Ads by Google

[paolo bevilacqua]

Are the ads meant to stay ?

Does a company like Cisco needs them, and the related revenue ? Probably they sell for a premium.

Or it is tought that they will improve the CSC experience ?

[marikakis]

I will have to agree with Paolo on this one. Although I kind of implied somewhere in the Cafe that advertising could be used in the site so that cisco gives us more space in the site, I'm afraid I don't like those google ads so much. The cisco ads that had been around so far were way more classy from a pure appearance perspective and I have clicked on them in several occasions. I was a bit disappointed with the content sometimes, because I tend to prefer solid advertising of products, rather than some vague and idealistic description (e.g. borderless, etc) of what they are supposed to be doing. Also, my eye has adapted to ignore google ads and I guess some other people as well have learned how to do the same thing to survive online. Everybody needs a bit more money these days. I guess the decision about whether google ads stay or go will depend on how many members click on them. If I recall correctly, those google ads started in the certifications section and now they are in the network infrastructure (at the least, haven't looked all over the place), so cisco probably sees some point in having them around. I guess cisco could at least tell google to start making those ads look a bit better (no flashing signs please) and I guess we will all be happy in the end.

[paolo bevilacqua]

In my opinion, having ads on an Official forum makes it look like any enthusiast's blog, of which there are hundreds.

Would Intel have these in their official communities? Microsoft? Apple?

Even if they do not, Cisco is entitled do differently but always keeping an eye on maintaining a classy "Corporate Image" all the time.

[marikakis]

That is definitely a valid way to view the situation. Another view might be the following: Since many members use the site to advertise (directly or indirectly) their consulting services and consulting firms, I guess cisco could also use their own site to advertise their own products and partners, since they are also paying for the maintenance of the site.

[Leo Laohoo]

I would like to offer my deepest thanks to the developers for Opera and Firefox for the ability to block ads I don't like. 

[Anthony Walters]

adblocker plus!!!

[Tom Yoritaka]

All,

Thank you so much for your input!

Our intent is with the ads is to deliver contextually relevant information to our users.  We're experimenting w/ different approaches.  We will continue to mix both AdSense ads & Cisco's own ads.

We're monitoring the ads carefully to ensure they enhance the user experience - and not subtract from it.

Are these text ads detrimental to how you use the site?  Does this affect your perception of Cisco in any way?

Tom Yoritaka, Director, Cisco Support Community

[Leo Laohoo]

Hello Tom,

 Are these text ads detrimental to how you use the site?

Not really because I can block out ads if I wanted to.  I observed that without "legitimate" ads, I wouldn't know what new products are being rolled out by Cisco.  I'd prefer seeing Cisco-related ads.

Please don't put ads/surveys (or java scripts) which blocks the main view because that's one of my pet peeves (and it makes the website look "desperate").

(However, I don't image to see a Google ad advertising the new Juniper ranges.)

Does this affect your perception of Cisco in any way?

Like I always say, people react differently to change.  You'll probably get a tirade but people will get used to it.

[marikakis]

Hi Tom,

I've done various different jobs so far, so sometimes you won't be hearing just my personal opinion in some matters, as was probably the case above. In my world advertising would be on demand, but I understand its usefulness and I try to be realistic. It takes many people to produce and sell a product and you need both to have a business that survives, so I can't say the existence of ads in the site changes my perception about cisco (or any other business) and you might have the chance to be the first to have advertisements in your forums in a manner that doesn't disturb regular users.

I've seen a Google ad in the site that buys/sells cisco, juniper, extreme and nortel (aliter networks). But maybe, just maybe, this demostrates how open minded and confident cisco is.

I would personally prefer the ads to stay at a higher level in the navigation of the site. To be more specific, I would like the ads not to appear on the right side of the page when a user views a thread. I find that this kind of disturbs my focus. But maybe I will get used to it.

And as I said previously, I prefer ads that look somewhat elegant as was the case with the cisco ads.

Kind Regards,

Maria

[Tom Yoritaka]

Thank you all for your follow-up comments.  Much appreciated!

Pls keep your commentary coming - positiive, neutral & not-so-positive.

How are the ads affecting how you use the site (if that's the case)?  Are they changing how you see Cisco or Cisco Technical Support?  Can the ads be helpful?  Etc.

Tom Yoritaka

[marikakis]

Hi Tom and all,

Glad to be of some help here. Doesn't CSC already generate revenue for cisco and people that work behind the scenes use metrics to analyze that?

There exists now a capability to open TAC SR's from within CSC. There are many more TAC engineers participating now in all the sections. If members can advertise their consulting services within the site, I can't see why cisco can't advertise its own products and services here, since cisco sends so many engineers out in the forums and also maintains the site. Unless we all agree that the members should not advertise their consulting services within the site either. I guess the border between private/corporate and public/customer has already changed in CSC and I would expect to see advertisements in CSC in a similar manner that happens when I go to cisco.com. (BTW: Very nice advertisements in cisco.com homepage lately and I like the new look of the site very much). The old NetPro site was within cisco.com and there were advertisements around, but I don't recall anyone complaining about that. Nobody complained about the cisco ads that have been around in CSC for months now, so it seems to me that that all members so far, and for their own reasons, specifically dislike the google ads, but not advertising in general within the site, right?

Unless there is some response from cisco that all advertisements will go I will assume from now on that at least the cisco ads stay and see how these can be helpful in some way. I personally like advertisements about networkers, conferences, and other educational material (e.g. books). You had such cisco ads around for some time (e.g. networkers). You also have a blog post advertising a book about NX-OS. You could do a similar thing in cisco ads and adjust it for each specific section depending on the context. (BTW: I hope you didn't post that blog post because I somewhere said I've never heard about NX-OS, because I already had that book. I said I've never heard and not never read about it ). I also like certifications material related advertisements. Many people that come to CSC are interested in configuration/troubleshooting, architecture/design, etc., so I guess you could also make the cisco ads point to related material and advertise your products as a side-effect, while also assisting members to learn to use your products. These are my ideas so far about how cisco ads can be helpful.

Kind Regards,
Maria

[marikakis]

Hi Tom,

I just saw that you have made some changes to the google ads and they look much better. I guess I won't totally love them, but maybe I can learn not to hate them. They also now integrate better with the overall look of CSC.

Kind Regards,

Maria

[Tom Yoritaka]

Maria - thank you for the comment

We're going to be trying different formats to see what makes most sense.

Pls keep checking & giving us feedback!

Tom Yoritaka

[marikakis]

Hi Tom,

You have either reached perfection from an appearance perspective with the google ads or are close to it as far as I am concerned. The only thing that separates the google ads from their surroundings is an underlining and perhaps a slightly darker blue color (or at least I think so, hope my eyes are not mistaken). This makes them noticeable, but not too noticeable. I also don't have a problem now with the ads on the right while viewing a thread. Trying things seems to pay off, so I'm now curious how much better you can make those google ads look. I'm also looking forward to seeing some cool looking cisco ads pointing to useful for me and everybody content.

Kind Regards,

Maria

[Rob Huffman]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for weighing in here

I don't think anyone will say that having these ads actually affects their use of CSC, it's

more of a "perception" thing. As Paolo nicely noted, I don't think the "big" players like

Apple, Microsoft or Intel would push this type of advertising on one of their Main support

sites. It comes across as cheap and Micky Mouse (no offense Micky ) and kind of desperate!

CSC should not become another revenue generator for Cisco. I think there are plenty of venues

available for Sales related advertising. CSC should be left as a pure support site, where people

visit to work on technology related issues, without being bombarded with these ads. They have not

migrated to the Voice Forums where I live as of yet (thankfully) and I hope they never do.

Just my 2 cent$ Tom.

Thanks for listening.

Cheers!

Rob