Target Your Audience - Make sure you are identifying the specific niche demographic for your service or product. For example, if you are offering a course on How to Grow Roses, don't target people who are interested in general gardening, find those who have a specific passion for rose gardening. Ad Placement - Just like targeting your audience, place your ads in the most appropriate section to attract the most qualified traffic. So ads for your "How to Grow Roses" course should appear in the "Flowers" or "Roses" category and not the general "Gardening" category. Above the Fold - Place your ads above the fold so that they can be viewed as soon as the page loads, without the need to scroll. Size Does Matter - Use a bigger banner or display ad so that it stands out better, increasing the chance that it'll be seen and clicked. Be careful not to compromise the appearance of your website in the process. Experiment with Color & Font - The closer your ad blends with the color scheme and content presentation on your site, the more natural it will appear, and the less it will scream "ad" to the viewer. Hermas
All of the above plus a Call To Action! "Click Here" is a lame example but effective. Try not to use that phrase, but entice them to act. Study ads that make you want to click for examples. "Click HERE for $100 FREE, no strings attached." Would you? or would the skeptic in you resist? Make it believable, and make it pay to click. CTR is worthless without closing the deal.
Everything is a process. You need to take yourself through the process of the potential clicker. First they need to see the ad. To do so they need to go to a webpage. So really step one is where is your target market going? Like Hermas said, put the roses ad in a flower and rose area. If you it's not your site than you really specific key words. If people are looking for roses chances are the will click through. If the are looking for guns and roses, they wont. Good keywords make quality clicks. Quick List: Go to webpage See ad Interest in ad Click on ad. Roll Play! You are now you target people. Some of the are actively searching, some want it but need reminding, some enjoy it but don't feel the need (give them that need). Play through these different people, what are they doing online that brings them to your ad, and what about it is going to make them click on it?
Have a look at any article that you read online look at how they are linking that article. Its usually of the long tail variety..
This is a very good advice Just2EZ. I like how you emphasized to place yourself in your reader's or buyer's position if you will want to click the link or not. Thanks man!
Play through these different people, what are they doing online that brings them to your ad, and what about it is going to make them click on it????
Great advice. Last one especially. Blending the colors to the overall look of your site is a must if you want your ad not t o appear spammy.
