Forum

[mark schaaf]

I have read a number of times about a web marketers problem called banner blindness in which people read the article but don't seem to see the little banner to the right to click on or even an half page banner from what I have been told. My question is has anyone done any studies or research on whether moving the banners to the left side of the site pages and moving all the print to the right makes any difference. I have been getting more traffic to my site but don't seem to get many more clicks to the sites I have banners for which is for sales. I was thinking since people read from left to right that maybe if i move everything to the opposite side of the page would force them to see the banners. It would take a lot of work to move everything from one side to the other and I am willing to do it if I know it will make a difference.

 

[wollowra]

Hi Mark,
I honestly think it is a matter of testing.
Personally I put longer banners on the right and any square banners or ads on the right and bottom of the page, but if you feel the need to put them on the left to test them, then go for it. But, as you said.. it will be a lot of work, so you would have to weigh up the plus's/minuses of doing this.
Maybe do this on half your sites pages and track the results.
Or maybe do this on a new blog.

Regards
Troy

 

[michellerana]

Banner blindness does not mean your banners were not seen because they were not obvious. Placing arrows pointing to your banners will not help at all.

Banner blindness means people ignore your ads because they are in the shape of a banner. This was actually discussed in Affiloblueprint. People don't look at banners, basically because they don't like being sold. You should strive to make your ads NOT look like ads. Studies say that it can also be an issue of the ads being different from the standard site content.

To get more clicks, the ads should look as similar as possible to your site. You could incorporate them into the body of your article. Place them in the middle or at the bottom of an article.

Square banners don't fall into the 'banner blindness' category as people click on them. Use the square ones about the size you'd normally see in a news article. People are used to paying attention to them.

 

[PECO]

Banner blindness does not mean your banners were not seen because they were not obvious. Placing arrows pointing to your banners will not help at all.

Banner blindness means people ignore your ads because they are in the shape of a banner. This was actually discussed in Affiloblueprint. People don't look at banners, basically because they don't like being sold. You should strive to make your ads NOT look like ads. Studies say that it can also be an issue of the ads being different from the standard site content.

To get more clicks, the ads should look as similar as possible to your site. You could incorporate them into the body of your article. Place them in the middle or at the bottom of an article.

Square banners don't fall into the 'banner blindness' category as people click on them. Use the square ones about the size you'd normally see in a news article. People are used to paying attention to them.

Well said Michellerana, using those techniques are popular this time but inciting pity sense.

 

[BinaryHaiku]

If you already have a decent amount of traffic to the site, you could do some A/B testing and find out which is better before making a permanent change.