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Get more clicks on your online ad
How do you maximise your online ads click through rate or recall? Simple: you make your advert relevant, appropriate and, of course, visually appealing. But that is very often harder than it sounds, writes Francois Vorster.
A common problem is advertisers who want more bang for their buck in terms of a higher click through rate on their ads, more leads and ultimately, more customers. (For this discussion, we will leave out brand equity, but include brand recall and awareness.)
Let us break the solution into three areas: size and type of online ad, content and colour, and finally, when and where it runs.
Ad type and its position
Looking at a few websites, you will see a plethora of ads, banners and buttons of varying size and functionality. Some are simply flashing images, some are little stories and some are interactive games or forms. For a basic branding campaign, simple and flashing works, but for an ad you want people to click on, one needs to make it a bit more interesting.
South Africans tend to read from left to right and from top to bottom, so firstly ensure your ad is above the page fold (a person must not have to scroll down the page to have to see your ad). Prime locations are also generally better.
In Google adwords, the top three sponsored links get the highest click through rate. They account for more than 80% of the clicks, generally leaving the other 10-plus results on the page to fight for the remaining clicks. And that is usually after a person has clicked on one of the first three and then not found what they were looking for.
So big is not necessarily better, but being first is better.
Content and colour
This is the most important factor. Relevance rules and if targeted correctly, your ad will work extremely well.
Selling car finance, sell it on a motoring site. Selling professional services, sell them on search engines on relevant keywords. Selling a general product, then simply buy space on any site at a low CPM (cost per 1 000 ads) rate.
A few years ago, I wrote my dissertation on content and colour and what worked in online ads, and my results were the following:
• On Ananzi – Blue ads worked the best
• On Mweb – Orange ads worked the best
• On MSN – Red ads worked the best
• On the Media 24 sites – Blue once again worked the best
My sample size was over 10 million ads, and the other factor that was significant was the call to action in the ads.
As an example, text in the ad saying “So click now for more info”, or “Get more – click here” can work well. An ad saying “Click here for money” gets few clicks, but an ad saying “Entrepreneurs find opportunities” gets many clicks. So it is all about relevance in your wording.
Here is a real-world analogy: why are electronic goods usually silver or black? Those colours create a perception of quality, even though the item is generally made from plastic.
Use professionals in the online field because they can create relevance and attraction in your ads that tie up to you business needs – be they clicks, exposure, top of mind awareness or merely getting new customers.
Time and location
This simply means being at the right place at the right time on websites. Ideally, you want to be standing in front of a potential customer just when they have decided they would like to get a product such as the one you offer, and you want to be at the head of the queue in front of your competitors.
People surfing during office hours are usually in a different mindset to when they are surfing in the evenings, so would you ad more likely be clicked on during office hours or after hours?
Would you advertise an IT consulting service on a kid’s website or on a professional website such as "Leadership"?
Facebook and other social networking sites are great to target specific groups, so are Ananzi, Google and other search engines.
In conclusion, choose the website that interacts with your target market first (or an area of that site, such as search results or groups), then create a relevant ad. You can use humour, shock or merely a great colour to have people notice your ad. Finally, place it well so people see you first and start thinking of you first.
So spend a bit more time on the actual ad itself because it will pay dividends.
If you would like some new thoughts or ideas on what you are currently doing, or can do, e-mail me on
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or visit www.solarstorm.co.za or call me on 011 0234 369 (Skype francoisv100).
Stay cool, stay focused and start practising on your vuvuzela, as 2010 has finally arrived!
