If I’m already paying to receive a publication, why should I have to deal with these annoying ads asking me to subscribe? I’m already a subscriber… and an agitated one.

Publishers generate a decent number of new subs from the inserts in existing subscribers’ magazines. Eliminating these inserts would cost them money. Plus, some think it would be difficult to separate subscriber’s issues from newstand issues when printing and binding.

To offset these costs, I would be willing to pay a 10% premium to not get inserts. Would you be willing to cough up some extra dough to avoid these pesky ads?

However, I’ve begun to rethink whether targeted advertising is a good idea, thanks to the ads on Twitterrific. When I decided to try Twitterrific I had the intention of buying the ad-free version if I liked it enough. I love Twitterrific but I don’t plan to make this purchase because, can you believe it, I actually like the ads.

Twitterrific’s users tend to be tech-saavy web users. Marketers advertise on Twitterrific mainly to reach “creative, web and design professionals” and the ads I’ve see thus far are for stuff I’m actually interested in. Below is a screenshot of some ads I’ve seen lately.

In order for us to enjoy all the free online services, we must endure the advertising that pays for it. But, online advertising is so poorly done that I’ve been trained to ignore ads on the web at all costs. If the ads were more geared towards my interests, however, I’d be more likely to pay attention or even take action. Twitterrific’s ad-serving partner, the Deck, has achieved this. I pay attention to their ads because I usually find something interesting or discover a cool company I didn’t previously know about.

Now I’m not saying I want my surfing habits tracked in order to get better ads. But, if there was another way to achieve this without invading my privacy (opt-in surveys?), I think I might view advertising in a whole new light.

Auto-detect location

Given the relative ease possibility of determining a user’s geographical location via IP address, why doesn’t the site auto-detect your location and show your city’s weather on the homepage? Why make the user enter their city/ZIP code to get the information they want? I’m tired of repeatedly having to enter 30308 to get Atlanta’s weather. Yes, I could use their tiny, poorly-located “Save Location” button to cookie my city, but as I travel, I’d rather have the site immediately display the weather in my current location.

Distractions

It seems Weather.com has lost its mission and its understanding of what most people are looking for when visiting a weather site. They’ve put too much emphasis on peripheral services and promos, like golf/skiing guides and travel services, and made it hard for us to get what we really want: current weather, hour-by-hour and 10 day forecasts, and satellite and radar maps. Instead, they’ve buried the good content among a pile of useless services, promotions and advertisements.

It seems Weather.com is still playing the pageview game, even though advertisers and traffic measurers have given up on it. Weather.com is hiding their content in order to boost ad impressions, thereby increasing revenues. This tactic has probably worked for some time and may continue to work simply because they own the weather.com domain. Yet, their missteps may soon lead to a bolt for newer, better weather services (see Other weather sites below).

They’ve even gone so far as to hold back some good content and services behind a paywall, clearly showing an ignorance of the movement to free content. NYTimes is now free as are many others, with the WSJ being one of the last holdouts. In this age of free information, I find it astonishing that Weather.com would require me to pay to get basic weather information and services. Gold, Weather.com’s subscription service, allows you to customize the page, access up to 11 cities weather at the same time, and access the larger interactive radar/satellite map. Would you pay $25 for this?

Design and layout

The site’s design is in dire need of a face-lift. Not only is the design lacking, but it’s cluttered with ads. In fact, nearly half the page is either an ad or a promotion for Weather.com or a partner. (Click for a larger image; green=ad or promo; red=content I don’t want)

Instead of throwing all these ads at the user, why not charge a higher CPM by presenting only one 300×250 ad and then give the user the content they want right up front? Yes, revenues may initially fall by reducing the number of ad placements, but I strongly believe that by creating a better user experience, traffic and revenues would eventually increase as users that Weather.com drove away return to the site.

The one good thing

Yes, I had to find one good thing. Weather.com recently upgraded their radar map widget to be much more interactive, ala Google Maps. It’s a pretty neat flash widget, but they’ve limited it’s size (500px wide) and don’t allow you to embed it on your blog or website. To get a larger map you have to pay for the Gold subscription.

Other weather sites

Savvy web users found better weather sites long ago (I use SimpleWeather) and I suspect average users are beginning to as well. If NBC doesn’t whip the site into shape, it might not be long before Weather.com is overtaken by a crafty upstart. What do you use to get your weather data?

I would only add that the people I follow in my community and beyond provide much information only on Twitter. I’ve learned about new products (Dash), services (FriendFeed), and events (Startup Riot) only because of my Twitter feeds. I’m on Twitter because it gives me much more information and helps me keep up on what’s going on. It’s become an essential service to stay connected and informed in the digital age.

As a way of saying thanks, I decided to lend my design skills to help Lance’s blog become a little more appealing. Check it out, comments are always welcome.

Although these statistics could prove useful for the mall and it’s retailers, it is an obvious privacy concern. It will be interesting to see if the technology spreads or is imported to the states.

“The statistics show that there’s no effect on piracy,” says Rosenplatt. The article goes on to state “that most download stores will remove DRM on permanent music downloads” and that Apple will soon be “selling iPods preinstalled with unlimited access to music, or with a bundle to a subscription offering,” all with DRM-free music.

This means greater control for the consumer. We will have the choice of what we can do with music and what devices we can use to listen to our music.

As expected, I’m restricted on what I can say. However, I can tell you that the MSOs and telcos are facing some interesting hurdles and have big future plans for the consumer. I’m looking forward to helping make these plans a reality.

• 01 - Introduction
• 02 - 4 ways to fund a startup
• 03 - The venture equity cycle
• 04 - Picking the right investors
• 05 - Venture capital in the southeast
• 06 - Value drivers of a successful startup
• 07 - Other attractive elements of a startup
• 08 - Writing your business plan/presentation
• 09 - Seven deadly sins of business plans
• 10 - The VC meeting
• 11 - Developing your pitch