|
"Popups work but they are not foolproof. If you pop too much, you lose surfers and money. If you don't pop at all, you might still lose money." |
Surfers hate popup ads. Advertisers love them. Why? Because popups work.
Wait a minute. If surfers hate popups so much, then how can anyone say they "work"? Before we explain how popups work, read this:
There are five basic types of advertising on the Internet.
1. The classic banner ad. This ad is embedded on the page. The banner ad can take on various forms such as the vertical skyscraper ad, the graphic button or the talking banner. Some banner ads are incredibly rich, complete with video and interactive touches.
2. The text link ad. Text links are self-explanatory. The webmaster encloses a bit of text (example: click here) in a hyperlink tag. When the surfer clicks the text link, they are taken to an image, another site or page. One can put a text link in a table or insert it in a body of text. Text ads blend with the copy on a page or can stand out by attributing the font with a noticeable color.
3. The interstitial ad. These ads appear on a transitional page that is sandwiched between a link and the page the link points to. A surfer clicks a link to gallery but before they can see the gallery, they must view a webpage with advertising.
4. The overlay. These are those animated graphic ads that appear on top of a webpage, effectively covering the content underneath. Usually, overlays are made in FLASH format and are often designed to disappear as quickly as they appeared.
5. The popup ad. A popup ad is basically an additional webpage that "pops up" independently from the primary page a surfer is viewing. This happens because the webmaster has placed a small bit of code (script) into the primary page. This code instructs the popup to appear at a certain point. Some popups pop when the primary page is completely loaded. Some popups pop when a user exits the primary page. Sometimes the webmaster will embed a popup to appear underneath the primary page, resulting in a popunder. Generally, a popup differs from a regular web page in that it is smaller and has neither a scroll bar nor a menu.
If you've been on the net for more than a couple of years, then you must remember the X10 camera ads. If not, perhaps you are familiar with this phrase, WARNING: Your Computer is Infected with Spyware!
Sound familiar? At one time, these popup ads were all over the non-adult Internet. One would encounter them on trusted sites like Yahoo or CNN.com. In fact, you probably still encounter popups like these. The reason you remember them is because, in order to close them, YOU HAD TO LOOK AT THEM.
Sneaky huh? In a Wired.com article, Michael Bailey of GSD&M Advertising calls this "the annoyance factor". Adam L. Penenberg, the author of that Wired article, explains the "annoyance factor" thusly:
"If I told you not to think about Bill O'Reilly's underwear, your first thought would be to imagine O'Reilly's boxers, briefs or I shudder to think what else (perhaps emblazoned with the Fox News "We report. You decide" slogan.) That's how "pops" work. You are aware that you are ignoring them, so they cut through the clutter."
Irritant advertising is nothing new. At one time, a certain toilet paper company spent millions of dollars on an ad campaign, featuring an obnoxious old lady named Aunt Bluebell. She was shrill. She was unlikable. But by gum, when shoppers walked the toilet paper isle at their local market, Aunt Bluebell's brand flew off the shelves.
The problem with the annoyance factor and popups is one of overkill. Sure, you remember those X10 ads, but did you actually buy one? Probably not, because the X10 people went overboard with the campaign. They didn't just annoy people. They pissed people off. The same can be said for many adult webmasters that went crazy with the popups.
Maybe you already know about an advertising method the non-adult world refers to as "
mousetrapping". Adult webmasters don't use that term. We call it a "
circle jerk". A circle jerk is a site that opens popup after popup after popup after popup. In fact, the surfer is so inundated with popups; they either buy the product in frustration or shut down their computer in order to stop the madness. Needless to say, popup campaigns like X10 ads and circle jerks are the reason why we have a new crop of popup-blocking software and browser plugins. Internet advertisers got carried away with a good thing and turned the popup into a menace.
This is why you must now use the popup carefully. Popups still work but only up to a point. According to a study by advertising technology company Atlas DMT:
"The study of 38 online advertisers showed that the odds of converting someone into a buyer of a product or service are typically the highest after they see a fresh online ad for the first time.
But the best overall conversion rate is after five or six exposures. "After that, there's an precipitous decline in the effectiveness of the ad," said Song. "It would make sense for advertisers and online publishers to put a 'frequency cap' on ads."
The Interactive Advertising Bureau has created a set of guidelines for effective, responsible popup use by webmasters. They suggest utilizing one popup per session. They also recommend that advertisers label their popups. If you would like to read and study the guidelines, go here:
If you want to use popups on your site, you'll need to either write your own JavaScript or use the many copy-and-paste scripts, freely available at sites like Java Script Source. Follow the guidelines of the IAB. Analyze the effectiveness of the popups you implement. Determine what works best for you. Maybe you'll do better with exit pops as opposed to onload pops or popunders. Perhaps your favorite sponsor offers a nice popup script for your affiliate marketing.
Popups work but they are not foolproof. If you pop too much, you lose surfers and money. If you don't pop at all, you might still lose money. It's your site. Only you can decide what's right.
SUBMIT