upgrade if they're looking at buying so would it hurt to throw in some older spec cards (I'm sure you've got some lying around somewhere?) Perhaps a 5870, GTX 260, 8800GT, so people can see what gain they'll get for their hundreds of £'s purchase. Seeing a comparison of all current cards is nice but it doesn't help those of us upgrading. ( I get that an 8800 is getting on a bit but it's still got more cores than a GT 440)

+ Why skyrim as a benchmark game? I get that it's popular and all that but it's hardly graphically strenuous I can run it on high's with 4x AA on my Ultraportable Laptop

 

That advert is a million times better than that fat lass singing Jessie Jay songs every time the forum page loads. I hate video adverts with a passion.

 

^^^
This, God that one was f***ing annoying

 

I'm with Zurechial and everyone else who filters ads - I'm incredibly hostile to them on the basis of slower page loads, irritating graphics and privacy/security issues. Indeed, if it came to a choice of viewing Bit-Tech (and other sites) with ads or not at all I would choose "not at all".

For funding I'd suggest you take a look how sites like MoneySavingExpert or SomeThingAwful raise finance (SA's technique of charging $5 to alter your own forum avatar but $10 to change someone else's seems like pure evil genius).

 

I think ads for the best part are part of life, i don't think running websites will becoming ad free any time soon, as for SA it is a totally different dynamic there (don't forget they charge for everything down to even searching archives), i think implementation of avatar changes is a fun idea that could be incorporated here to help raise further funds, but ads will still be needed.