Summary: In text advertising is far more effective than banner and column adverts, but must be handled ethically to avoid driving visitors and advertisers away.
In text advertising has emerged in response to the main problem with banner and column adverts, namely that people tend to ignore them. A study by Jakob Nielsen has proven the existence of something called “Banner Blindness” (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/banner-blindness.html). This study showed that large banner and column adverts (the ones that run along the side and above the text in websites) are generally ignored by people viewing the websites even if the adverts are relevant to the reader. As such, when looking to place direct adverts over a website, website owners are increasingly turning to in text advertising as a solution. In this form of advertising, adverts are embedded into the text of a website, and highlighted so that when a user moves their mouse over the text a bubble advert appears that is related to that text. This has two main advantages. The first is that users are more likely to notice the advert, and thus to click on it if it is relevant. The second is that in text advertising is less obtrusive, and leaves more space around the edge of the content for more effective monetising solutions, such as highlighted sponsor links.
However, care must be taken when using in text advertising, as making an advert look like content is held to be quite unethical by people in the publishing industry. As such, whilst in text advertising can be highly effective in the short term, if it misleads people into clicking on adverts that they have no interest in, it is likely to have negative long term effects, including reduced conversion rates for advertisers, and a loss of traffic to the website. Most modern in text advertising solutions overcome these issues by clearly highlighting the adverts as “sponsored links” or “advertising content” however it is still important to ensure that you will not mislead your visitors. Finally, care must also be taken to ensure that in text adverts are relevant so, for example, an article about computer mice does not contain in text adverts about the care of pet mice.
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1 Response to “In text advertising to generate website revenue”
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said at 2:54 pm on July 27th, 2010
You are absolutely right that In-text advertising is a great option for generating revenues!