Forum Moderators: martinibuster
On my site we have been using adsense in the fom of skyscrapers since launch. The design of the site unfortunately would not allow us to use the leaderboard.
However the CTR has been dropping a lot especially of late. We have decided to change the skyscrapers back to other colorful ads and include adsense in the form of inline rectangles. We hope this way it easily attracts the attention of the user once he finishes the article.
Now the question is whether to make the rectangle invisible so that only the ad is visible. With the background same as that of web page and border invisible. Perhaps the reader would think this part of article and go through it. Or would it be better to use other attractive colors which would make the user feel tht this is an ad?
basically do ads that blend in work better then those who dont?
If you leave your ads until the reader finishes an article they are probably below the fold and the reader is much less likely to see them let alone click on one of them.
Again should i blend it in? all others, your experiences please.
ADD In:
I should add to the above that I am more concerned about the transparency and legitimacy of my sites than the CTR or EPC etc.
Of course the revenue is important but I want it to be clear they are ads.
I think it is possible to do both. I have definitely found that using the blending in technique works better for me. I've tried both approaches.
I also think from a visual standpoint, it makes a site look better. Suddenly, if you look around on the web, you'll notice sites have far less flashing banners and other clutter, a welcome sign in my opinion.
The ads have the "Ads by Google" disclaimer on them, so it should be clear they are ads anyway. I usually place them under an "Advertisements" heading just to make it clear to users. I think by this point, the Google Ads are pretty universal, so most people know about them anyway.
If Google felt setting up the ads with the look and feel of your site were bad, they wouldn't offer the customization feature in the first place. As long as you follow their guidelines and run your campaign in a honest manner, you should be fine.
However, I prefer these ads to come at the bottom of the page....after my main content...
W.
Each web page can display AdWords ads in one of four formats: a horizontal banner, a vertical skyscraper, a horizontal leaderboard, or an inline rectangle (one per page). After choosing one or more color palettes, select an ad layout, and copy-and-paste the code into your web pages. For better results, we suggest that you display the ads towards the top of the page so your users will see the ads without having to scroll down.
I personally even if i see an ad which attracts me, first would like to go through the page; the first reason why i came ehre was to read the contents and then return to the ad. Many times I forget to do that. I feel an ad at the bottom would make it easier for the user to click as he has already made up his mind about the product by then.
I am of the personal opinion that the ads should look like ads. I fear that if I were to make them blend in too much people may feel that they are links to within my site and click them without realising they are ads. This could put them off from returning as some may take it as misleading.
I have blended the AdSense skyscraper creative in with my site colors, and I don't think I've suffered at all. My traffic continues to increase at the same rates, month after month, and my AdSense clicks increases by the same rate.
When I first blended the creative, my CTR increased amazingly, by 1,000%. Since then it has dropped to about 800%, which is probably due to my regular visitors learning not to click on them!
I think visitors understand that that most websites need advertising funds to keep their operations going, and don't mind, even if a link looks deceptively like a navigation link. It's when you bombard them with pop-ups and Gator installs that make them go away.
