{"tag":"adverts","articles":{"blog\/technology\/ads-suck":{"key":"blog\/technology\/ads-suck","type":"article","published":true,"meta":{"createdAt":"2023-09-11T09:55:06+02:00","publishedAt":"2023-09-11T09:55:06+02:00","group":null,"category":"blog","subcategory":"technology","slug":"ads-suck"},"content":{"en":{"slug":"ads-suck","title":"Ads suck\u2026 also for the publishers","intro":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\n                \u003Cnoscript\u003E\n                    \u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_small.jpg\u0022 alt=\u0022illustration: a business woman who is stressed and frustrated\u0022 class=\u0022border-bottom\u0022 width=\u0022480\u0022 height=\u0022320\u0022\u003E                \n                \u003C\/noscript\u003E\n                \u003Cspan class=\u0022hide-noscript\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACQAAAAYCAYAAACSuF9OAAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAIXklEQVRIiVWWW4wlRR3Gf\/Wvqu4+lzlnbntHZhd2cVkhwF64ChExivrog8SExMQHEx8NQZ+MxgckMWDim4kvJiQ+SGSVRBIkQWSRRBcC2c3CsrjXmdnZmZ2dObe+VVf50L0Dnk6lu87pVH31\/b\/v+x91+xcPhNXVVbQoQFGFEhtH\/OiHP+ZPf36J+f4cixcuUJUVP3jiIVaGY8oAetsennr6abbv2kmRF0wmKVmakmU5ZVFQFCWlczhXUhQFZZ43c0ea1e+WlcPaiCe\/\/k12795FWZSY9fV1lEDlKyrnQBQUJS8f\/yOD62usXl7m6N4FfJUzMzPF3l1zTLc7nLsx5OO332D+O99DaYUSBSIgQlAKpPlO1cM3d6UUCgUAQaFE0EZQohCtEVdUVN4TAiAKHwLOOVaXFrEB2tbw7aN38sSX9rHQ1eyZ77LpCt56\/zR3zXSJzn9Qb9JsrqAB9zkASiHq8wAhAKiAFoUxBtEaJYIgHi0KTyCEgCgh0oZYaYIP7JzuItbTbxmkLJiNLaFyPPXoffzhjbc4c+bU1sZyk5nmWbYA1SCVEqQBFRSAQkRjjMFojdaCaBGMaJSAEsFYTTuylGVJWlQsb4xYXL6GhArnPZubAxLleeHl17ChIDZS068UCJ8x0pSsHnoLjBL5DKwoxBiMtYjWNcDhYMx4lCIIIhoAQRECZEVB5T2D0Zi5VsT0dJf2bB833OSn3zrGx\/+9SG9+282ToZtTaqMR0bUmpAZS3wUtunlPY7UhthZrLVqEqnIYrQ2gKfPQCM0zth7vA4RAPzHcs3uebXMz7N63l9\/\/7QSdImW61yFDIdu+gDYGaw3OWYyrCD7gTS0BbzS6MhjjUaIw2lCWJVFU4n0gimNMox8tgmhjUSK1w0IgBBhPiroKohhknn98ssx6KbzyzgfsSBKmuj1+9eoJvvv4EXbM9THaYI2ttWCbYQzGWKyxaGvQzfzYgw+ysHcv1liiKCZKEnTDpFIKHUXJz4W67j7ULFWuwlUVYixFBR+t3OCVf3\/EhaUVDs32yb1wenmF\/bfsYry6xG9fOs7Dj3wZrTXeBxqua8ID4D0+BOZm55iZmWa6P42OLIPBgG6ny2237aOVJBR5iYFQ5waK4FzjGNDagNJU3qOVgIJRXvL2+Yt8vLLOpKz43asnaLfbrG4MeOYnz9LtdtDGYbytyxYCxnsqbzE+MDc\/T55m+BDYuWMnRVaQF8WW81BgalICBPAhELyvXaLNlmMCAUFhVMXppVWmp1r4Ai5fXSOaZFsiFa3RxuArjzca4z1eG0Q5lAjtJGY0GtX7VJ5Tpz4kabehico6dhQNGN+kKFgbo7VB3byUwrkSRJHEFgUcPXIYhcI5RwCWl5YRJWilmyyqNUETtP1en\/FwgMtzqrxgMBgQJwm37NlDE0moAE2IhC02ojhGa83NdK\/XrBe9McrYnOTcmBS89fY7aK1RCnxV8dfjf6nL3rSEQKCqPHlZUhQlnSQmm4wpy4KyLFlaXqIoCtIsI1CbqS5xqMEE7xGtCfV6qBDqNFUKo4VQCWlekRWOMC4oncP7gI0iKu85efI9QgiE4PHe40pHnufkeU4IHk3FME2p0CgCKysreB9otTv4m4kDiAq1FRSgRepedNMmIXBw\/z76vR6l8zhXEScditI1zShQOYcoxblPznLxwkVc6SjynCzNSNOU0eYmiTVsXL9GNhmSpTlrq6tMshwRwWhN8L7Wjwjig29OVttViTRzMFrz1a88gjUWpcBGEc+\/+CIPP\/roVkSE4HGVw1eeVqdN1oDJ0ozxaMRoc41uK2G0uUk6HjPZvMbyygrOOZz3+ADOVVRNXEjwNRglwv9\/Ag\/cf5ik1UZM3WduP3CAfq\/Pc88\/x89++Qs63W6dxo3FRQlZmjEZj9i4fo31a8u0Wx3cZECejrfGOMupvKcoCgbDAatr10mzjMkkw\/hQIUEjbOkYpWCq2+HwvXczHqfNL4Fjx+7nxvXrJJHm4QceYO755\/jNr1\/gypVFpqenef\/Em6xdXSKSilAVeJex49ARNtfXKIuMPMsRY8ivnkVrg4hlcs1y7fIULaMYjwtM3b4qPGzZ3jfaWbp8heFgQBRyds31OP2ff3HpkzOIMUwmORvDIShh3759zG3fxrnLyww3B6RZweraGgrFnUf6bKwuM5ykXFlZR7uUMBlhxdNqJbTzLuOlc3y6scZ4PEHNT3eDD4Gy8vigAKGTWHZvn+Xue45y7KHHOHDoLrbv2IE2msuXLvLG31\/nw\/dOsufWBYbDIStXlxkNR3Snpuqu7z1FgIMHD3L40H7OX1rk3IVF1jY26SeaB2+17OoneDHEU9to93fiKo8rStT9B7YHqwWjBaMVk9xzPdOMy0DpIYpbtJKEfq\/Pvffdy5NPfoM4jnn2mWeIkoSFWxeYnZul0+kQJwmECieGMB5j44hPz19Ce00VHPNxzmN3dInwpGVJhSGemidp9fFKyNMUs326veWq4D1RS5juKEQJErXJg2WcO9Y3rmI2LuE+ehMf4Ptfu487FnYRWYvWlk6vx9rmiLI3y+69+zl1epHXXzvOztlprq6OuGM2sH\/nHL7MGZQlk6xEWYVuebwStFigwLjKg691QwiIKKxStBPDTM+iTURRRayPNGfOnmVhdopebwptLP88eYbtczMgBmVjLi5eZX2cYnQN8rY9u1hcvMjjB2+BULA2njDTCgxGBVUI6KokW9tAjytaUUKaTjDeB+LI0I4NkdVopTACRkE7FiIb8JWnFwkzkfDu++8yHBW4ytOyhnORoaig07KMQoxTmkK1iXXEfAfu3t1iMBxQes+NjQFpx5LEmsjWf2cRRy8OJG1N21j+B+AfUXTdiTyCAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\u0022 data-src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_small.jpg\u0022 alt=\u0022illustration: a business woman who is stressed and frustrated\u0022 class=\u0022border-bottom\u0022 width=\u0022480\u0022 height=\u0022320\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n                \n            \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENobody likes ads, obviously.\nBut what came as a painful surprise for me is that they don\u0027t just annoy people who see them\n\u2013 but also those who try to monetise their projects.\nIt\u0027s not just a matter of putting a few tags on your page and waiting for a big fat wire transfer.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe process is exhausting and I feel the need to rant about it,\nas well as maybe warn people who might be embarking on a similar journey\u2026 so here we go.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","content":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\n                \u003Cnoscript\u003E\n                    \u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_big.jpg\u0022 alt=\u0022illustration: a business woman who is stressed and frustrated\u0022 class=\u0022border\u0022 width=\u0022960\u0022 height=\u0022640\u0022\u003E                \n                \u003C\/noscript\u003E\n                \u003Cspan class=\u0022hide-noscript\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022data:image\/png;base64,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\u0022 data-src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_big.jpg\u0022 alt=\u0022illustration: a business woman who is stressed and frustrated\u0022 class=\u0022border\u0022 width=\u0022960\u0022 height=\u0022640\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n                \u003Cfigcaption\u003E\n                    \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/bmJAXAz6ads\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\n                        \u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E\n                        unsplash.com\/photos\/bmJAXAz6ads\n                    \u003C\/a\u003E\n                \u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n            \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENobody likes ads, obviously.\nBut what came as a painful surprise for me is that they don\u0027t just annoy people who see them\n\u2013 but also those who try to monetise their projects.\nIt\u0027s not just a matter of putting a few tags on your page and waiting for a big fat wire transfer.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe process is exhausting and I feel the need to rant about it,\nas well as maybe warn people who might be embarking on a similar journey\u2026 so here we go.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EThe system\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a perfect world, if I create a popular website, I could easily find someone who wants to use\nthat advertising space, they give me money, I add their banner, everyone is happy.\nThe ad is simply relevant to the page content, not the personal info about any particular user.\nIn practice, though, unless you\u0027re a huge company with enough resources, finding advertisers\nand negotiating deals is a tedious task that a random programmer or creator just isn\u0027t equipped to do.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u0027s why ad networks exist \u2013 they facilitate the process, act as proxies between publishers and advertisers,\nand they take their cut. Cool concept, it really is. The problem, though, is the capitalist approach\nof squeezing the last bits of value from the process, at the cost of user experience, privacy and simplicity.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen I was researching ad networks last year, I only found one that was plain and simple:\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ethicalads.io\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E EthicalAds\u003C\/a\u003E. It would\u0027ve been perfect for my needs, if it wasn\u0027t for the fact\nthat it\u0027s only applicable for websites that target software developers.\nI run a few of those, but they\u0027re too tiny to join the network, while the popular project\nthat me and the rest of the collective wanted to use it for,\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.pronouns.page\/blog\/why-ads\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E Pronouns.Page\u003C\/a\u003E, is for a totally different audience.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESo it was more a choice of lesser evil than finding an ad network that we\u0027d be totally comfortable with.\nPersonally, I wanted to avoid dealing with Google, but it looks like most networks are strongly relying\non AdSense anyway. We ended up trying three different networks so far, and today I\u0027ve sent\nthe third one a termination notice after having been in talks with the fourth network to switch to them.\nLet\u0027s hope that the fourth time will be the charm \ud83d\ude05\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EHard to test for all users\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI don\u0027t really wanna name and shame any specific companies, cause it seems like the issues\nare there all over the industry, plus some of our problems \u003Cem\u003Emight\u003C\/em\u003E be stemming from our own inexperience\nin the advertisement world (although that shows how inaccessible the process is to an average publisher).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOne inherent problem with ad networks is that it\u0027s practically impossible to \u003Cem\u003Efully\u003C\/em\u003E test\nhow they will look on your website. I can put seven empty placeholders on the page,\nas instructed by an expert from the network, and then test it and see that three of them got\nfilled out with ads \u2013 while you load the same page and see all seven.\nI might be shown ads of food delivery companies \u2013 while you get shown some disgusting foot fungus medication ad.\nSome networks let you pick the categories that will and will not be shown, and even review post-factum\nwhich specific ads have been shown to users and block those advertisers for the future \u2013\nbut others give you zero flexibility in that area.\nIn general, algorithms, mathematical models, AI and real-time bidding have more say than humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003ETechnical issues\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut that\u0027s something that\u0027s, admittedly, hard to avoid in the existing ecosystem.\nOther issues were more avoidable. For example, when we first tried one network, it utterly broke our website.\nThey offered a super simple setup \u2013 just give them access to your Cloudflare and they\u0027ll proxy\neverything, not only adding the necessary ad scripts, but also optimising the traffic and speeding up your page.\nSounds cool, didn\u0027t work. Well, it probably does for most of their publishers, but in case of our\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en-US\/docs\/Web\/Progressive_web_apps\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E PWA\u003C\/a\u003E and some DNS entries their scripts\nwere not expecting, we ended up with no ads and no ability to log in. Not fun.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYou\u0027d think that adding a script that\u0027s loaded after the rest of the page and should limit its\nimpact for a bunch of clearly defined placeholder shouldn\u0027t really affect the performance of the page much.\nHowever, one network\u0027s scripts were somehow affecting us so much that we ended up switching to another\nmainly for that reason. Another broke an essential feature of the page in a way that was troublesome to debug. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUpdate:\u003C\/strong\u003E After installing Sentry we\u0027ve found out \u003Cem\u003Ejust how much\u003C\/em\u003E JS errors ad scripts produced, geeeez\u2026\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EVolatile and unclear revenue\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAll the networks looked at our traffic numbers and \u003Cem\u003Epredicted\u003C\/em\u003E monthly revenue in the lower five digits area \u2013\nthe kind of money that we could set up a proper foundation with, run educational campaigns, spread our mission,\nemploy people, make the project a full-time job, not just a side project of passion created in spare time.\nBut in practice it was not just lower, but an order of magnitude lower. Still not bad,\nenough to cover the server, domains, cloud and other maintenance costs,\ndo occasional offline stuff like printing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/zaimki.pl\/zin\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E our zine\u003C\/a\u003E, creating pins, stickers and flyers\nand handing them out at Herts Pride and Toru\u0144 Pride, and distributing the rest among the contributors\nin a form of volunteer allowance. Basically, it\u0027s not some wild, life-changing money,\nbut it keeps the project running while also rewarding contributors for our time and effort,\nand helping us pay our bills. So we\u0027re really grateful to be in that position.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat\u0027s really bugging us, though, is how volatile and unpredictable the whole thing is.\nOf course we\u0027re expecting ups and downs, but sometimes it can just randomly drop by half\nin the span of two months, with no explanation.\nOne that we did get, I\u0027m not kidding, is that after we\u0027ve spent a lot of time optimising the setup with A\/B testing,\nour ad units performed so well that the system counts the traffic as suspicious and just doesn\u0027t pay for it.\nTheir proposed solutions (adding padding and labels to ads so that users are less likely to click on them accidentally)\ndidn\u0027t help at all. And there\u0027s no one to complain about it, you just have to deal with it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are so many variables at play, it\u0027s super confusing and unclear. Our current ad network tripled (!)\nthe number of ad impressions they were showing our users compared to the previous company,\nwithout it being proportionally reflected in the revenue or becoming more optimised for user experience with time.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EUnclear reporting, inflexible setups\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOne network wouldn\u0027t show us any reporting for the first month, we were completely in the dark.\nAnd once we finally got access to the dashboard, it was way less useful than what other networks provided\n(eg. even trying to figure out which ad unit is which was not easy, because the dashboard\nsimply didn\u0027t show their unique identifiers that are used in the code) \u2013 which we couldn\u0027t have known\nuntil we\u0027re a month in.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe flexibility of the setup varies a lot between the networks. For example, one has a simple button\nto switch their consent box from \u201cAccept \/ More options\u201d to \u201cAccept \/ Decline \/ More options\u201d,\nwhile another took two weeks to fulfil our simple request \u201cwe\u0027re not going live until declining is\njust as simple as accepting\u201d. And none had an option to show the consent banner to everyone,\nnot just people who are in jurisdictions where it\u0027s required by law, unless we implemented\na big chunk ourselves.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003ESumming up, and the future\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0027m sure we \u003Cem\u003Ecould\u003C\/em\u003E make our setup better in one way or another. There might be a good balance somewhere,\nthere\u0027s probably an ad network that\u0027s the best match for us that we haven\u0027t tried yet.\nBut I don\u0027t want to be spending more time on making monetisation bearable\nthan I spend working on the actual website.\nIt\u0027s already a way more annoying and complicated project than I was expecting it to be\u2026\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u0027re currently onboarding with a fourth company, hopefully to be accomplished this week.\nThey look very promising, so keep fingers crossed that they\u0027re actually what they seem to be\nand that this switch will be the last one \ud83d\ude09\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u0027re also working on implementing an idea (which was also independently proposed by a user)\nto offer a subscription for a few bucks which would remove all ads for them and the visitors of their profile,\nadd a \u201csupporter\u201d badge in their card, and support the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI really hope that works out, because dealing with the ads setup (even though personally\nI\u0027m mainly helping with the technical side and am shielded from a lot of other bs)\nis really sucking the joy out of creating this passion project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","tags":["ads","adverts","publishers","problems"],"hasMore":true,"image":"https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_small.jpg","introLite":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_big.jpg\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_mini.jpg\u0022 alt=\u0022illustration: a business woman who is stressed and frustrated\u0022 width=\u0022240\u0022 height=\u0022160\u0022 loading=\u0022lazy\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENobody likes ads, obviously.\nBut what came as a painful surprise for me is that they don\u0027t just annoy people who see them\n\u2013 but also those who try to monetise their projects.\nIt\u0027s not just a matter of putting a few tags on your page and waiting for a big fat wire transfer.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe process is exhausting and I feel the need to rant about it,\nas well as maybe warn people who might be embarking on a similar journey\u2026 so here we go.\u003C\/p\u003E","contentLite":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_big.jpg\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/frustration-computer-unsplash_mini.jpg\u0022 alt=\u0022illustration: a business woman who is stressed and frustrated\u0022 width=\u0022240\u0022 height=\u0022160\u0022 loading=\u0022lazy\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\n                    \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/bmJAXAz6ads\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csmall\u003Eunsplash.com\/photos\/bmJAXAz6ads\u003C\/small\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\n                \u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENobody likes ads, obviously.\nBut what came as a painful surprise for me is that they don\u0027t just annoy people who see them\n\u2013 but also those who try to monetise their projects.\nIt\u0027s not just a matter of putting a few tags on your page and waiting for a big fat wire transfer.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe process is exhausting and I feel the need to rant about it,\nas well as maybe warn people who might be embarking on a similar journey\u2026 so here we go.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EThe system\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a perfect world, if I create a popular website, I could easily find someone who wants to use\nthat advertising space, they give me money, I add their banner, everyone is happy.\nThe ad is simply relevant to the page content, not the personal info about any particular user.\nIn practice, though, unless you\u0027re a huge company with enough resources, finding advertisers\nand negotiating deals is a tedious task that a random programmer or creator just isn\u0027t equipped to do.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u0027s why ad networks exist \u2013 they facilitate the process, act as proxies between publishers and advertisers,\nand they take their cut. Cool concept, it really is. The problem, though, is the capitalist approach\nof squeezing the last bits of value from the process, at the cost of user experience, privacy and simplicity.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen I was researching ad networks last year, I only found one that was plain and simple:\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ethicalads.io\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E EthicalAds\u003C\/a\u003E. It would\u0027ve been perfect for my needs, if it wasn\u0027t for the fact\nthat it\u0027s only applicable for websites that target software developers.\nI run a few of those, but they\u0027re too tiny to join the network, while the popular project\nthat me and the rest of the collective wanted to use it for,\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.pronouns.page\/blog\/why-ads\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E Pronouns.Page\u003C\/a\u003E, is for a totally different audience.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESo it was more a choice of lesser evil than finding an ad network that we\u0027d be totally comfortable with.\nPersonally, I wanted to avoid dealing with Google, but it looks like most networks are strongly relying\non AdSense anyway. We ended up trying three different networks so far, and today I\u0027ve sent\nthe third one a termination notice after having been in talks with the fourth network to switch to them.\nLet\u0027s hope that the fourth time will be the charm \ud83d\ude05\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EHard to test for all users\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI don\u0027t really wanna name and shame any specific companies, cause it seems like the issues\nare there all over the industry, plus some of our problems \u003Cem\u003Emight\u003C\/em\u003E be stemming from our own inexperience\nin the advertisement world (although that shows how inaccessible the process is to an average publisher).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOne inherent problem with ad networks is that it\u0027s practically impossible to \u003Cem\u003Efully\u003C\/em\u003E test\nhow they will look on your website. I can put seven empty placeholders on the page,\nas instructed by an expert from the network, and then test it and see that three of them got\nfilled out with ads \u2013 while you load the same page and see all seven.\nI might be shown ads of food delivery companies \u2013 while you get shown some disgusting foot fungus medication ad.\nSome networks let you pick the categories that will and will not be shown, and even review post-factum\nwhich specific ads have been shown to users and block those advertisers for the future \u2013\nbut others give you zero flexibility in that area.\nIn general, algorithms, mathematical models, AI and real-time bidding have more say than humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003ETechnical issues\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut that\u0027s something that\u0027s, admittedly, hard to avoid in the existing ecosystem.\nOther issues were more avoidable. For example, when we first tried one network, it utterly broke our website.\nThey offered a super simple setup \u2013 just give them access to your Cloudflare and they\u0027ll proxy\neverything, not only adding the necessary ad scripts, but also optimising the traffic and speeding up your page.\nSounds cool, didn\u0027t work. Well, it probably does for most of their publishers, but in case of our\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en-US\/docs\/Web\/Progressive_web_apps\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E PWA\u003C\/a\u003E and some DNS entries their scripts\nwere not expecting, we ended up with no ads and no ability to log in. Not fun.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYou\u0027d think that adding a script that\u0027s loaded after the rest of the page and should limit its\nimpact for a bunch of clearly defined placeholder shouldn\u0027t really affect the performance of the page much.\nHowever, one network\u0027s scripts were somehow affecting us so much that we ended up switching to another\nmainly for that reason. Another broke an essential feature of the page in a way that was troublesome to debug. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUpdate:\u003C\/strong\u003E After installing Sentry we\u0027ve found out \u003Cem\u003Ejust how much\u003C\/em\u003E JS errors ad scripts produced, geeeez\u2026\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EVolatile and unclear revenue\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAll the networks looked at our traffic numbers and \u003Cem\u003Epredicted\u003C\/em\u003E monthly revenue in the lower five digits area \u2013\nthe kind of money that we could set up a proper foundation with, run educational campaigns, spread our mission,\nemploy people, make the project a full-time job, not just a side project of passion created in spare time.\nBut in practice it was not just lower, but an order of magnitude lower. Still not bad,\nenough to cover the server, domains, cloud and other maintenance costs,\ndo occasional offline stuff like printing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/zaimki.pl\/zin\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E our zine\u003C\/a\u003E, creating pins, stickers and flyers\nand handing them out at Herts Pride and Toru\u0144 Pride, and distributing the rest among the contributors\nin a form of volunteer allowance. Basically, it\u0027s not some wild, life-changing money,\nbut it keeps the project running while also rewarding contributors for our time and effort,\nand helping us pay our bills. So we\u0027re really grateful to be in that position.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat\u0027s really bugging us, though, is how volatile and unpredictable the whole thing is.\nOf course we\u0027re expecting ups and downs, but sometimes it can just randomly drop by half\nin the span of two months, with no explanation.\nOne that we did get, I\u0027m not kidding, is that after we\u0027ve spent a lot of time optimising the setup with A\/B testing,\nour ad units performed so well that the system counts the traffic as suspicious and just doesn\u0027t pay for it.\nTheir proposed solutions (adding padding and labels to ads so that users are less likely to click on them accidentally)\ndidn\u0027t help at all. And there\u0027s no one to complain about it, you just have to deal with it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are so many variables at play, it\u0027s super confusing and unclear. Our current ad network tripled (!)\nthe number of ad impressions they were showing our users compared to the previous company,\nwithout it being proportionally reflected in the revenue or becoming more optimised for user experience with time.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003EUnclear reporting, inflexible setups\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOne network wouldn\u0027t show us any reporting for the first month, we were completely in the dark.\nAnd once we finally got access to the dashboard, it was way less useful than what other networks provided\n(eg. even trying to figure out which ad unit is which was not easy, because the dashboard\nsimply didn\u0027t show their unique identifiers that are used in the code) \u2013 which we couldn\u0027t have known\nuntil we\u0027re a month in.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe flexibility of the setup varies a lot between the networks. For example, one has a simple button\nto switch their consent box from \u201cAccept \/ More options\u201d to \u201cAccept \/ Decline \/ More options\u201d,\nwhile another took two weeks to fulfil our simple request \u201cwe\u0027re not going live until declining is\njust as simple as accepting\u201d. And none had an option to show the consent banner to everyone,\nnot just people who are in jurisdictions where it\u0027s required by law, unless we implemented\na big chunk ourselves.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Ch2\u003ESumming up, and the future\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0027m sure we \u003Cem\u003Ecould\u003C\/em\u003E make our setup better in one way or another. There might be a good balance somewhere,\nthere\u0027s probably an ad network that\u0027s the best match for us that we haven\u0027t tried yet.\nBut I don\u0027t want to be spending more time on making monetisation bearable\nthan I spend working on the actual website.\nIt\u0027s already a way more annoying and complicated project than I was expecting it to be\u2026\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u0027re currently onboarding with a fourth company, hopefully to be accomplished this week.\nThey look very promising, so keep fingers crossed that they\u0027re actually what they seem to be\nand that this switch will be the last one \ud83d\ude09\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u0027re also working on implementing an idea (which was also independently proposed by a user)\nto offer a subscription for a few bucks which would remove all ads for them and the visitors of their profile,\nadd a \u201csupporter\u201d badge in their card, and support the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI really hope that works out, because dealing with the ads setup (even though personally\nI\u0027m mainly helping with the technical side and am shielded from a lot of other bs)\nis really sucking the joy out of creating this passion project.\u003C\/p\u003E","words":1477,"readTime":6,"lang":"en"}}}}}