Ad Placement for Performance

[Dating Port]

This is a study on how ad performance is affected by placement. It's very informatitve:

http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack...dvertising.htm

Feel free to share your comments.

DP

[maartenvr]

Allright...I will share my comments. Just give me a few weeks cause that is a lot of reading for someone who just "web scrolls"!

Looks very interesting though from what I hav read so far!!!

[lo0ol]

That's a fantastic article. The heatmaps are incredibly interesting to look at. I'm going to reread it in a little bit so I can read it with a bit more clarity; I'll post more then.

[aspen]

Great read. No surprise about the boxes in articles doing well -- but I was surprised about the left side being so much more favored than the right side. I would like to see more trials with different page layouts though.

[Dating Port]

Aspen wrote:

I would like to see more trials with different page layouts though.

I agree. Although the study is very observant in what was tested, technology has advanced at a much greater pace and a more indepth study into layouts, ad borders, page background color, and other variables is needed to really get a handle on what works and what doesn't. I certainly has made some points and I'm looking over my sites with a fresh eye.

DP

[eXaion Networks]

I think this study helps a lot for advertisers wishing to capture more the visitor's eyes.

Also, it may help a publisher on ad placement.

But I'm thinking, 46 people, is that enough?
What Internet backgroud does each have, I mean, someone new to Internet and browsing must see thing differently than a Professional who knows how to look for information right?

I think we need a larger sample group and have the study be made on a longer session, perhaps monitoring everyday surfing of each participant for one week. it would be more accurate I believe but again, we are increasing the number and length of the experiment.

At last, I believe different type of sites would yield different results, what about a site which sole purpose is to deliver Desktop Wallpapers or perhaps Forums!

My Opinion, I hope it helps!

[m0n5t3r]

wow, that's a lot of info to chew

[samson]

thanks for that website, I know I'll be reading there frequently

[absolution]

That's a great article!

[mdew_junkie]

Just had a quick glance at the link and it seems to be a very intersting article.
Will have to spend some time tonight going through the whole thing.
Thanks.

[RogueNW]

Wow, that's alot of info to digest. I haven't gotten through it all yet myself. Thx for the link.
Those heatmaps are very interesting to say the least.

[lo0ol]

Originally Posted by aspen

I would like to see more trials with different page layouts though.

I would like to see more trials with my websites.

[ozgression]

FWIW, I've found placing advertising at the bottom of articles etc. performs better as they have finished finding what they need and are ready to go somewhere else.

[samson]

Originally Posted by lo0ol

I would like to see more trials with my websites.

[maxor]

Does this signal an end to right aligned navigation?

[eXaion Networks]

Originally Posted by maxor

Does this signal an end to right aligned navigation?

I don't think so, it seems that Text Ads on the right aligned worked well...unless I misread....

[KLB]

Hey mods we really need the reputation button turned back on so that we can give Dating Port some well deserved points. This was an awsome post.

I'll try to remember to give some reputation points when they turn it back on.

Thanks

[M. Johansson]

Fantastically interesting article. I almost unbelievable that this kind of data is availiable for free.

Originally Posted by ozgression

FWIW, I've found placing advertising at the bottom of articles etc. performs better as they have finished finding what they need and are ready to go somewhere else.

I reacted on that one as well. I can only explain it by the fact that the article only measures eye fixations, and not actual click-thru performance. While this data is very valuable, it can not be entierly relied on, as many eye fixations are not completely determinative of great performance. I would imagine that an interstial would get close to 100% eye fixations, but an extremely low CTR, because people tend to click ads only after they are done with the task they are doing at the moment.

I think this is an excellent oppurtunity to draw out the old AIDA formula. Any ad should follow the 4 steps of AIDA:

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

This article deals with the first two. Where % viewed is attention, and where # of eye fixations deals with Interest. The other two, which are much more complicated to accomplish, are not dealt with in the study.

[ultk]

Very eye opening

------
Kimble

Get a free Sydney fax number
Linux and Open Source

[Dating Port]

They do mention in the article (although I can't recall the page) that this is a springboard for future studies. This was mainly geared for news sites, being a journalistic site, and I hope they expand their studies to include other viewer interests.

DP

[tntcheats]

Well one issue immediately in my mind is that the layouts are different. Of course this causes confusion that ads in those areas will work on all layouts. However, IMHO it's just the fact that there is that text which attracts the user, it's not that ads do better there. However, I do suspect that if you learn where your visitors' eyes are attracted to the most on your specific page and put an ad there NOT CHANGING THE THING THERE but rather putting an ad nearby, you'll probably have the best CTR ratio.

[Dalgar]

Very interesting read. Thanks!

[lighter]

Very useful!!!!!

[Ronny]

Very interesting article, great reading! I love those heatmaps, and I was surprised by some of the findings and I hope to apply some on my new sites...

And it's also brought me some ideas for new threads, I will open them soon

[hpnadig]

very informative. very nice article, indeed. need some time to read it completelly. Bookmarking it for now