I just posted at the Blog Herald about how to design a great ad. I’d like to follow that up here with some further comments and examples for inspiration as we consider how to maximize the relatively small number of pixels and small share of a reader’s attention many blog ads receive. I’d like to focus on the 125px ad, since I find that size the most difficult to design given the shape and size, and the fact that these ads are very popular with bloggers right now.
Make them want to click
When designing any advertisement, one should remember standard advertising principles. One of the main things is to give your readers a reason to click or a “call to action”. For most sites just the name of the site with a picture will not be compelling enough.
Neat illustration, but no compelling reason for me to click. If was into drums… maybe, but I’d be disappointed, because the site is actually about blogging:
This one gives me a reason to click. I’m curious, I want to find out how I can save that kind of money on hosting:
Stand out from the crowd
So many of these ads look so similar. Same colors, same look, same shape…. boring. If you’re considering buying ad space on a site, check out the competition. Choose some unusual color or shape.
This ad looks just like every other ad you always see. It’s blue and black and boring:
Here are some ads that play with shape to stand out. The Cold Fusion ad uses color nicely as well- really pops out at you:
Be judicious with the use of animation
Some animation can be effective, but too much or too long is bad news. You’ll either annoy the reader or they’ll miss half your message. You only get like a nanosecond of a blog reader’s attention. Building in too many steps to your ad is a waste, and an ad that is too blinky is just annoying.
This ad uses one too many frames and the timing is off. I was curious until I had to wait 5 seconds to see what the next frame was. (The use of a sketched look is great though!):
Amazon does it right. Just enough animation to draw the eye, along with a simple message and a call to action:
Don’t get too wordy
I’ll never read more than a couple of lines on an ad, and especially if it’s a 125px ad, there’s just not room for that much text before it gets too small to be quickly legible. Don’t forget about using whitespace- even in a small ad.
Just terrible. Too much text and impossible to read in a glance:
The ad for PMetrics is just right: easy to read in one short glance:
If you want to see lots of ugly, blinky ads, you can check out the Banner Report site. There are some gems among all the bad ones though.
What do you think? Do you even see ads on blogs anymore? What causes you to click on an ad?
Randa – I love the comparisons! Great tips.
great read, Randa.
Honestly, I rarely click on the ads, unless it really manages to grab my attention. I noticed that I tend to be clicking more on those longer horisontal ads/banners than the small square ones. Oh, and I hate those annoying popup ads – you try closing them and end up clicking instead and taken off the site.
Also, I don’t like animated ads, no matter how cute they look.
We just designed a couple of ads for Babble Soft based on a last minute request from a partner. Hope we did a good job. We tried to emphasize the “try it free” aspect of our applications. And we wanted to make the images match some of the ones on our sites. I’ve started using one in my email signature.
Randa,
This is a very useful analysis of ads in general. Not only for advertisers but for affiliate marketers as well. When you have to choose from available creative to put on your site – you want to make the best choice.
Randa, very informative post I’d say. Thanks for your tips.
and photoshop to use.
Now let me just sit back and put my creativity(limited though)
True, you need to have attractive images ads on your site!
I used to go with text ads until someone told me to use only image ads. I noticed that the number of clicks really improved.
I can only hope that I’ll be able to get nice ads like the ones you showed here, so I can get an even better click rate!
Thanks for the post man!
That was great as I have just started advertising and this is a great way to show what works and what doesn’t work. Your other post on blogherald was great too
Thanks heaps.
I love it! I get so tired of ugly affiliate ads.
Hi Randa,
I appreciate your comments regarding all the ads you have included in your review (including mine). As you pointed out, the 125 square can be the most difficult because of the confined space.
You bring up a very interesting point with the way people advertise on the Web these days. Coming from an advertising background myself, I agree with you about the importance of including a call to action. However, I think that call to action is implied to some degree when considering a Web environment. I say that because we’ve grown accustomed to clicking on things we see. Much of it can go unnoticed, true, but it’s much easier to take that call to action when compared to a magazine ad, wouldn’t you agree?
From my point of view I believe the challenge rests with what the viewer finds “compelling”. Consider for a moment the logos for digg.com, cnn.com, yahoo.com, etc. Nothing in those that I find compelling either, yet they are some of the most successful brands you can find on the Internet. When you see them, you know what’s behind them. That’s the approach that I and many others (including yourself, it would seem) have taken.
Granted, this makes it even more challenging because we have to build the brand, so that eventually it becomes recognizable. Also consider the context in which the ad resided in. I don’t know if you found me on Entrecard or on another blog or two with that ad, but in any case the call to action was built in because it was within the context of “click me”. That in itself allowed for a larger canvas to work with, as it were, so as not to clutter up things.
Please don’t think of my response as a rant (even though I am a bit wordy at times
). I’m not offended in the least, and truly appreciate your comments. I just had an interest in your post and wanted to offer another point of view.
Great Dear..,
u gave a couple of reasons for me to change my ad
I got information about avertising web-sites.Actually,I have never thought about this.Interesting!
@Mark – I really appreciate your comments, and you make some good points about the call to action being implied, and the fact that even a poorly designed logo for instance, can end up being a good brand. Your site and your ad are both very well designed, and I like the way you’ve incorporated the drum with your brand.
My only point was that I would never actually click on that particular ad since it’s sort of a mystery as to what’s on the other side. I really thought it was something about drums, but when it turned out to be a blog I would be interested in reading- blogging tips, humor, current events, etc. I was surprised. I thought if only the ad had a little tag line that gave some info as to what the site was about, even in just my normal browsing I might have clicked on it, esp. since that drum illustration is so cool.
Anyway, thanks for your contribution here, and giving us some more to think about with regards to ads and branding!
Hehe…I agree that if I were a drum enthusiast the name of the blog would be perfect. But the name holds a different and more special meaning to me. I actually do have a tagline (“The beat of a different blogger.”) which I haven’t used in the latest iteration of my blog’s theme. That may not be distinguishing enough to indicate a blog other than drums, but I chalk it up to a “work in progress”.
Anyway, I’m glad you were able to visit me though and hope to see you around.
I have to say that some of those ads do pop, but, if you put too much animation in an ad – especially if there is more than one, the page quickly becomes cluttered and all can be lost in the shuffle. I think an ad has to get its point across in as few weords as possible.
[...] Next time you are looking to design an ad (or have one designed for you), check out Randa’s post on the anatomy of a great blog ad. [...]
You know, Randa, the common denominator for these banner ads that you like (other than the rather simple but effective design) is that they have a call to action….
I personally like Amazon’s the best and have to agree with you and their call to action is perfect…..START SHOPPING.
As far as clicking on ads, I rarely do. I am usually hunting for information and information only although I believe that I am in the “smart internet user” category meaning I don’t click on adsense ads or anything that will move me away from my goal.
As to whether someone who doesn’t really “do” the internet for anything other than reading email and the occasional online purchase, I don’t know. I think it is those people who would be better to survey as to understand how effective ads on blogs are.
Great article! I’m submitting it to bizSugar.
I think that all ad creative should start by making a 125px ad. If you can create an effective ad at that size, you’re on the right track for creating an ad at any size.
You know what? I didn’t realize how much the shape of the ad means. Looking at your irregular shapes honestly made me want to click them. This is brilliant!
Yours is an excellent post, with great but realistic information. It is true that only some motivated and interest creating ads are likely to be clicked by most of the viewers. It is upto the webmaster to make his posts so interesting as to make viewers stick longer and to make his ads well designed and with attractive message to get it clicked. Thanks for the information.
You did a great job comparing various examples of these ads. It has to be tough to be original, and yet come up with something effective to get the viewer to click.
On the personal side, I have come very adept at seeing a site without seeing the ads. It has to be a very good call to action to get my attention and get me to click.
I love it! I get so tired of ugly affiliate ads.
I personally like Amazon’s the best and have to agree with you and their call to action is perfect…..START SHOPPING.
This is GREAT advice
Thanks!
Thank you for this article. So more useful.
I added your blog to my bookmarks.
Best regards.
Hi Randa, Great post on advertising and ad design. Being in the affiliate marketing game choosing the right ad can have a huge affect on your sales. I do test using multiple ads and have found that 125 x 125 ads are not as effective as regular banner ads or skyscaper ads in pulling in clicks and conversions in my affiliate sales.
I have been a student of copy writing and now I am trying to combine graphics. So that I can be a more rounded designer. Your article has gone a long ways to help me understand how to integrate graphics with good copy. Your examples make things crystal clear.
Bill
Flagstaff Web design
Yours is an excellent post. I added your blog to my bookmarks.
What a post? It is very best for designing small ads for blogs site. Conveying more and effective matter in less time and space is developing trend over web. Thanks for such nice work.
You gave me a necessary information, I`m going to use it, thanks a lot.
Nice, I’m curious though, what are your opinions on ads that stand out and say something completely opposite of what the user expects? For example, “I don’t want you to click here, just know people out there are scamming you.”
@Travis – obviously, misleading ads are just going to annoy the person who clicks on them, and while the click-thru-rate might be good, the actual results from the ad will be terrible.
@Randa Well it doesn’t really have to be misleading ads, just ads that capture your attention better. For example, would you rather click on an ad that says ” I make a 6 figure income. Find out how by clicking here” or one that says ” So am I. But I am also extremely rich. Don’t be ugly and poor.” I would much rather click on the latter one because it stands out through its uniqueness, oddity, and humor. Nowadays there is an ad for pretty much any topic. To stand out from the rest you need to be different.
I guess the best effect is when it is compelling enough but doesn’t jar (and become annoying!).
I have two golf sites, http://www.golfblogger.co.uk and http://www.golfbargains4u.co.uk and I am looking for feedback in relation to site lay-out, ease of navigation, content and suggestions for possible enhancement.
To all golfers/ sportspersons out there, I welcome any constructive feedback you may have, thanks.
best regards & kindest wishes
Graham
Actually I would click on the ‘MeandMyDrum’ logo, not necessarily for the logo itself, but for the wording ‘MeandMyDrum’ as I’d be curious to know what it’s all about.
Though I pay for my own hosting, I’m afraid that logo (and text) about hosting wouldn’t get me to click on it. I don’t feel particularly drawn to it.
I’m drawn to the (pink) Yahoo and ColdFusion ads. (I don’t think there’s a need for the Yahoo one to be animated as I think the design stands quite well on its own).
A great and highly focused picture is worth more than 1000 words, this is my policy when it comes designing effective ads i just use an image which explains everything i want to say, and trust me it works like magic. also you can use the power of POWER WORDS such as
Jump start, Enjoy, ReaL, complete, discount, Empower, Go, Imagine, Enabled, Enter, Exceed, Experience, Express, Feel, maximize, minimize, offer, Hurry, Time is running out, Save 100%, True, shocking etc etc
This was an awesome blog post. Thank you very much. Really helpful for me since I’m just starting out.
Stefan
great read, Randa.
Personaly I like Amazon.
I hate ads with falsh too much or stupid game.
More blink more I hate that ads, or too much ads in a page.
I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog. Great tips!
I am looking for feedback in relation to site lay-out, ease of navigation, content and suggestions for possible enhancement.
The thing that captures me the most about Amazon images is the use of that yellow “pop-up” button
You just feel like clicking it
Jean
I agree that an ad should have the just enough animation to draw the eye, along with a simple message and a call to action.
I think the “AIDA” ideology goes a long way. Attention,Interest.Desire and Action