Have a look at the image below. It’s a screenshot from a relatively popular business website in Finland. I’ve marked the content in pink. Am I the only one to notice that there’s slightly too much noise in there in the form of advertisements and other widgets and gimmicks?

I’m sure they’ve managed to capitalise on the traffic very well with regard to media sales, but how sustainable is the traffic in the long run (or even in the short run)?

Money is important, there’s no doubt about that. However, I do feel there are some principles editors of websites should keep in mind. In this case the content becomes unfindable and thus makes the reader work twice as hard.

Then again – as an advertiser, I don’t see the website that appealing when there are about 10 other advertisements already grasping for the reader’s attention.