Stripe Ad - It’s Crap

POSTED BY Paul B on Jan 19 under Don't Make Money

I installed the top stripe ad after reading about it somewhere (I think it was John Chow but can’t be sure). Anyway I’ve been running it for a little while now and can conclude that it’s a waste of time! Click through rates are really bad, some of the worst I’ve ever seen from any advertising method I’ve used actually. Not only that but 3 people have felt the need to fill in the contact form and complain about it. Where this is unusual is that it only shows for the first 3 page loads on the make money online dot net (my idea was to target search traffic, not regular readers) so the people who have complained are not complaining because it’s a recent addition but instead are complaining because they just don’t like it!

If you want to make money from your websites then you are going to want to sell advertising, and promote affiliate deals etc amongst your content. There has to be a line though where advertising starts to have a big impact the rest of your websites content (for me personally that line is uncontrollable pop-ups and pop-unders). Just to show that I do listen occasionally the stripe ad is gone (it’s got nothing to do with the appalling CTR, honestly! )

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7 Comments so far

The Rookie Blogger.::A Blogger Who Realized the Truth About Make Money Blogs.:: January 30, 2008 5:39 am

[...] it doesn’t mean you have to. I came across a few posts that agree with me, but this one proves the click through rate is horrible. It wouldn’t be so bad if once I close out [...]
RT Cunningham February 11, 2008 7:46 pm

I wouldn’t use something like this for advertising because I know it would do horribly. It does have possible uses for other things, like a status message or something. Which means it would be temporary each time it’s used.
Using A Top Stripe Ad To Get Visitors March 26, 2008 1:52 pm

[...] wrote before about how I tried using a top stripe ad on this blog and why I removed it. It came down to people not liking it and the fact that the [...]
JTPratt's Blogging Mistakes May 7, 2008 7:52 pm

I installed stripe ad on 2 web sites. On my main site (about blogging tips and MMO) it didn’t do anything. But on my technology and gadget blog I made $134 in commisions with it in the first month. It just goes to show what works on one blog with one audience might not work on another. That’s why I have Kontera installed on some more consumer-centric sites, but would never install it on my blogging site. Some money making tools only work well on some sites.

JTPratt’s Blogging Mistakes’s last blog post..Wordpress Hack #14: 12 Ways to Hack Your Home Page
bb May 26, 2008 4:02 am

couldn’t agree it more！just a support to make another similar plugin without the ugly function.
Dan R. March 10, 2009 8:38 am

I wouldnt go so far as to say its crap. It has its purpose and can work depending on the audience.

We actually just released the Stripe Ad as a new ad format on AdToll which makes it even easier for publishers!

More info on our blog at:
http://blog.adtoll.com/2009/03/09/released-the-stripe-ad-format-and-siteip-exclusion-feature/
Paul B March 10, 2009 11:20 am

Hi Dan,

What audience would you recommend? Of all the advertising methods I’ve ever tried, and I do mean ever, the stripe ad has consistently showed the lowest CTR. I’d be genuinely interested to know what audience your tests prove it works with?