My Popup - When a page begins loading, I pop up a small window that says "Data Loading...." ONce the page is loaded, popup goes away on its own. Because some of my pages are running some compicated SQL calls to a db, it can take 8-10 seconds before anything shows on the page. So to keep my user informed, I show them the popup so they will now the browser/site hasn't died on them.
Google's rule is no popups regardless of content because, ITO, popups detract from the user experience. That's why they deactivated my adwords. I appealed, wrote back, and after a week or so they replied and said they their policy was no popups and that I should do my "Data Loading..." info in a different way to avoid breaking their rule.
No I agree that the vast majority of popups on the web serve no purpose. But studies have shown that when a user is staring at a blank page, the PERCEIVED load time is longer than if they have something to look it. Research has also show that after 6 seconds of no response, people begin leaving the site. Since some of my pages can take 10-12 seconds to load on 56K, I wanted to keep the user on site and give them feedback.
I understand that rules are rule, but if the rule was made for a REASON (to prevent popups that detract from user experience) and there's a popup that doesn't violate the spirit of the rule, then what's the prob? And the popup even closes itself! I don't want to have to go through the dozens of pages in my site and rewrite a different "page Loading" script. My current script doesn't have to be in the head, so I have it in an include, but to have a visible layer appear and then go away would require altering the body tag of all my pages.
SO please, AdWordsAdvisor, is there another level I can appeal to? I'd like to try out AdWords, but can't put int he time to rework all pages in my site. I can take hte popup out, but I honestly think that would hurt my traffic an page views.
Help-
Dave
[edited by: Shak at 7:49 pm (utc) on Aug. 5, 2003]
Welcome to Webmasterworld [webmasterworld.com]
I feel your pain, however in the current climate of online advertising, blanket policies are the best option, it would just be physically impossible to start debating single sites and having to make a per-site policy.
Adwords is a great tool if used correctly, so my advice would be to try and concentrate on your site and making changes which will allow inclusion again.
as for AWA (absent without leave) I am sure he/she will be along later to answer your specific question about appealing to a higher level.
Shak
Regardless of Google's AdWords policy, a page that potentially takes a long time to load is not a good choice for your AdWords landing page anyway.
Perhaps you could consider making a special landing page for your campaign that contains content based on cached versions of whatever complex SQL queries you're making, and is well targeted to your campaign.
You really want to be straight in their face following a click-through; any hanging about and they'll be on their browsers back button long before your page has loaded...
[edited by: dmorison at 8:24 pm (utc) on Aug. 5, 2003]
For example, you could use an iframe that told the visitor about the delay and then set the display style property to invisable when the data was ready.
But I think the best way to go is what has already been suggested, if its possible. Tailor different fast loading pages for different keywords.
I can do the iframe, but that still requires some page editing that I don't think Ican accompish site wide with my includes. I built a test page where I have two divs - one that shows while loading, then flips to the other (content) after load is complete. Same principle as my popup, but require new <body> and </body> on all pages so set layer vis.
I was trying to land the user right on the products page so BAM he hits page showing yesterdays best selling products in the category he clicked thorugh in. That page is dynamic and pulls from db - on my cable modem, load time is about 3 seconds - on my friend dial up about 8-10.
I might have tp beg off Adwords for a while then. I've gone from an average 400 visitors a day to over 1300 just by optimizing content, etc. I might wait to see if it levels out and htus would warrant more marketing efforts.
Thanks for the ideas!
Dave
Happily, though, this question has been well answered by Shak and others. As to appealing to 'another level', well, the Pop-Up policy is thoroughly cast-in-stone, and no one may make a per-site exception.
