Since the dawn of the internet, advertisements—whether paid or not—have always been an integral part of online browsing. Majority of the revenue gained by website owners come from these advertisements.
While there are harmless ads that merely try to catch your attention to entice you with their brand or service, there are those that are fairly malicious and “force” users to click on them, whether through deception or tricky ad placement.
These advertisements are called adware. The adware come in different shapes and sizes. Some as small as a button, while others can be as large as a banner spanning the length of your screen. Adware may seem passive and harmless, but some contain malicious software that will invade and compromise your computer, files, or even your identity.
Enter ad block. An ad blocker is a program that blocks potentially unwanted ads that may harm your computer or ruin your online experience due to annoying pop ups or phishing ads. What makes malicious adware near impossible to avoid is the fact that one can be triggered even without the user clicking on the physical link. Your presence on the website is more than enough for it to trigger and download itself into your computer.
Ads Begone!
Even while you have a good antivirus installed in your computer, it is always a good thing to have a secondary layer of protection such as an ad blocker, especially if you own a website that can be a target of malicious software. There are different ad blockers out there to choose from, as websafetyadvice.com pointed out, including the pros and cons of each one.
Ad blockers are fairly easy to install as they are plugins or add-ons for your browser that do not need to be installed in your computer physically. Once the add-on is installed on your browser, all you need to do is turn on the ad blocking program and customize how it should behave. While the ad blocker is running on your browser, all ads should be blocked from popping up.
The Benefits of Ad Blockers
As a homeowner, you do not want unauthorized trespassers entering into your home. The same can be said of your website when it comes to unauthorized programs trying to breach your system.
- Safety: The most important role of an ad blocker is for safety. Now that you know some adware may contain malicious software, it is then imperative to make sure that this adware are not allowed into your computer and compromise your files. The ad blocker basically prevents this adware from running on your website. You do have the ability to customize how the ad blocker behaves and you can allow certain ads from trusted sources to run.
- Performance: Multiple ads running on your website can take a toll on your computer’s performance. This can lead to crashing. Single animated adware can use up more than enough memory to slow down your computer’s performance. The more ads running in the background, the more memory and processing power is needed. Blocking ads basically stops the ads from using up your computer’s resources, giving you a smooth browsing experience while checking on your website.
- Convenience: Some ads take advantage of positioning. Despite giving advertisers enough space on your website to advertise their service, some may go well beyond the provided space and obstruct your website. Some rely on awkward placements that can obstruct your view and force you to try and drag the ad or close it, triggering a pop-up or an automatic install once clicked. Having an ad blocker on the website will prevent these annoying ads from running and obstructing your view of the website.
- Clutter-free website: Even with proper placement and planning on where ads should be placed on your website, not all ads come out as you hope them to be. Due to the size of the features of the ad, it could disrupt some of your website’s features and clutter around the page. Turning on ad block removes the cluttered ads so you can work on your website without any hassle.
Should I get an Ad Blocker?
Whilst advertisements play an important role in owning a website, it is equally important to make sure that your website is functioning properly and to its fullest potential. Having multiple advertisements running on your website can be such a hassle and having an ad blocking program is more than a welcome solution.
As with most programs, ad blocking has its pros and cons. The pros, as have been discussed in this article, provides safety, comfort, and ease as you go about your website. The cons on the other hand, which are more revenue related than anything, could mean that your website will be earning less from online advertising.
In conclusion, it is more of an advantage to have an ad blocker when you have a website as it promotes user-friendliness without having to contend with annoying advertisements. Less hassle means more clicks, and traffic will be experienced by your website. It is important to note that, yes, revenue is important when you are running a website, however, it should also be known that revenue is proportional to the number of visits your website has on any given day.
