Is Readability a Threat to MMO?

Readability – Friend or Foe to a Blogger?

Readability – according to them "is a simple tool that makes reading on the Web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you're reading. " I actually cringed when I first saw this application but at the same time understand why some people might use it. I just have one little problem with it -

PGA Tour logo
Image via Wikipedia

Blogger's Work Hard To Make Money Online

That "clutter" as Readability calls it, is my bread and butter as a blogger. I tried it on one of my blogs and I was shocked when I saw what happened! Why would I want to see my strategically placed ads fade into the background, leaving nothing behind but my boring text, stripped naked as it were.

It's like telling a NASCAR race car driver to strip his fire suit off, you know the one with all those colorful logo's from the car's sponsors? Advertisers such as P&G, Sony, Firestone, Sears, Budweiser,  Jack Daniels, Pennzoil, etc, all top guns of advertising, have paid considerable money to be on that suit and are adamant about their ads being highly visible at all times. So, I think a race car driver, faced with the choice of his fire suite looking cluttered, or heaven forbid, him (or her, Danika) reduced to a plain skinny guy walking around in fireproof longjohns.  I think he would tell me to go suck an egg.

And what would the car's sponsors be thinking as they look upon that colorful racing suit laying in the dust? What's that skinny little man in fire resistant underwear going to do for me?

My point is that I have spent countless hours behind the screen, nights and weekends when I should have been out having some fun, trying to build a network of blogs with original and engaging articles just so I would get noticed by advertisers.  That's still what I teach today. I think ads on a blog or website, if done well, can really spiff up a page, it's up to the blogger as to how much advertising is too much, do we go with the  PGA Tour player look with 8 or 9 strategically- placed logo's. Or do we want to go whole hog with the  NASCAR driver's suit approach?. I think readers are used to clutter, expect it, enjoy it even.

I"m not sure who Readability's market is, but as a blogger I think it's an app I can live without. When I want to read plain text without the clutter, I'll go read a book.

Am I just being selfish? Do people who surf the web think our web pages are just clutter, stuff with no value? Does an app like Readability help or hinder your reader?

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Thanks for sharing this post!
  • Twitter
  • Sphinn
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Identi.ca
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • del.icio.us
  • Diigo
  • StumbleUpon
  • FriendFeed
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Print

More From Payson Web Blog

Payson Web Blog Recommends

Payson Web Blog Recommends

PaysonWeb: Payson Web Blog has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize.

Posted Sunday, April 18, 2010 in Blog, Email Marketing
Tagged: , , , , , , , | View Comments

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Hi Dick, I'm a huge fan a Readability and in fact the YouTube video I created for it is one of the most popular ones on my channel. I don't understand something about it though, here's the scenario - I'm a blogger so there's a 99% chance that I'm not going to click on any ads on anyones blog or site. If I do it's really intentional, for example I knew that I wanted to buy web hosting so I went to our friend DiTesco's blog and used his affiliate link to make my purchase.

    Sorry I got a little sidetracked, here's my question - when I land on a site I see all of the ads that are there before I click that big R in my toolbar to get rid of them. I read the post and then if I decide I want to leave a comment (and trust me after I've done all of this I'm bound to leave a comment) I turn Readability back off and once again see all of the ads that are in place. Now maybe I should be clear that it's mostly Google Adsense and flashing links that I'm trying to bypass. As you may know there blogs with lots of great content that are literally surrounded with Adsense. So don't these bloggers still get credit since I viewed the ads already?

    Sorry for rambling so I will close with this. When I visit your blogs I've never felt the urge to click the big R.

    You use a nice large font and I don't feel that I need to swim through a sea of AdSense to find your content. So if your readers are like me, you never need to worry about the big R.

  • Well, thank you Ileane for that compliment, not needing to hit the big R when visiting my sites. I use a large font because it's easier for these old eyes to read therefore easier for my readers.I agree that some ads can be very distracting and like you I dont click on any unless it's intentional but that's because I am a blogger. Were I just a regular joe I might click on anything that interested me. Good hearing from you!
  • Never heard of Readability either Dick and at some point I can understand why someone would like to have one of these apps installed. I'm saying this because as a blogger and one that also finds for advertisers, I believe that well placed ads will not be intrusive and as you said, make a page look better. Take magazines, they are full of ads and yet people buy them. Why? because people know that there are good stuff in there and they understand that someone has to pay the bills.

    Now as Holly said, in other words, be honest, gain trsut and credibility and don't slap your readers with ads, otherwise, they will read something else, and it will not be a book:) Someone elses blog...
  • Thanks Francisco, Yes, the key is getting the right advertisers. If you are a new blogger you get tempted to jump at just about any ad opportunities, I have had to turn down some that were good ads but there was no relevance to my blog and I learned early on in my blogging career that some ads can hurt you in the rankings and it's a long road back to respectability . Any income from a blog would be hard to turn away right now but my advice is always to choose advertisers carefully and try to integrate them into your blog with colors that are pleasing to the eye.
  • Never heard of the app "Readability," but I know that a lot of in-your-face, blinking ads make me close the browser and run screaming - for a book. I don't trust most MMO sites. I'm sympathetic towards people who are trying to earn a living, but I'm very wary of the hitchhikers and snake-oil salesmen online, and anything that makes YOU look like THEM can certainly hurt.

    Then again, until recently, I was naive enough to think all this was aimed at actual human beings. Sellers with a product, looking to connect with readers and convert them to buyers. And now I'm beginning to understand that it's mostly just an attempt to game the search engines and advertisers, anyway. So I think I'll go back to the books.
blog comments powered by Disqus