Common Censor

Adverting On the Web

Other webmasters and businesses with a reasonable desire to earn money on the Internet have frequently asked me why I would create a system such as this that makes it so hard to generate revenue based on website advertising. After all, if your visitors never see the ads on your site, how can you ever hope that they'll click them?

The simple fact is - this tool is not intended to prevent all ads from being viewed by your visitors. In fact, it's designed specifically with small business interests in mind, in that it uses specific blocking mechanisms to censor only domains whose primary or sole purpose is to generate advertising or other unwelcome content (such as porn and viruses).

It's actually quite simple to bypass this mechanism and provide ads to your visitors: put whatever ads you want your visitors to actually see on your website, and provide the advertiser either direct links or redirectors through a gateway on your own server. The benefits to you and your users are several-fold. First, they no longer have to fear advertising that is not related to your content as a whole (however, if you are determined to advertise unsavory ad sources, scripts, images or targets, do not be surprised if you get added to the Censor). Second, it provides a stricter, safer and more direct object model for their browser. This essentially makes their experience safer on your website, and does not invoke cross-domain warnings, filters or sandboxing of the separate content. Third, it provides the means for you to track revenue and click-throughs directly, without reliance on a third-party advertising company that may or may not have any intent to share actual data with you. Lastly, you have control. You can decide at any point that an advertiser or product is welcome or unwelcome and immediately make that change. You do not need to "wait 48 to 72 hours for your requested changes to take effect," like you may have to with whatever advertising service you may currently be using. I've personally experienced the 'waiting game' of blocking certain vendors from my advertising feed only to see a different vendor peddling the exact same wares appear as a new cycled advertiser immediately after my request for removing the other.

No doubt you have noticed the advertisements on this site by now. As with any other webservice our aim is to sustain our business. Our primary objective is, of course, to sell our products and services to a satisfied customer. That is not always possible, though, and we offer these alternative advertisements as a sampling of other similar services available. We do not endorse or encourage their use, but if you do choose to use another service, or even research other services before deciding on the solution you ultimately select, it is our objective to provide this brief list of alternates to you. Dare to compare.