Making Your Sites UGLY!

[csilano]

Afternoon all...question for you.

After looking through some of the sites people have listed in the forums I remember something from a few years ago when I was doing adsense sites.

My friend and partner told me that the sites I was making were TOO good looking.

Now, I know this sounds a bit funny, but if I'm mainly generating income from adsense on a site, I think there may be some truth to this.

I really don't want visitors poking around, clicking on my "content" and reading. I want them clicking my adsense links!

So, in a nutshell, some of the sites i've created on Whypark are nice and all, but I think that a simple template with little distractions creates more clicks.

Thoughts?

 

[ZeRohiLL]

I feel it's more about the integration of adsense - where you put it and how well it blends with the rest of your layout - without going against the TOS - no trickery.

 

[Blastoff]

From a personal prospective, ugly is just that, ugly. Why not blend the ad sense into the page. Keeping the page somewhat white and make the ad sense white. If someone sees something interesting and its ad sense and they click on it; great, if they're not interested they can use that nifty invention that allows you to go back to the previous page.

 

[csilano]

OK, mayby not UGLY...

Maybe "less busy" is a better word?

Some of the pages I look at with embedded youtube videos, images, etc...I think some of those elements may distract the user from our primary goal (ie click on our adsense ads!)

So, perhaps SIMPLE is a better way to describe the pages?

 

[localexperts]

That is true, the more devoid of content - the whiter the background - the higher CTR rate you will get on your Ad Sense ads.

Our CTR went to heck when we added more content and make our sites look pretty.

 

[nasaboy007]

If your primary goal is to get adsense clicks, then yes, overwhelming your visitors with information may not be the best strategy. It is only natural for humans to be drawn to the big, shiny, animated parts of a website and ignore the plain, black and white text in the corner. However, if you can limit how much "flashiness" is on each page, I feel that your chances of getting higher impressions are better. So, as you stated, try making things "simpler" and see if that has any effect. Web design is a game... you have to try different things until you find what works for your particular needs and desires while keeping your niche and audience in mind.

 

[soggyindo]

If you think about a parking page as one extreme, and Wikipedia on the other, you can see that one is optimized for clicks, the other for authority, returned visits, and word of mouth recommendation.

So sure, the more "parking page" you make your sites the higher initial CTR, but no increase in traffic. But if it's a gorgeous site with great content, you're going to get growing traffic every day.

I guess it's a matter of how long term your plans are for a site - and if you can find a balance between these two extremes.

 

[localexperts]

Look at Wikipedia, Craigslist, Yahoo, and EBAY - all simple sites with more information than flash.

 

[dezinerite]

It probably depends on how your site looks in comparison with the adverts. This past week I came across a site that was nicely made, really clean layout but they had their hyperlinks in blue (default). It matched their ads well, you wouldn't even realize you were clicking an ad...

 

[Tribulatio]

I like nice websites myself - you will see the small website I will launch soon for selling some of my domain names, it WILL look nice.

But I agree that "nice" does not always mean revenue. I have been perplexed indeed to see that some names do much better just parked rather than built with content (minisites, WhyPark, etc.). So I must admit that my initial feelings that a nice website would do better have not always been entirely confirmed. But I emphasize: SOME names, not all - it depends probably of what people are looking for.

Nevertheless, I continue to believe in website development, and I continue also to believe that the web is primarily meant for creating nice, interesting websites - not just for making domainers rich (or poor, iof they don't invest properly!).

 

[alien51]

If you are creating an elaborate "mini-site", then all the artistic and jaw-dropping design efforts should be spent on how to "camouflage" the ad links - similar to colorful Venus flytraps.

Google bots can only see text. So we focus on the humans and confuse their vision. The business model here is to keep the humans clicking before they find out they've been clicking ads all along. This also goes with the premise that every visitor in your website, will be their first and last. You are not expecting repeat visitors.

 

[soggyindo]

I have been perplexed indeed to see that some names do much better just parked rather than built with content (minisites, WhyPark, etc.).

lol, all your names will get much higher CTR on a parked page, that's what they're for.

developing is for developing an audience base, building traffic, building search engine ranking, etc etc - long term life. parking is to try to squeeze blood out of a stone.

 

[-REECE-]

Well said Andy.

I believe Rick Schwartz once said that he made his sites ugly intentionally because he didn't want to keep visitors on the site-- he only makes money if they click one of the ads afterall.

Can't remember where I heard it, however I've been told that very long informative (read as: boring for 90%+ of visitors) articles are good for CTR as well -- clicking one of the ads will "save them" from having to read anymore

lol, all your names will get much higher CTR on a parked page, that's what they're for.

developing is for developing an audience base, building traffic, building search engine ranking, etc etc - long term life. parking is to try to squeeze blood out of a stone.

I like nice websites myself - you will see the small website I will launch soon for selling some of my domain names, it WILL look nice.

But I agree that "nice" does not always mean revenue. I have been perplexed indeed to see that some names do much better just parked rather than built with content (minisites, WhyPark, etc.). So I must admit that my initial feelings that a nice website would do better have not always been entirely confirmed. But I emphasize: SOME names, not all - it depends probably of what people are looking for.

Nevertheless, I continue to believe in website development, and I continue also to believe that the web is primarily meant for creating nice, interesting websites - not just for making domainers rich (or poor, iof they don't invest properly!).

Yeah I'm somewhat like you mate -- I would rather put up a quality site if at all possible, even if it means I'm a little worse off profit-wise. I like to think it's my way of making a little difference in the world, something a parking page will sure as heck never make.

 

[alien51]

I have been perplexed indeed to see that some names do much better just parked rather than built with content (minisites, WhyPark, etc.).

And maybe that's because a visitor has more choices of ads to click in a parked page, compared to a mini-site. And besides, a parked page serves as a legal doorway/jumpboard containing a collection of related links wherein a visitor can continue his search for information.

In a mini-site, all the boring garbage content are getting in the way of the ads. :p

By the way, I have this theory that somehow, ugly made-for-adsense webpages are just contributing to the growing Adsense-fatigue consciousness among the increasingly net-savvy surfers.

 

[cjbay]

I've found that lots of text (long paragraphs) results in more clicks. I have 1 blog in particular where I blogged about making money. I wrote many paragraphs for each subject, and noticed most people who visit don't stay to read the articles. So I started translating the paragraphs into videos and instead of describing how to make money in paragraphs, its embedded youtube videos. They stay on the site longer, but my adsense earnings plummeted after that. Hate to say it, but in my particular situation, people are lazy and dont want to read alot of stuff, so they click on the adsense ads that say "Make a million dollars in 1 day!" because it promises an easier way to make money than having to read or learn stuff.