Can you tell people to click?

[Lysandra90]

I know you can't tell people to click on the ads but I have a button to download firefox for the referral program. I was just wondering if I am allowed to tell people to download firefox because I've had a couple people say my site loads slowly.

[malinkacc]

because I've had a couple people say my site loads slowly

I don't think I would be telling people "please download firefox" etc, that would be asking for trouble. I think you can have a page about firefox, its features etc, but as far as asking people to click - i'd say nope.

And just a question - what does downloading firefox have to do with your site loading slowly?

[koan]

You can talk about how Firefox is great and everybody should use it, but you can't call to action on the download links or button (ex: click here). Just put it in a way that it is an obvious conclusion to your content, the button / text link itself says "download firefox", so.... non need to mention it.

[Bddmed]

And it loads in half the time with Firefox?

[Lysandra90]

People have told me that the page should load faster if you are using firefox. Is that not true?

[edited by: Lysandra90 at 10:34 pm (utc) on May 25, 2007]

[explorador]

The download thing is off topic. Perhaps you show a preference to FFX as "it appears to load faster". The thing I've seen is Firefox can load your page even if not all the content has been loaded (when using tables). Most of the cases, and depending on your browser, the content doesn't show until the last element of the table is loaded.

Per example, a table only site would seem slow as the browser is waiting for some AD to load. That happened to me before.

Thats why some sites had one table on the top (with ads) and one table for content and other for the footer. This way visitors had something to see while the page loaded, instead of one multi table site.

I noticed Firefox loaded the page "faster" opposed to IE.

So, the big thing about this is: use CSS. :)

[AdSenseAdvisor]

You are welcome to call attention to your referral buttons and even encourage people to click on them. As explained in our optimization tips ([google.com ]):

Tips for successful referrals:

1. Actively endorse the products you refer. Unlike with AdSense for content ads, we encourage you to endorse referral products by calling attention to the button or text link. If you believe in the quality of the product that you're referring, feel free to let your users know! Of course, in line with our policies, you may not click your own ads nor encourage conversions for deceitful reasons.

Hope that helps,
-ASA

[malinkacc]

Wow, I was way off - I guess I thought same rules applied to referrals as to AdSense for content ads. Thank you for stopping by ASA and clarifying.

[content_adj]

is something like this allowed?

"We see you're using Internet Explorer, which is not compatible with this site. We strongly suggest downloading Firefox.

click below to download

[Deusdies]

I've contacted Google regarding the same issue a time ago:

My question:

*****
By the "Get firefox with Google toolbar", can I put "This site loads much faster if you" so the whole phrase would be "The site loads much faster if you Get Firefox with Google toolbar"? Of course, only the part no. 2 will be link to AdSense.
******

Google's answer
******
Unlike with AdSense for content ads, we encourage you to endorse referral
products by calling attention to the button or text link. If you believe
in the quality of the product that you're referring, feel free to let your
users know.

More specifically, you're welcome to use language such as "I use AdSense
and recommend it to monetize your website." However, publishers should not
use language such as "Click here," "Visit these links to support our
site," or other similar language. In addition, you may not click your own
ads nor encourage conversions for deceitful reasons.
**********

Hope this helps :)

Regards
-Bogdan

[edited by: jatar_k at 2:09 pm (utc) on May 27, 2007]
[edit reason] no urls thanks [/edit]

[Lysandra90]

Thank you everybody!

[ahmadjordan]

dont play with google

it is exactly as adsense (firefox)

[koan]

You are welcome to call attention to your referral buttons and even encourage people to click on them.

Right, forgot there were changes lately for referrals regarding calling attention to it.