YNOT EUROPE – In the previous column we saw what may be a viable alternative to Google AdSense, focusing on the differences between the two services. The basic objective was to make money with your website using Heyos to place advertising on the websites we manage.

The problem that arises with such services is to find space to place the banners without making their presence too invasive and therefore counterproductive for the increase in visits to the portal. Behind the placement of advertising is a very important study on the propensity of users to click in certain spots. For example, a banner at the top of the page is much more profitable than at the bottom.

In the case of AdSense, for example, we can enter only a limited number of ads per page so that their placement is of great importance to maximize the gains.

Banner dimensions were standardized years ago by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and among the various dimensions can be found sizes suitable for all types of needs. But which location earn the most?

The service center for Google AdSense offers the image shown here. The colors of the various fields that divide the hypothetical web page grow “warmer” as the profitability of the banner location increases.

Thus we can see a leaderboard just below the navigation bar is much more profitable than a banner placed too high, because readers tend to seek the content on the page and overlook marginal elements.

The same goes for a skyscraper in the left column: It is highly profitable because it vertically accompanies the user as he reads and, in our culture, left to the right.

The banner at the bottom is important because it plays to the reader’s subconscious urge to “finish” the page with a click.

As you can see from the picture, by far the most profitable location on the page is in the middle. The reasons are twofold:

• The spot tends to be viewed with more frequency and attention by the user because, logically, the most important content resides at the center of the page, while less important material moves towards the edges.

• The spot is directly above the content the reader is looking for, so he is “forced” to view a banner in that location.

Positions to avoid are on the margins of the page, especially in the lower right where, for cultural reasons, the user tends to ignore page elements.

As regards blogs — which are characterized by dynamic, frequently updated content — a position of great importance is the space that follows any post. It has been demonstrated that banner advertisements that at the end of blog posts provide an above-average return.

Before placing your banners, consider how they will function and look in harmoney with user expectations and the overall design of the site.

This article was written for YNOT Europe by Eng. Antonio Lodesani. For more information, visit ingoccupati.blogspot.com.