Web sites have gotten twitchy lately. It seems like they've developed one heck of a nervous tick... or maybe it's just me. Have you noticed that more and more banner ads feature flashing colors, spinning logos, and other gimmicks to get you to look and click? Maybe you've experienced those "what was that?" flashes when yet another pop-under ad launches and immediately hides itself under your current browser window. Well, contrary to the belief of pop-under advertising masterminds, I'm not going to buy that X-10 camera, no matter how many times I see the darned ad. Apparently, however, these pop-under ads do succeed in driving traffic to sites. Just lookthrough the Top 50 Web Properties, maintained by Jupiter Media Metrix (www.jmm.com), and you'll recognize pop-under properties among the list of most popular sites. As I write this, for example, among the top 50 are Classmates.com, BIZRATE.com, and CoolSavings.com--three current pop-under marketers. And then there's Yahoo!'s recent introduction of nagware to its Yahoo! Groups. There I was, reading through postings in a discussion group when suddenly my screen is dominated by, not another posting, but an ad with a reminder that Yahoo! Groups is an advertising-supported service. In theory, I can understand why shareware does this--a weekend programmer trying to get compensated for a labor of love--but does Yahoo! really think I'm going to stop in the middle of reviewing postings about 800mHz radio and click on an ad for Honda? There are, of course, sites finally biting the bullet and charging for what was initially free. Yahoo! recently changed its fee for listing your commercial site in its index from a one-time dollar 199 to an annual dollar 299. Swell. That means that smaller organizations I used to find in Yahoo! might not be there anymore. Earth to Yahoo!: If you're a content provider like Yahoo!, it seems to me that you want to encourage quality content.
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