Pop-Ups

Pop-ups were once thought to be a great way to catch someone's attention. Most smart marketers and web designers do not use them for marketing purposes anymore.

About half of all browsers are set to disallow pop-ups. That indicates right there that there are a HUGE number of people who consider them to be an annoyance that is enough of an annoyance to deal with the times when having pop-ups blocked will be an inconvenience (it is sometimes).

And of those people who still allow pop-ups, perhaps half of those do not block pop-ups because they have no clue how to do so, or even that they CAN do so.

The vast majority of people in general have the same automatic instinct when they see a pop-up: Click the Close button.

You see, a pop-up is an intrusion. It is not like television ads where the intrusion is just the price you pay for watching the show you like. It has a button where you can make it go away, so if you are annoyed by it, you can just ignore it. And most people do.

There are marketers who still say that pop-ups work, but they really only do among the most incredulous of potential customers! For the average web situation, they are rude, useless, and a waste of time or money, and in fact will do more harm than good if they drive away intelligent customers.

Pop-ups have been used to advertise the trashiest and the worst of internet products. They have a bad reputation. Use them on your site, or to market your site, and you'll be tarred with the same brush.

Another element similar to this is the "non-stoppable pop-up" which is really just a floating menu. Now, reason with me here: The reason they feel they need a non-stoppable pop-up is because too many people either ignore or block pop-ups. People do this because they HATE THEM! So, by using a non-stoppable pop-up, you are going to FORCE people to see what you already know they hate! You are going PURPOSELY ANNOY THEM!

Hmmm. That really doesn't sound like a really smart marketing tactic to me!

One pop-up is an annoyance. If you have them on every page, then people will leave the site. They really do hate them that badly!

Never assume that just because it is YOUR site, and YOUR product, that someone will make an exception to their pet peeves, just because you think what you sell is so neat! It isn't. They aren't nearly so thrilled about it as you are! They will consider you to be just another ignorant and inconsiderate yutz that they don't want to do business with.

Written by Laura Wheeler