2 replies to this topic

[glen]

Hi everyone,

I was just reading an article on the googleadsense.biz website and they have a short discussion on using adsense ads in forums.

One problem they highlight and which all web forum managers will know about, is that forums generally offer a very low ad click rate. This is because users become accustomed to the placement of the advertisements and develop "ad blindness". This means that they no longer notice the ads. One (perhaps slightly dodgy) was of addressing this problem is to regularly move the ad blocks within the forum so that the users never get used to the ad position. This seems like sensible logic and I bet it will work. However, one also has to balance the impacts on the user experience. The regular forum visitors might get annoyed by the excessive focus on putting ads "in their face" and it may devalue the "community" component of a forum.

As some sort of compromise, one could make some not-so-regular ad movements, perhaps once every 2 months so as not to annoy members too much.

Let me know if you have tried this sort of technique for increasing click thru rates. How did your forum community respond?

All the best,

Glen

[Joseph]

Hi Glen,

I have been following an interesting discussion on the vbwebmaster forum relevant to ad blindness in forums. Google is actually running a trial on the vbw website where ads are actually rotated between four different positions on the page (but only one ad is displayed at a time). It seems they are doing this adsense trial in order to improve CTRs by overcoming "forum ad blindness"

There are a lot of helpful tips for webmasters of forums in this thread.

http://www.vbwebmast...hread.php?t=929

Jo

[glen]

The Adsense Blog provided the following adsense in forums optimisation tips:

Six AdSense optimization tips for forums
1. Format is important for multiple ad units
Placing a skyscraper above the fold on the left side of your forum seems to produce slightly better performance than other positioning. However, when using multiple ad units throughout the page our horizontal bias still favors the leaderboard. See the Forum Heat Map below for more details.




2. Display your ad units where repeat users will notice them
A leaderboard at the very top fits nicely next to the logo, but forum regulars tend to skip the header and go straight to the meat of the thread. Placing your ad unit above or below the first post can be more effective.

3. Place a leaderboard immediately after the last post
This provides users who make it to the end of a thread with a ‘next step’ when the content ends. If you place it after the footer, though, folks will move to the next thread before they even see the ad!

4. Use horizontal link units
Link units offer a wider range of relevant topics for users to browse. A horizontal unit can be placed near the top of your forum just below the header.

5. Opt-in to image ads
Supporting image ads increases the pool of ads –particularly cost-per-thousand-impression (CPM) ads – bidding to display on your site. Since forums tend to have lower click-through rates (CTRs) than other types of sites, CPM ads can improve revenue without the need for clicks. Please remember, however, that CPM ads come in both text and image formats.

6. Be sensitive to your forum community
Forums are highly interactive, so be sensitive to your users when implementing your AdSense ads. Be sure to blend the ads nicely, so they don’t appear overly intrusive – but don’t blend them so well they mislead your users! Every forum site is different and you know your community best, so as always use your own judgment to create the most positive experience for your users.