Consoles good for business or bad for business?
 

What do you think of using consoles?
Do you use them on your sites?

they are too good to be bad :glugglug

not just good, they are great when used correctly.

If you aren't using consoles, you are losing money. :thumbsup

they're good, but not when the surfer gets hit with a zillion pop ups.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was suddenly a program on everyone's computer that stated in big red letters across the screen every time a console came up "this site owner adhears to the motto -FUCK THE SURFER"

Every time you pop a console it's the same as saying that. Ask around, more and more REAL surfers HATE consoles. Hate them ,hate them, hate them.

The surfer is your bread and butter - why bite the hand that feeds you?

Look at one of the most profitable free sites out there for an example - thehun. He just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more and more profitable cause he doesn't let ANYONE fuck with his surfers. Give respect - get RICH and STAY RICH. FUCK the surfer and you won't keep making the money you are today.

you will loose more in the long run by using them.

Well said SleazyDream:thumbsup Consoles are bad for the business in the long run. They are teaching the surfers NOT to click anything...Bad, very Bad:(

I believe consoles lower CTR on ads.
Surfers know that clicking a banner will lead them to popup hell 9 out of 10 times.

If surfers hate consoles so much why do they click the fuck out of the links on them?

Why do they sign up for sites that they wouldn't have even known about if I hadn't popped a console on them with a link to it?

If no one clicked the links in consoles, or ever joined a site from an exit console link, everyone would stop using them.

Now some people go too far with a never ending chain of unclosable windows, or resetting homepages and auto downloading dialers and shit like that.

But one or two pop ups after a surfer leaves a tour giving them more options is good for business.

Sleazy, I could use the same argument to say look at how rich Marc De and Fantasyman are because of their never ending chain of exit consoles.

Not everyone who uses consoles is saying "fuck the surfer", most of them are just trying to maximize the value of every click, and last time I checked we were in this biz to make $$.

One of these every surfer will have a popup killer. I hope that day comes soon.
Popups are annoying.

Pop ups and consoles may do some good short term, but if you are a pay site and expect clients to come back they will learn to hate you and not become recurring customers.

I receive many emails thanking me for not using any type of popup or consoles. These come from buyers who buy over and over again year after year.

http://www.ebay.com
http://www.aol.com

I'm sure there is more out there...

I really don't think popups are bad at all while being used within reason. Apparently some other people feel the same way.

Consoles are bad for our business. They make the surfer paranoid about clicking anything which means less sales. I don't use them on my sites.

If this was the case do you think their would be exit consoles?

Surfers have already adapted to exits

Me too, because then payouts will be lowered and "hobby" webmasters and TGPers will go back to their chosen vocations...

Sleazy, the hun remains profitable because people keep buying ads on his site...how profitable would he be if he were using affiliate banners on his sites? How profitable would YOU be? How profitable are his AVERAGE submitters' galleries? You only care about the surfer because that's how you measure your penis...your counter....the rest of us measure in dollars and cents....I only care about my CUSTOMERS. I treat them like the gold they are....as a paysite owner, people who buy from me are my customers...if I were a freesite/TGP owner, the surfer is my commodity and the paysite is my customer...consoles, when properly used, add a sizeable amount to your bottomline...if not, well then it may as well be a 35 picture/one shitty banner gallery in the number 1 position on The Hun...both uselesss and unprofitable...

thats why when you type in our domains you only get one exit.

the only time they get more is off a refering link

I think consoles have their place, and in the right place they can be very profitable. Of course.. they don't belong on tgp etc... but I believe they do belong on se listings, paysites etc...

spoken from someone who has trouble paying the rent.......

SykkBoy2 - Maybe your website can't make money without popups but don't assume everyone else is in the same situation.

Your last post seemed insulting simply because I disagree with your point of view.
Its a reality that popups will be blocked in the future. AOL is already setting something up and I'm sure others will follow suit. So except this.

<Golf Clap>

Listen to him kiddies, this is one of the elite few on here who knows his shit.

Consoles are good, because they make money. When they no longer make money (ie, when everyone has a popup blocker, give it 2 years max) - they will no longer be good.

The smart will adapt, the weak will die. Fine by me.

Cheers,
Backov

SykkBoy2 - you think no popups will kill free sites, TGPs, toplists etc.. Great, aren't these the people who send traffic to affiliate programs such as yours?
:1orglaugh

Consoles have their use, and when used effectively they will make you MORE money and NOT piss off your surfers. If you send them into a loop then you deserve what you get as far as them never coming back.

If you use them correctly they won't annoy the surfer too much.

If you want to talk about being annoyed, I can tell you that my bandwidth bill annoys my bank account ;)

Consoles are like beers... too few and you needn't have bothered, too many and you're a train wreck waiting to happen.

IMO, mainstream has done a helluva lot more damage to the console "image" than adult ever could have hoped to do. Personally, I make quite a bit of money from my sponsors' exit consoles and my stats prove that they really DO work. I use them on my own sites, in moderation, and will continue to do so... and when popup killers become as common as flies at the landfill, I'll switch to the replacement (which is sure to pop up any day now... pardon the pun).

I think I will give my vote to all of the above. The big trick is using them correctly and not harrassing your surfers.