Spot the copy competition
Can you find it?
This is a screenshot from a local paper’s website. I won’t name it, but wanted to use it as an example of abysmal design.
And advertisers wonder why people use ad blockers?
Spot the copy competition
Alan Stainer
Tech head through and through.
Is there any actual content visible in the screenshot? The phrase “It’s all a bit testing.”, perhaps?
Yep. That’s the last line of the copy Andreas Bartels
There is more copy on the actual page, but the ads swamp the ending.
The rest of the page isn’t much better either.
Yeah, it’s really bad. The local newspaper’s website here looked like this for a while. About a year ago, they added a paywall, but the few remaining “free” articles (mostly news agency bits available everywhere else, too) still have tons of ads – including pop-ups, animated overlays, videos playing on hover – all the crazy stuff that no one wants to see.
My ad blocker is internal – if a page presents itself as shitty as that, I won’t visit it again. I don’t see how intrusive ads like this really work for anyone involved, in the long run.
I think the newspaper industry is floundering. It’s failing in print and is failing to tackle its online presence too. It’s one of those situations where we need a disruptive business to do really well and all the others will follow in their footsteps.
there are a few examples of mags/newspapers who are doing it right… The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times… I’m talking about design, but I’m sure good design keeps eyeballs on your site longer.