Is Your Prospect’s Security Program Blocking Your Message?
Did you know that some security and firewall programs are blocking many links—even text links? To some degree, they may even be blocking your own logo … or maybe even family pictures if they are certain image size.
“OK,” you’re thinking, “that shouldn’t be too big of a problem for a workaround.” Think again. “Blocked” means erased, wiped out, invisible. And all that’s left is a blank white spot where banners or text links should have been, making your site look poorly written or poorly proofed. And that detracts from your brand.
Let’s get one thing straight: it doesn’t just block ads, it strips the source code out of the page. And here’s the reason: the software default is set to block ads! And that means your customers can’t buy from you because there is no link!
Don’t be complacent. Even if you think there’s no problem, remember that nine out of 19 new notebooks shipped today are being shipped with the offending software. And since sales of notebooks have outstripped sales of desktops, what you didn’t perceive as a real problem is a real problem! And it’s happening now.
Now the problem gets worse (as if it could!). Some webmasters believe any company has the right to do what they want. After all, it is their software. Still, others contend choice is the key issue and that users should be allowed to block anything they wish.
Here’s the grey area: those who get their new notebook may not know how to change their default settings, so they leave them on. The result: content is blocked.
Ad blocking should be an option user can turn on. It should not be the default. And while Pop-ups are intrusive, and banner ads often take additional load time, text links should not be blocked.
What’s more, there should also be information alerting the new notebook user there may be blank spaces on websites and links and navigation may be missing or may not work properly due to the blocking features. Guess what? Nothing.
There have been instances where this particular software (that shares its name with a major salt company as well as a well-respected art museum), even went so far as to strip out family pictures, logos, navigation tools, banner ads or other images that didn’t happen to meet its standards.
Don’t get addled. There are potential software solutions. And there are online forums discussing action that could (and should!) be taken to protect your online revenues.
But make your webmaster aware. And it wouldn’t hurt to conduct some back-end focus group research to determine how many of your customers had problems. Because if they had a problem, you have a three-letter problem: R-O-I.