Searching for ways to increase click-through rate of your banner ad or affiliate link? Below are a few handful ads placement optimization suggestions that can help you to increase your CTR and conversion rate. Check them out
1. Use content in line placement instead of “default” ads placement
Studies show that the “default” banner ad placement are usually ignored as many web visitors started to become “immune” to ads that are placed this way. In other words, many netizens now experience “Ad Blindness” for ads with this placement; many unconsciously ignore your ads, causing a rather disappointing conversion rate. Let’s look at the recent study by Nielsen.
From the image above, you can see that most actions happen in the content area while the “default” ad placement area (such as the banner under the menu and the right sidebar) barely gets any attention. To overcome ad blindness, try using inline placement that incorporates your banner in between your content just like the example below. This will help to increase your CTR (click-through rate).
2. Hyperlink your text, instead of showing naked affiliate link
Showing naked affiliate link might not be a good choice because naked links are generally complex.
Instead of showing the affiliate link directly, try hyperlink your link into an actionable or related words. Actionable words are words that motivate your visitors to do something. Examples of actionable words are “click here”, “watch here” or “visit here”. Related words are “running shoes” which link to Nike’s website or “build online business” which links to Exabytes, for example.
3. Using Heatmap tools to determine active areas
Yes, heatmap just like Neilson did. You can do a research before copying what Neilson did because your website layout might be different. With a heatmap, you can determine which part of your website appears most engaging to your visitors. Next, you can place your banner or link at the most engaged area to increase your click-through rate. You could use Hotjar, a good and free heatmap tools that help you perform this analysis.
4. Showing the right banner at the right content
Have you noticed what I just did? Did you click on the link? Yes, showing the right affiliate link and banner in the right content will increase the click-through rate. For example, you can show an Adidas banner at your sports blog, or you can show your web hosting banner after the paragraph that talks about internet marketing. Not just content, showing the right banner and link on the related pages will also help to increase the click-through rate.
Last but not least, there are no one size fits all solutions for ad placement. The mot effective way to nail it is to do a lot of testing to find out which performs the best.
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