In my last post, we covered whether or not we should even have advertising on our sites. And because I promised a follow-up post on how to go about selecting the right ads, here it is!
This is actually the first post in a series of seven, as the follow-up just got too damn long. For those of you who like advertising and enjoy my posts, that’s good news. If you hate my work, we’ll, you’re in for a long haul 
Let’s get to it:
There’s really not as much mystery surrounding the selection of proper advertising as there seems to be. I think it’s mostly common sense and you’ll recognize a lot of what we cover in this series, even if just in spirit.
The important thing to realize about choosing advertisements for your site is that it all comes down to one thing:
Money.
It’s money for you and it’s money for your advertiser, if you’re pushing new clients his way. If the ad you place on your site works well, your advertiser will keep purchasing ad space and you’ll both continue to both make money. If the ad doesn’t work it gets pulled and that’s bad for you.
Ads come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Sometimes all at once which is the unfortunate bit. But regardless of whether we’re talking header-wide banner ads or tidy little 125×125 ads (that’s pixel dimensions), there are some general guidelines you’ll want to follow. These guidelines will help you AND your advertisers get more bang for your buck and ensure the ad dollars keep rolling in.
Guidelines for selecting advertising for your site
1. Don’t reduce the quality of your site
This is a first on the list for good reason. Your site is your home. It’s your business. It’s a representation of your personality and professional appearance. In some cases it’s your livelihood. Don’t muck it up with ads that are hideous. Destroying a gorgeous site with some awkward ads for $40 a month is simply not worth it.
In this case “hideous” means:
- Ultra flashy
- Loud
- Full of talking or sound effects
- Unnecessarily sexual
- Highly animated
A couple words about that list: talking ads and sound effects. First off, any site that has sound on it that automatically plays once the page loads should be burnt. Okay, so you can’t really burn a website, I know. It was just a suggestion. It’s alright to have sound on your site, but it shouldn’t play until your user clicks something and gives it permission.
Automatically playing sound is rude as hell. And it’s distracting. And it’s dumb. If I visit your site and some random voice starts yelling at me telling me I just won a new iPod, I’ll jump to crazy conclusions. The first being that you’re really hard up for some extra dough and probably aren’t very good at what you do. Not a fair assumption probably, but annoying sites do that to me.
Secondly, that’s just bad advertising. Ads like that don’t work, which means before long the ad will be pulled and you’ll lose ad dollars and possible affiliate income. Don’t do it.
As to the “unnecessarily sexual” point, that’s a judgment call, really. I can’t tell you what’s right for your site until I see it, but it’s a good bet that a lady with her boobies showing isn’t going to help you sell more product. Unless you’re selling bikinis. But not if you’re selling, say, lawn mowers. Unless they’re marital-aid lawn mowers. But I’m not really sure anyone has cracked that market yet. Just a thought.
This genius disguised by utter madness will continue in Part 2. You don’t want to miss it, so Subscribe Now!
Posted: Saturday, July 12th, 2008
