Banner ads have become less effective than text links over the past several years.
Chalk it up to banner blindness and banner burnout.
People visiting websites have become ‘trained’ to bypass banner ads. Some advertisers tried making their banner ads harder to ignore by adding movement or flashing. This seems to have made website visitors even more motivated to turn a blind eye.
Most website visitors look at sites in an F-shaped pattern.
In other words, they scan the masthead (the top of the F) and then go down and across the page where the content normally appears. (the stem and limb of the F)
Heatmaps from eyetracking studies show that the eye is drawn to areas on the web page that are not populated by ads. Website visitors seeking quick information do not allow themselves to be distracted by banner ads. Website visitors engrossed in reading an article are averse to looking away from it.
The heatmaps also demonstrate how website visitors ignore page elements that look like ads, even if they are not!
To combat banner blindness, make your ad look more like a component of the web page content and make sure the message is relevant to the information or subject that the website visitor sought.
Banner burnout is another issue to be wary about.
A study conducted by DoubleClick revealed that after four impressions banner ad click-through rates (CTR) drop from an average of 2.7% to less than 1%.
To combat banner burnout, prepare several ads and rotate them frequently.
By spending a little extra time on combating banner blindness and burnout, you should see better click-through rates – and a better return on investment.
More tips for better-performing banner ads
credits:
Image Space Media
useit.com
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