Ad Blockers: What are you missing?

I recall one day, walking into a restaurant and sitting down with the marketing manager. When she navigated her way to the Seattle DINING! website there were no ads to be found. She was using an ad blocker.

It turns out, about 13% of web users do. And that's understandable when you consider this:

On the one hand

Some years ago a company got into the act of delivering ads across anyone's website who would have them, and they grew quite large. We know that company today as AdChoices owned by the Digital Advertising Alliance. Along the way they built a reputation for serving up vicious ads. If you clicked, you could get a serious payload of viruses that would cripple and take down your computer in moments. You'd need a tech pro to get in, remove the viruses, and that tech pro might be sharp enough to install an ad blocker on your device. He or she might also advise you to NEVER click through an ad ever again.

As a side note to this, anyone looking for click-through metrics on ads… Grow up. Impressions - yes, click-throughs - no (air exhales flatulently from balloon).

Companies like The Seattle Times, The Oregonian (Oregon Live), The Vancouver Sun, The Idaho Statesman and others still partner with AdChoices for serving their ads up. We can see them on the sites. We would not click through one with a ten-foot digital pole and don't suggest you do that either, even today.

On the other hand

We knew what was going on with all that from the start. We've been at this since 1999, dealt with multiple virus and malicious software issues and never wanted to bestow that on any of our readers. We know all the ways the bad guys get into peoples' machines and we know they won't let up.

Instead we built our own ad server. By doing so, we controlled the content that gets delivered to the user directly and keep the bad guys out – plain and simple. And yes – it's safe to click through any ad on our site.

Two things

There's two important things here for our readers to understand, and this is why we're asking you to white list our site if you already use an ad blocker.

First off - our online magazine is funded entirely by local businesses who pay to advertise with us. See who is supporting us, and if you enjoy reading the magazine each month, take a moment out of your life to know who those businesses are and support them from time to time if you like what they do, or click-through if you want to learn more.

Which leads us to the next point. Remember, I said we're supported by local businesses. That climate is constantly changing. For years Salty's has been such a great partner and regular advertiser, readers thought they owned our dining magazine. They don't, but they support the work we do and are successful in doing so as we watch the brand stay strong through good times and bad times.

Seeing the ads that run across the magazine provides additional information to you of who the local area businesses are that support the the industry. Let's not disagree with that, because, remember, you pay nothing to read this magazine. They make it possible for us to deliver it to you.

Otherwise…

We really do not want to go down the road of becoming a non-profit that reaches out to our readers weekly, monthly, or annually and asks for your donations. That simply gets annoying, and there's less in it for you if the sponsors go away because you won't know what your options are in the food world.

Let's not do that.

Instead, simply turn off your ad blocker if you're using one, and take time to patronize those who support our efforts whenever it's right for you.

Thanks for your consideration.

Tom Mehren
Publisher