I tend to read a lot of news on the net. I’m always following links on various sites that link to news stories on other sites. The Drudge Report is one of the best examples of this.
I don’t know how many times I have followed a link to a news site (usually a web site belonging to a newspaper) only to be greeted by a message similar to this:
‘To access this story, you need to register. It’s free and it’s easy!’
Want to know how many times I have registered after being presented with a message like this? Exactly zero. The last thing I want to see when I am trying to get access a news story that looks interesting is a big fat roadblock.
Some of them are less obnoxious than others. For example, one of them that I regularly run into (can’t recall exactly which one) asks for your zip code, your gender and the year of your birth. That is still a bit of a pain, but I normally input the info since it can be done pretty quickly.
What I don’t want to see is a screen-full of information they want me to fill out to ‘register.’ Many of them want your name, your e-mail address, your street address, telephone number, your gender and your year or birth.
A good example of one of these more obnoxious registration requirements is the web site for the Charlotte Observer newspaper. Just check out www.charlotteobserver.com and click one of the stories on their front page to see how far you get.
I never took the time to think much about why it is they want you to register, but looking at the Charlotte Observer registration form, it is becoming a bit more clear.
As you can see at the bottom of the form, they are presenting a number of ‘offers.’ Things they call ‘Newsletters’ and ‘Email Deals.’ Near the top of the form, where they tout the benefits of registration, they mention ‘offers from our partner CoolSavings.’ There’s a big hint as to why they are requiring registration to access their site.
‘CoolSavings’ is a company that will use the registration information you enter to present targeted advertising to you as you access the newspaper’s web site. They don’t say whether these ‘CoolSavings’ ads will also show up as you surf other sites as well, but if another site you visit also uses ‘CoolSavings’ ad-serving technology, I strongly suspect you will see their ads there also.
The advantages to this kind of targeted advertising are obvious. For example, if I fill out the registration form and sign myself up a male that was born in 1989, I will likely see advertising targeted at 16-year-old boys. Probably ads for the latest video games and other stuff that is likely to be of interest to the average 16-year-old boy.
Each time one of these targeted ads is displayed, the newspaper is likely getting paid by ‘CoolSavings’ for displaying the ad. It’s also possible that the newspaper gets paid only when someone actually clicks on the ad to get more information about that particular offer.
There are many types of advertising in use on the Internet. Some of them are referred to in the industry as CPM ads. In other words, the advertiser pays a fixed amount for each one thousand times the ads is displayed. Other ads called PPC or pay-per-click, are paid for by the advertiser each time someone clicks on the ad.
Getting back to the ‘offers’ at the bottom of the page, these allow you to opt-in to various e-mail subscriptions that the newspaper has agreed to offer up for the purpose of sending out more advertising, so be prepared to be bombarded with lot’s of SPAM if you sign up for these. Oh, I know, technically, it is not SPAM if you signed up for it, but if it walks like a duck’
You might get the impression that I have a problem with Internet advertising, and I can understand how that might happen. The fact is, however, that I have no problem with it at all. What I have a problem with is advertising that makes me feel like it is being forced on me. Like when I am forced to register to view the content of a site.
I am not saying, however, that we should pass any laws or create any new rules regarding advertising on the Internet. I have very strong feelings about the Internet, and believe everyone has a right to run their web site the way they want. This, of course, does not apply to anyone trying to take advantage of others, like the operators of ‘phishing‘ sites or anyone else attempting to scam or otherwise harm other people.
What I am saying is, back off a little will you? I don’t think I have ever visited a newspaper’s web site and failed to find advertising on it. And that’s just fine with me. That’s how newspapers have been making money for a very long time, and it is only logical to see it continue on the Internet.
My point is that the newspapers already have their ads in front of us. We see them! Why make me jump through hoops (register) to see them? I understand that they want to make more money using targeted ads, but by doing so, they are causing many people to click that ‘Back’ button as soon as the registration page shows up. Who the heck wants to type in a username and password just to access a news story?
Yes, I know you can probably just hit the little ‘Remember Me’ check box to store your username and password on your computer and avoid typing it in each time, but then there is the feeling someone is ‘tracking’ you when you log in to read a story. I sure never got that feeling sitting down to read the traditional hard copy version of the newspaper!
I don’t know anything about the statistics which tell these newspapers just how many people leave their site as soon as the registration page appears, but I suspect it is a very significant percentage. You can be sure they are very well aware of exactly what these numbers are. I can only assume that the results they are getting from targeted advertising and other ‘offers’ must make up for the people who refuse to register.
I am noticing a new approach to this issue in use by at least one newspaper. The New York Times was one of the first papers I ran into that demanded registration in order to access their site. Now, it appears, that many be changing.
This morning I clicked a link on a web site that lead to a story on the New York Times web site. Instead of being presented with a registration page, I was presented with a full-page advertisement for a Dell computer. I also find this type of in-your-face advertising rather annoying, but I did find it less annoying than forced registration.
It took me a few seconds of scanning the screen, but I did find the ‘Skip This Ad’ link in tiny print near the upper right corner of the ad. This will shut the ad down and bring you right to the news story. If left alone, the ad will display for a few seconds and then close down and display the news story.
There’s no way I can be sure, but I suspect the New York Times is testing this or has decided to use this in favor the forced registration. This is probably due to the number of people clicking away from their site as soon as the registration page is displayed, or due to sites like ‘Bug Me Not.’
If you are one of those people (like me) who is always becoming annoyed with these forced registration pages you keep running into while attempting to access a news story, ‘Bug Me Not’ may be just what you need.
Simply go to BugMeNot.com and enter the site you are trying to access and you will be presented with a number of username/password combinations that have been set up by other people and shared with the ‘Bug Me Not’ web site. In most cases, these username/password combinations will allow you to access the site without registering yourself.
I’m sure the newspapers were not happy to see that site come online, but that is what makes the net so great. When there is a problem, there is usually some clever, resourceful people that come up with a nice solution.
I wish more newspaper sites would take a hint from the New York Times and explore some less obnoxious methods to boost their advertising revenue. Users love the speed and immediacy of the net, and slowing us down with forced registration schemes is not the way to develop a loyal readership.
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