NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Mechanical Clicks
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Mechanical Clicks
Donna Dolezal Zelzer (djz_at_efn.org)
Sun, 1 Jun 1997 22:25:22 -0700
At 1:48 PM -0500 5/29/97, Sam Alfstad <answers_at_e-land.com> wrote these
words of wisdom:
>click-through rates are dropping.
> We see several reasons for the decline:
>
> 1.
> The Thrill Is Gone
> 2.
> More Directed Traffic
> 3.
> Banneritis
Sam,
In my personal experience, all three reasons apply. When banners first came
on, I clicked them out of a sense of adventure and curiosity, but I soon
learned that not only was I mostly taken to sites I wasn't interested in,
but that sometimes bad things happend (re your third point). And I
generally am online for special reason(s) and really don't have time to be
clicking on banners just for the fun of it.
A brand new form of online advertising might bring the thrill back for a
bit, but it's bound to get stale again. Perhaps advertisers would be best
advised to work on reasons 2 and 3. Some thoughts:
Reason 2: Really targeted banners (both in terms of the sites they are on
and what they say) are going to have a much better chance of working, since
they relate to what the person is online to do.
Reason 3: First of all, none of those mysterious banners that don't give
you the slightest idea of what the site is about. I only click on those
when I really have nothing better to do with my time. If a company can't be
bothered to tell me what their site is about and/or why I should visit it,
I can't be bothered to visit.
Also, be honest in the banners. Don't mislead people just to get them to
click (what's the point? They're just going to leave anyway, if it's not
what they expected.)
Make the page the banner leads to simple and fast-loading. Make it clear
upfront who you are and what's on the site (all home pages should be like
this anyway).
If the banner was pushing something special, make sure a link to that
special offer is right up there and easy to find as soon as they click.
It's highly frustrating to click on a banner because you _are_ interested,
and then have to search and search to find the offer that brought you in.
Yes, I know in retail stores they often put the advertised specials in the
back of the store so you have to walk through the whole store to get to
them, but I really don't think this applies online. For one thing, the
store will usually have a big sign that you can see from the front, so you
at least know where to go. A link to the specials on the home page is the
equivalent of that sign.
Donna
---------------------
Donna Dolezal Zelzer <djz_at_efn.org>
The Online Birth Center (pregnancy, birth, midwifery, breastfeeding)
http://www.efn.org/~djz/birth/birthindex.html
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