The Most Effective Place for Ads
In general, in what position are the ads when you click on them? What do you usually click on? (text link ads, banners, in-text ads, etc.)
Let’s look at some details…
The F Shaped Heat Map Theory
Left to right: “about us” section of a corporate website (far left), an ecommerce product page (center), and search engine result (SERP; far right).
This heatmap shows the way people read webpages. The reddish parts are the most/first read, and fading into blue. Notice that they are in a distinct F shape.
The way you position your ads depends on how you are paid… Per click? Per view? Per month? Per click means you get a certain amount of money for each click. That is the way affiliate programs such as Adsense and Bidvertiser work. Per view means you are paid a certain amount of money for every number of views the banner gets. If you are paid $1 per 100 page views, you would get $10 for 1000 page views. Per month means you get a certain amount of money no matter how many clicks the ad gets.
Position Your Ads
If you are paid per month/view, you will need to write very good blog titles to capture your reader and not let him/her wander away. The first two to three paragraphs should capture the reader.
The most effective place for banners (standard size) usually would be right before your main content. That is the place where people usually look before they read your content; to “anylyze” your layout, etc.
If you are paid per click, try to follow the heatmap theory; which is somewhat accurate. More details on the heatmap at Jabob Nielsen’s site. You will want to put your ads near the reddish parts in the heat map.
My Adsense ads are usually before, after, or in the cut of a post. The cut of a post is a good place to put ads, as the reader views the ad when he/she is interested in your post.
Comment posted by Weekend Links 06/15
at 6/15/2007 2:58:56 AM
[…] Grace discusses the most effective place for ads. […]
Comment posted by LISTIKAL
at 6/19/2007 3:02:45 PM
I really need to dig deep and figure out ways of getting better CTR. I’m getting quite a few page views now, but am still not making much money through Adsense.
July 29th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
[…] NeonScent - This is a great blog by Grace about blogging, blog promotion, and much more web-related information, and she also is listing all the blogging tips from the recent meme. Great post by Grace: The Most Effective Place for Ads […]
February 18th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Nice post…I’ve never known about the reading webpages map before…Anyway, this is very interesting and very useful! A must reading for web site or blog owner.