Experienced Internet marketers are aware that certain Internet marketing techniques are rapidly losing effectiveness and the focus has now switched from quantity to quality. Some examples: Advertising pop-ups, which in some cases, plunged to click through rates as low as 1%.
So, with overall Internet marketing activity and expenditure growing globally, what are the most effective techniques to promote your business online? The answer, again, comes as no surprise. Search engine visibility is still one the most valuable ways to market your web site on the web and achieve maximum return on your advertising dollar. Advertising banners continue to provide a valuable option to gain visibility and brand awareness. The question that follows is: "How to ensure the highest possible conversion rate once my online adverts are displayed?"
Some interesting research, conducted in the US, could help Internet marketers find an answer to these questions. Eyetracking, a specialised technology developed to record eye movement as a viewer looks at a designated target, has been applied to analyse the "hot spots" of online advertising and web site browsing with the objective to find the best possible placement for banners and ads.
The leading advertising agency, Ogilvy, has conducted research on behalf of some of the world's largest brands, and came to the following conclusions:
1) When visiting a web site, users observe certain adverts and avoid others, the difference is determined by the placement.
Some adverts get more viewing time than others. Eyetracking can be useful in understanding the effectiveness of branding advertising campaigns, by highlighting whether an advert has been observed (and absorbed) by a viewer, regardless of the click through rate.
The following examples show a heatmap indicating in the hot colours highest viewing percentages.
It is interesting to see how most users have focused on the editorial content of the page, avoiding the advertising on the left hand side of the page. Please note how on this page the navigation menu is unusually positioned on the right hand side, while advertising in displayed on the left. Research has showed that this type of positioning provides a higher visibility for advertisers.
The following table shows the results provided by the heatmap in relation to the banner's position.
Banner position |
Viewing % |
Left hand column |
68 |
Top |
55 |
Right hand column |
34 |
Bottom |
14 |
2. Design-Content contrast on a page can create a barrier to the viewing of advertising messages
The following snapshots show how, the more an advertising message is detached from the editorial content, by use of visual barriers such as borders, or empty spaces, the less viewing the advertising will receive.
In the snaphots above not many users have looked at the advertisement on the bottom right hand corner, and in the second example the viewing rate dropped even further due to the use of a border around the advert.
3. Advertisement banners that match the look and feel of a web page gain more visibility.
Eyetracking showed how adverts that stand out the most from the context of any editorial content, get the lowest viewing percentages. Where traditional advertising wisdom told us that the bigger and brighter your advert, the more visibility you would get, web sites have an added variable to the mix, which is content and it would seem that in order to get more visibility the best strategy is to blend with the editorial content.
4. Size matters too
The following table shows visibility % in relation to the size of a banner
Dimensions (pixels) |
Viewing % |
160 x 800 |
68 |
722 x 72 |
60 |
468 x 60 |
53 |
160 x 105 |
39 |
184 x 90 |
35 |
200 x 200 |
24 |
The next table shows how an advert of smaller size, but placed in the middle of an editorial content gets more views than an isolated half page ad.
Ad type |
% of users who viewed the advert |
Mid page (within content) 300 x 250 |
56% |
Skyscraper 160 X 800 |
44% |
Half page 368 x 850 |
38% |
Standard banner top page 468 X 60 |
12% |
Small banner (right column) 184 X 90 |
8% |
Standard banner bottom page 468 x 60 |
3% |
More from Domainz July newsletter:
 Web marketing information July 2006
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