Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Let's say you had a website dedicated to computer programming and web design vs. a site for 70 year old people (no disrespect meant here. Just an example)
Do you think that the site dedicated to older people would generate more clicks because the users aren't as familiar with the web and the computer?
It seems as though the people who are on the net more often get "blind" to ads, and don't click as much.
Any thoughts?
While 'newbies' may be more gullible that more seasoned visitors, they are also more cautious and more suspicious.
And what makes you think 'newbies' are going to spend time at such sites? They could be anywhere .... even here!
Spooky!
Seriously, there's so many variables, that it would be unwise to gamble on that basis. I'd argue, for example, that a plain vanilla site with few ads and no gimmicks would give new folk confidence, that might lead to more clicks. But who knows?
Business people (I don't have the stats but I would guess that web professionals are least likely to click on ads; sometimes when I see an ad and I like the website I often just type their URL rather than click on the ads because I know that I am not going to buy anything from them but just want to check it out) are rarely in shopping mode and ads don't fit into what they are doing.
So when you develop your website, keep these issues in mind.
This was just a thought that came into my mind today, but do you think certain website topics generate more clicks because of the "nature" of the users?
Sure, because some topics are geared to people who are researching ways to spend their money, and some aren't. This reality was expressed in production-company guidelines from The Travel Channel that I saw a few years ago. The guidelines stated: "Our viewers aren't interested in travel--they're interested in watching television."
But there's more to it than that. If a category is oversaturated with publishers, leading to an epidemic of junk ads, it stands to reason that users are more likely to suffer from "ad blindness" (or perhaps "ad suspicion") than in a category where ads tend to be relevant and for legitimate businesses.
Audience turnover may be another factor--and by "audience turnover," I mean in the category, not just on a specific site. It's easy to imagine that dealer ads for mainstream consumer digital cameras might do better than dealer ads for high-end professional and "prosumer" cameras, for example, because serious amateurs and professionals are likely to have favorite (and well-established) dealers while the person who just wants a pocket camera to snap photos of a new baby may be more interested in an ad that promotes "Widgetco Camera Discounts" or "Whatsit WS-1 on Sale."
