Google Referrals - I've Decided Against Them

In our constant attempt at optimizing the ads on ProductCritic, I tried Google Referrals for a few days. Google Referrals are those ads you see that give you advice to "download Firefox for better browsing" or "download the Google Pack". When a visitor to your site clicks on that ad and actually downloads and installs the application, you get a referral fee.

After having the ads on ProductCritic for a few days (they were located on the left column under the Amazon ad), I decided to pull them. Although, in the three days that they were up, ProductCritic did not get any referral fees from them, that's not why I took them down. The main reason I took them down is that I thought they just made the left column look too crowded and took too much away from the overall clean feel of the site.

This is an important lesson. Don't just put ads all over your blog or your site at all costs as too many ads can distract from the main reason people are visiting your site....for the content! It's not worth it to distract people from your content just so you can make a few extra bucks.