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Click OK to receive our occasional Newsletter The L-Shaped AdIn a move to go "beyond the banner," ZDNet is offering up a new, channel-based Web advertising strategy that includes ads that wrap around the entire length of the editorial content, giving advertisers the chance to sponsor targeted areas exclusively. ZDNet calls it the "ad wrap" banner and said advertisers now have the option to develop ad banners that rotate throughout the site and in ZDNet's 10 content areas, or "narrowcast" their message by selecting specific ZDNet channels. ZDNet channels include: News, Products, Whole Web Catalog, Software Library, ZDNet At Home, Mac, HealthyPC.Com, Community Center, Games and Computer Shopper NetBuyer. ZDNet advertisers can now also purchase space on ZDTV's The Site.com, an integrated Web site with interactive and multimedia elements designed to complement the television show "The Site" on MSNBC. Package prices range from $35 to $80 CPM monthly or $27 to $54 CPM quarterly. ZDNet said creative sponsorship opportunities also include ZDNet Custom Microsites--minisites that let advertisers brand specific areas of the ZDNet Web site. Marketers can tailor a branded area to generate leads, gather critical market data or communicate a targeted message to key audiences. Pricing depends on scope. --John Blower
TimewastersA recent, non-random, totally unscientific survey around the office revealed the following as being the "most-disliked" features of sites we have encountered (in order of unpopularity):
Large graphics were the biggest bugbear. And there's really no excuse for them. Our respondents *never* downloaded plugins. The feeling was that if the site can't be viewed with the tools at hand, they tended to simply move on to the next site. The same feeling applied to the loading of audio/visual files. "Best viewed with..." left our correspondents cold. Presumably, they were supposed to tool off to wherever, download a 4Mb file, install the designer's browser of choice, restart and then return to the site for optimum viewing pleasure. As if! Irrelevant company slogans were seen as...irrelevant. If we want more people to buy online, these time wasters simply must go. Basic direct marketing principles apply -- get the visitor's attention in a hurry and show him/her the benefit of being at your site rather than your competitors'. Each visitor is constantly thinking "what's in it for me" and doesn't give a hoot about company mission statements or other corporate drivel. Unless, of course, that person has time to burn or is already extremely interested in your company (maybe one of your competitors?). Feel free to add to the list... --John Blower
Sucky to SavvyJeffrey Glover has an amusing and engaging writing style. At his site, he identifies the The Top Ten Ways To Tell If You Have A Sucky Home Page. Of course, most of the (like and "Under Construction") are pretty self-evident if you've been surfing for any length of time (ie over three months). Nonetheless, this is amusing and well-illustrated. However, the real meat lies in the second - or "right" - part of the site. This is a series of imprecations as to how to turn your site from "Sucky" to "Savvy". All good stuff. Glover has good credentials, and the language he uses avoids being a put-down. We found the animated graphics a trifle annoying after a while, witty as they are. You may feel differently. --John Blower
Banner PlacementI suspect that my dislike of banner ads stems from their usual placement at the top of the page. But is this the best place for them? Apparently not. Researchers at the School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, in cooperation with Athenia Associates, have found that ads next to the right scroll bar (in the lower right hand corner of the screen) outperformed top-of-the-page ads by a whopping 228%. The study was carried out by grad students in a class entitled Marketing in Online Environments. Other findings cast further doubt about the superiority of top-of-page placement. A standard 468 by 60 pixel banner one third down the page got 77% more click-throughs than the standard top of page placement. Results of the study are available at: http://www.webreference.com/d ev/banners/. Andrew B. King, Webmaster at Athenia Associates, attributes the higher click-through rate to the banners being located closer to what he calls the "click zone." Robert Peyser, also of Athenia, said that user expectation may be an influencing factor in the increased clicks for the alternative banner locations. These findings confirm my own experience. I find the ads at, for example, the Tim es of London site to be unobtrusive yet simultaneously intriguing, placed, as they are, next to the scroll bar. I look forward to further studies to confirm these results. --John Blower
Banner PlacementI suspect that my dislike of banner ads stems from their usual placement at the top of the page. But is this the best place for them? Apparently not. Researchers at the School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, in cooperation with Athenia Associates, have found that ads next to the right scroll bar (in the lower right hand corner of the screen) outperformed top-of-the-page ads by a whopping 228%. The study was carried out by grad students in a class entitled Marketing in Online Environments. Other findings cast further doubt about the superiority of top-of-page placement. A standard 468 by 60 pixel banner one third down the page got 77% more click-throughs than the standard top of page placement. Results of the study are available at: http://www.webreference.com/d ev/banners/. Andrew B. King, Webmaster at Athenia Associates, attributes the higher click-through rate to the banners being located closer to what he calls the "click zone." Robert Peyser, also of Athenia, said that user expectation may be an influencing factor in the increased clicks for the alternative banner locations. These findings confirm my own experience. I find the ads at, for example, the Tim es of London site to be unobtrusive yet simultaneously intriguing, placed, as they are, next to the scroll bar. I look forward to further studies to confirm these results. --John Blower
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