of the siteWhat's with all of the hot women and Google ads?
UPDATE: I am no longer in the book biz and I don't care if you look at ads, all of which I will replace. Get your fill of the ads and pics because I've had my fill of them and will remove them when I have time.
Q: What's with all of the hot women and Google ads on your site? Why did you add them?
A: Because I had to. The content in my other ER site (www.ERbook.net) is just as good as the information in this one, but it has few pictures to provide visual interest. People tend to spend more time on sites that appeal to the eye as well as the brain, so I must give people what they want. I'll continue this discussion in a minute, but first I'll explain why virtually every page on this site now includes at least one Google ad.
Ah yes, Internet ads. They clutter up pages, and everyone hates them. Right? I used to share that sentiment, but I belatedly realized that Google does a good job of targeting ads to the page content. Therefore, if you are interested in the page's content, there is a good chance that the ads would interest you, too. Many of them intrigue me, and beneficially supplement the information on my pages.
There's just one problem: most people never see the ads, because they reflexively ignore them. For all of its success, Google could be phenomenally more successful if it could somehow get people to just look at their ads! Google employs an army of brilliant people, but to my knowledge, none of them have yet conceived a way to erase the habitual tendency for people to ignore 99% of the ads they encounter.
How about this?
Or this?
Perhaps this?
Or this one?
Or countless other possible pleas to ask people to at least look at the ads. No one wants you to click them unless they genuinely interest you, but if you or someone doesn't click the ads, publishers like me have no incentive to offer freely accessible web pages. I would be willing to offer all of my information free if my web sites could pay for themselves via advertising. However, after earning a whopping $0.00 in the past few days, you can understand why I must charge for some of my books. I've devoted several years of 100-hour weeks generating my books and web sites, and it takes several thousand dollars per year to pay for the related expenses.
I have a mountain of interesting info that I would be willing to post on the Web, but I cannot afford to take the time to do that until people stop ignoring ads. You would give your right arm for many of these tips, which cover topics that virtually everyone would love to know. For example, many people who visit this site aspire to become doctors. While I give many tips to help increase your academic success, I could also explain what you could do to learn more information in less time so you had more free time for your friends, family, and other fun. That's just one of the thousands of topics I could write about that would make your life better than you ever dreamt possible.
I realize that some of you revere what I write and would do anything to help me, so I have a request: Please don't click an ad unless it truly piques your interest. Don't click many ads per day thinking that you will help me. You won't. From what I've read, Google doesn't credit sites that post their ads when the number of clicks per day from any one computer exceeds a certain number. Google doesn't divulge that number, but it is safe to say that it is above one and probably less than ten. When I think of my own Google usage history as one searching for content rather than providing it, I know that I don't click any Google ads on most days, whereas when I am actively looking for something that is commercially available, I might click several ads occasionally, but most typically just a few.
A question I KNEW I would eventually receive . . .
Q: Hi Dr. Pezzi,
I really love your website. You help everyone, unlike other doctors. I congratulate you on that, but there is something that bothers me: I haven't seen any colored women in the ads on your sites. There are many gorgeous Asian-American, African-American, and Indian-American women. I would like to see more colored women on your website. If you do that, they will feel more involved in your site.
A: I completely agree with you. For the record, I do have one Indian-American model on my site, and she is indeed very hot. An article in my blog includes a photo of a gorgeous African-American beauty queen.
Most of the model images on this site were purchased by me from a couple of stock photo sites. I can't purchase pictures that they don't offer for sale, and they tend to focus on Caucasian women. For example, I've spent weeks searching hundreds of thousands of photos, and I cannot recall seeing any Indian-American model other than the one mentioned above. I have seen many attractive Asian-American and African-American women, just not many unusually attractive ones on the stock photo sites I use (no one has time to explore them all). I would also like to include more pictures of handsome men of all races, but finding an especially attractive man on those sites is not easy. The picture shown below is typical of what I've found:
This picture seems to show a loving couple, but there is one thing about it that isn't very realistic. Can you guess what I am referring to?
The woman is very attractive. If she were on HotOrNot, she'd undoubtedly rate at least 9.5—I'd guess a 9.7 or so. The man is more attractive than average, but he's no 9-point-anything. In my opinion he looks better than me, but I'd rate him about 6.5.
Today's consumers are so used to seeing attractive models in various advertisements that those models are usually ignored unless the model is exceptionally attractive. So what do publishers like me who go days without making a dollar try to do? Find the hottest models, of course! I didn't create this preference for pulchritude, and frankly I think some of it is downright silly.
For example, more than a few Caucasians think their appearance is superior to other races that are darker. But many Caucasians want a tan because it makes them more attractive. In fact, many Caucasian women are willing to spend time and money in a tanning booth just for the sake of getting a temporary tan, even though doing that increases their risk of skin cancer and accelerates their skin aging. Therefore, despite what they SAY, I opine that many Caucasians think that more melanin is sexy. However, as I've discussed elsewhere, people tend to possess an innate xenophobia regarding people who are perceived as being outside their group. Personally, I think it is kooky to pick on melanin and use that as an excuse for shunning others, because I know I have far more in common with some blacks than some whites. Skin color is, or should be, irrelevant. What matters is commonality of ideas, hopes, dreams, goals, and attitudes. For instance, I like people who help others, and I can't understand folks who callously ignore people or animals who need help.
Your question seems to suggest that I share the “white skin is more attractive” bias. No, I don't. I've worked with some adorably cute nurses, but the most attractive one was black. I worked at one hospital where the female employees were so unusually beautiful that I wondered if the man who did the hiring was obsessed with beauty. The medical records department of that hospital was filled with hot women, but the most stunning one had a black father and Japanese mother. Coupled with her sweet personality, I couldn't help but smile every time I saw her, and eventually ask her out for a date. Decades later, I still smile when I think of her.
If you want to help me expand the diversity of photos on my sites, you could send me a link to a stock photo page showing an especially attractive person of color. Or if you are attractive and are willing to let me use your photo (and are willing to sign the necessary photo release), please contact me. I would much rather use pictures of "real people" than models, but in the past decade, only a few people have submitted a picture (and most of them were for the beautiful woman in the ER contest).
Why not male models?
In addition to the difficulty of finding suitably handsome ones (see above) in appropriate poses or situations, “it is beautiful and elegant women who grace the advertisements for products of all kinds, from cars to detergent—not men.” That's just the way our culture is. I deplore discrimination based on appearance, but my websites are for you and others, not me.
Additionally, using male models makes me want to add a “that's not me” disclaimer, so not using men eliminates that problem. Some people jump to unwarranted conclusions, such as a visitor to my ERbook.net site who thought I was Noah Wyle, describing me as “absolutely beautiful” and “very eloquent.” Eloquent, maybe. Absolutely beautiful? Noah way! Absolutely ugly is more like it. Related article: My blog posting on narcissism discusses body dysmorphic disorder.
Message to Google, in case any of your employees reads this: There is yet another thing you could do to make your ads more appealing and successful. After carefully reviewing the information you provide to publishers who display your ads, it is clear to me that you aren't doing everything you could. Want to find out what it is? Contact me.
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