Adgitize Ads - 6 Visual Turnoffs for Potential Clickers

Back then, I did not have an iota of intention to go check out a badge. My curiosity on the tenacity of some unsightly ads led me to google the community, and it was only recently that I cultivated the habit to go blog hopping.  

Unlike the Adgitize insider who goes blog hopping for points, credit or cash, new site visitors are not dedicated clickers.

This second group of clickers that you want to woo do not feel compelled to check out Adgitize ads or linger long at your site. 

To get people interested in your very own badge, investing in good-quality visuals is a must. Why? Your badge serves as your front act for the main gig: your blog site.

What discourages the fresh visitors - the potential clickers - from checking out your ad? I can name at least 6 visual turnoffs: 

1. Pixelation. Pixelated images are downright ugly. They make your badge feel like it was made on an obsolete PC. Consider using vector images instead of JPEG photos. You can also employ open-source software to convert your JPEG images to vector art. Just do a google search to find which one is easiest to use.
   
   
2. Disproportions. Stretched images do not look good. They often result when you expand tiny photos to fit the 125 x 125 ad size. It's easier to work on a larger picture which you can crop or resize properly.  Tip: Press "shift" to resize images without altering the proportion.
   
   
3. Typos. Small gremlins take away the credibility of your site before the visitor has a chance to even check out your blog. The addition, deletion or replacement of a single letter can change the entire meaning of something (Imagine "Mrs." without the final "s" or "Adgitize" spelled as "Adgetize"). Additionally, keep your eye out on some critical booboos.
   
   
4. Textual Overloading. Cramming too many textual details in the badge strains the eyes and impacts readability. The rule of thumb in media lay-outing is to limit your message to 2 or 3. With small ads, settle for one phrase that best summarizes the content of your blog.
   
   
5. Animation. The movement might make your badge stand out from the ad group, but I personally find animated GIFs distracting. According to the Adobe forums, animated GIFs may not work well for you because they cause computer performance problems and do not support "full" color depth.
   
   
6. Mug Shots. Ads that resemble Facebook profile pictures or photos from a high school yearbook are not that appealing. The tactic works for celebrities well enough, but I don't think it will bode well for the average "unknown" blogger. For social networking to produce a domino effect, a pretty face is not enough. You've got to have clout and appeal.

How about you? What keeps you from clicking ads? * 

Adgitize Ads - Inside the Mind of the Seasoned Clicker

Advertising your blog in the Adgitize network is a surefire way to up page views and visitors to your blog site every single day that the ad is active. 

How do you make ads clickable?
(photo courtesy of re_lepage)

The question "by how much" depends however on many variables: your niche, your content, the first impression your badge makes and your competitors. 

Some members get hundreds to thousands of visitors a day, while others settle with less than a hundred.

Internal Rivalry

While you can't go please everyone with your chosen niche or content selection, you can do something to create a positive first impression about your blog site... and maybe even to make your competitors bite the dust.  

So, how do you make your ad more clickable? Are you wooing site visitors to your blog the right way? What makes people click your ads? Why should visitors pick your badge from the group?

There are two kinds of clickers you would want to woo: the seasoned clicker and the fresh visitor. This blog post is the first of two parts. Today, I will take you inside the mind of the seasoned clicker.

  

Things that Compel the Seasoned Clicker to Click an Ad

The Adgitize insiders would not care too much about how your badge looks like. Well, on the first few days they might... Over time though, these people will pay more attention to the ease of experience that your site offers for blog hopping within the network. 

Adam Smith's invisible hand theory is very much alive in the network, and the worst thing you can do is to make things difficult for the clicker. The factors that will influence the seasoned clicker love your site or hate it include:

• the loading speed of your site
  
  Does your blog load faster than 10 seconds? The shorter the wait, the better. Teecup Limited has a recorded load time of 1.97 to 2.03 seconds, which Alexa considers to be slow. About 68 percent of other blogs reportedly load faster.
  
  
• the availability of ads
  
  Which type of Adgitize ads are you showing? If your site is only displaying the affiliate badge instead of the regular ad groups, chances are you will get fewer clickers and clicks.
  
  Site visits and blog badge clicks are assigned points. If you break or hamper the continuity loop, your ad could be earmarked for a possible boycott. Dead-end sites are highly unpopular with the clickers.
  
  
• the positioning of ads
  
  Are the Adgitize ads placed on the upper fold? If the length of your blog is about 6 mouse scrolls or pagedowns long, the group of badges should be visible within the first 3 mouse clicks.
  
  Interestingly, a handful of seasoned clickers also scroll down to look for unvisited badges to click. For the most part though, nobody wants to scroll down and hunt for that cleverly blended Adgitize badge. Every second wasted is equivalent to points lost.
  
  
• the freshness of your content
  
  How often do you update your site? If you intend to advertise your blog on Adgitize, then you might want to pump out content on a daily basis. The community has a preferred publisher program where regular members have to visit at least 100 blogs a day in order to qualify for extra points and extra exposure.
  
  These frequent guests tend to notice which sites are growing stale and which ones are worth repeat visits and comments. You significantly decrease your chances of getting the online audience hooked to your site when you neglect to update your blog.
   
  
• the overall impression that you or your blog site creates
  
  Is your site annoying? Is it reflective of your repulsive personality, shallow thinking or lack of originality? Does your blog cause browsers to crash? Will it harass the visitor with pop ads, automatic music players and eye sore?
  
  A yes to all these questions will quash your chances for a positive first impression and successful blog site advertising. Just try to place yourself in the shoes of the site visitor. What irks you might irritate the readers even more.
  

I wrote these things from the perspective of an Adgitize insider. On my first few weeks with the network, I found it very difficult to click 100 ads. Over time, I grew methodical with my blog hopping schedule. I became a seasoned clicker, made a few friends along the way and will continue to ruthlessly flesh out the click-worthy blogs from the poor ones on my daily rounds.

My point: Some ugly ads turn out to be very clickable when they are able to make up for the poor aesthetics with excellent user experience. All it takes is some familiarity with the blog site to look past the superficial flaws of a badge.*