Please review my latest blog! Thanks :)

[DaveRH]

www.ancientstandard.com is the URL of a new blog I just launched the other week.

We just had the new design finished and added to the site (it's using wordpress). I would appreciate if you guys could take a look and critique the design, ad placement and what you think of the actual content.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out!

 

[zkiller]

the site looks nice, good job on the custom theme. i find the ad placement horrid. ads don't usually bother me, but i really don't like them in the middle of an article. it seems to me you are detracting from the value of your content by doing so.

i didn't take the time to read any of your articles, but i love the topic. one of my friends is an archaeologist and i spent few hours talking to him about just this sort of stuff earlier today. very cool stuff.

 

[DaveRH]

Hi, thanks for the comments!

A lot of people don't like the ads...do you think you could read one or two of the posts and let me know if you feel the content is interesting enough to make you want to "put up" with the ads?

I'm in a tough spot, as this is a for profit website I'm starting , and paying a writer to come up with the content...

Thanks again for taking a look!

 

[kiko_friendly]

Put the ads below the archives. Ads need to be clearly separated from the main content in my opinion.
Maybe over the background?

Having the ads in the middle of everything will annoy people (and does) when they accidently click on an ad. Why would they come back to a site when they are accidently going to places they don't want to be? I know I wouldn't.

In some ways it's like tricking people into clicking the ads, which isn't nice!

People are gonna click if they want, otherwise it's accidental and I suppose you want people to return...?

I dunno...I don't even like ads on my site...not that I have any, but if I did...

EDIT : Oh and I would read an article, but archaeology is not an area that interests me, so one article is as...well, boring as another.

 

[DaveRH]

Thanks for the comments, ads are required as the site is being developed to turn a profit. The point of putting the ads in the content is not to trick people into clicking on them

It's to bring attention to them, the modern Internet user has ad blindness, and they won't even see or notice ads placed on the right hand columns.

The content is written to be interesting to anyone as well.

Thanks again for your input!

 

[ian]

I think the site looks great, I love watching documentaries on ancient civilzations. Especially the one called "civilizations" and "around the world in 80 treasures" by dan cruikshank.
That ad format used, while some may find it obtrusive, it does appear to be the most profitable ad format from what I have read.

 

[tanjh]

The site dosen't load for me....