Re: ONLINE-ADS>> How to SELL web advertising

Frank Lee (flee_at_tpgi.com.au)
Fri, 01 May 1998 13:29:21 +1000

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Nick Usborne wrote:

> Off-line experience in writing and design has demonstrated time and time
> again how sensitive response rates can be to very minor changes - two or
> three words, one colour etc.
>
> So my question is - how come so many commercial web sites ignore everything
> that has been learned by so many people?

I've asked this question a number of times. But I've also asked another
- how much of what we've learned off-line actually applies to the online
world? For example, when IBM first introduced the PC back in
80-whatever-it-was, they introduced it with a green on black monitor.
Not because of a whim, but after a great deal of testing on what was
easiest on the user's eyes. Now the quality and resolution of monitors
has improved immensely since then, but research still indicates that the
paper-imitating black type on a white background is still extremely
tiring on a users eyes on a screen. A monitor, after all, is a light
emanating medium rather than a light reflecting one.

Even the issue of whether serif type is easier to read on a monitor with
its 72 or 75 dpi resolution is open to doubt, although there is no doubt
at all in the print world.

I don't know the answer to these questions, as I haven't yet managed to
wangle the funding to pursue the research, but I do think the questions
need to be asked. And I don't think we can automatically translate what
we know works in the dead tree world to the online environment.

Until then, the only thing you can do is test, test, test.

Regards,

frank

--
Frank Lee. Interactive Strategist, IBM Australia Ltd.
Member: Aust.DM Assc., Market Research Soc. of Aust., Web Consultants
Assoc., HTML Writers Guild, Internet Professionals Association.
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/franko


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