You know when you browse to a Web page, and for some reason the page takes forever to load even though it’s not that complicated of a site? Well, more times than not, that lag is caused by an ad on the site taking forever to load. For example, you might go to coolstuff.com, but there’s an add on the site that’s hosted at annoyingad.com. Before coolstuff.com can be displayed, all the appropriate demographic, and statistical data used for specialized advertising must be sent to annoyingad.com along with simply loading the ad itself.
So here’s my message to online advertisers and the websites that use them. Do you know what that lag makes me do? Hit the “Stop” button in my browser, and browse somewhere else. If your ads make the end user experience annoying, your site’s not going to get the number of page views you’re hoping for. So, the thing on your site who’s sole purpose is to make money is actually costing you money and readership. Don’t load your pages down with ads. Too many sites out there don’t know where the advertisement/site responsiveness tipping point is, and many of them have crossed it.
Performance testing would be a good idea, BTW – and I happen to know a guy who could do that for you. 😉