Back to results INTERACTIVE BYTES : Optimising Utalising ... say what?! Ruth Brown, senior consultant at Optimal Usability, provides some key principles on website design to get the best balance for readers and the advertisers that support their publications. By Ruth Brown In the last 12 months NZ has seen the redesign of many of its major news websites. The designers of these sites all face a common challenge: How to balance the needs of the user while maximising advertising revenue. In Optimal Usability’s work with a number of these sites, we have found that following a few basic rules of thumb can produce effective ads without frustrating users. Rules for everyone • Support the user’s goal: For example, if a user is reading a music review and sees a link to purchase the album online, chances are they will consider it useful, not just an ad. It’s not always possible to target ads this specifically, but at least try to make the ad relevant to most of the audience. • Give the user control: Any ad that removes control from the user will annoy them. Don’t create ads that pop up, won’t close, are constantly animated, or trick users into clicking on them. Rules for the site • Users will not tolerate clutter: A survey of 3100 web users, conducted by an organisation called Burst!, showed that over one-third will immediately leave a site that appears cluttered. The survey also showed that 51% of users had a less favourable opinion of the advertiser’s product when it appeared on a cluttered site. • Text ads work: We conducted user testing that compared a news site before and after a redesign. Participants unanimously agreed that the number of ads on the redesigned site had decreased. The new site had in fact increased both the number of ads and the amount of screen real estate dedicated to ads. The only difference was that many more ads on the new site were text based. • Don’t put ads near important site links: Eye-tracking studies prove that people will avoid looking directly at some ads. In a round of testing we recently completed, a site had important links near an advertisement. Users assumed they were just part of the ad and didn’t notice them. Rules for the advertiser • Don’t use pop-ups: Most users close pop-ups within a few seconds or ignore them completely. We see this again and again. Jakob Nielsen quoted that more than half of participants in a study of 18,808 users reported that pop-ups affected their opinion of the advertiser very negatively. • If you must animate, animate only once then stop. • Be honest. Make it clear to the user that the ad is in fact an ad, what it’s advertising, and what will happen if they click on the ad. • Replicate the site’s look and feel in your ad: Studies have shown that ads that blend with a site’s design are more likely to be looked at than ads that are in contrast. Many people now accept that they will encounter advertising on sites. Following these few simple rules of thumb will ensure the maximum success for advertisers without frustrating users. Take a look at some of the recent redesigns of sites for yourself and assess how the advertisements would impact on you as a user. InterActive Bytes is compiled for AdMedia by Scoop.co.nz, a leading online news site attracting a readership of over 500,000 unique visitors a month. Send feedback to business development manager Wade Bishop (wade@scoop.co.nz). © Copyright AdMedia magazine June 2007 All material appearing is copyright and cannot be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher. Please contact the copyright officer: Ph 0-9-845 5114, Email copyright@mediaweb.co.nz.	Username Password Keep me logged in on this computer Forgotten your password? Enter your email address and we will email your password to you:

INTERACTIVE BYTES : Optimising Utalising ... say what?!

Ruth Brown, senior consultant at Optimal Usability, provides some key principles on website design to get the best balance for readers and the advertisers that support their publications.

By Ruth Brown

In the last 12 months NZ has seen the redesign of many of its major news websites. The designers of these sites all face a common challenge: How to balance the needs of the user while maximising advertising revenue.
In Optimal Usability’s work with a number of these sites, we have found that following a few basic rules of thumb can produce effective ads without frustrating users.
Rules for everyone
• Support the user’s goal: For example, if a user is reading a music review and sees a link to purchase the album online, chances are they will consider it useful, not just an ad. It’s not always possible to target ads this specifically, but at least try to make the ad relevant to most of the audience.
• Give the user control: Any ad that removes control from the user will annoy them. Don’t create ads that pop up, won’t close, are constantly animated, or trick users into clicking on them.
Rules for the site
• Users will not tolerate clutter: A survey of 3100 web users, conducted by an organisation called Burst!, showed that over one-third will immediately leave a site that appears cluttered. The survey also showed that 51% of users had a less favourable opinion of the advertiser’s product when it appeared on a cluttered site.
• Text ads work: We conducted user testing that compared a news site before and after a redesign. Participants unanimously agreed that the number of ads on the redesigned site had decreased. The new site had in fact increased both the number of ads and the amount of screen real estate dedicated to ads. The only difference was that many more ads on the new site were text based.
• Don’t put ads near important site links: Eye-tracking studies prove that people will avoid looking directly at some ads. In a round of testing we recently completed, a site had important links near an advertisement. Users assumed they were just part of the ad and didn’t notice them.
Rules for the advertiser
• Don’t use pop-ups: Most users close pop-ups within a few seconds or ignore them completely. We see this again and again. Jakob Nielsen quoted that more than half of participants in a study of 18,808 users reported that pop-ups affected their opinion of the advertiser very negatively.
• If you must animate, animate only once then stop.
• Be honest. Make it clear to the user that the ad is in fact an ad, what it’s advertising, and what will happen if they click on the ad.
• Replicate the site’s look and feel in your ad: Studies have shown that ads that blend with a site’s design are more likely to be looked at than ads that are in contrast.
Many people now accept that they will encounter advertising on sites. Following these few simple rules of thumb will ensure the maximum success for advertisers without frustrating users. Take a look at some of the recent redesigns of sites for yourself and assess how the advertisements would impact on you as a user.

InterActive Bytes is compiled for AdMedia by Scoop.co.nz, a leading online news site attracting a readership of over 500,000 unique visitors a month. Send feedback to business development manager Wade Bishop (wade@scoop.co.nz).

© Copyright AdMedia magazine June 2007

All material appearing is copyright and cannot be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher.

Please contact the copyright officer: Ph 0-9-845 5114, Email copyright@mediaweb.co.nz.

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INTERACTIVE BYTES : Optimising Utalising ... say what?!

Ruth Brown, senior consultant at Optimal Usability, provides some key principles on website design to get the best balance for readers and the advertisers that support their publications.