60% of Consumers Ignore Banners - Study

Poor Engagement Results for Banner Ads Indicate Need for Better Targeting.

Thanks to an article by Kristina Knight with BizReport, and a Linkedin post by Larry Bassani promoting Kristina's article, a recent study by InfoLinks on Banner Ad results has come to my attention. Keeping in mind this is just one study by one advertising agency, which has a vested interest in pointing these things out. Even so, the performance numbers cited are worrisome for banner advertisers and platforms.

Key findings from the InfoLinks study read like a banner ad disaster movie:

• 14% recalled the last display ad they saw online and the company or product advertised. This means 86% could not recall the last display ad they saw.
• Less than 3% said the ad they saw was relevant to them. This means 97% did not see relevancy in the banners ads they saw.
• 35% of those surveyed click on 5 or fewer display ads per month. 
• 50% never click display ads. This means 50% do click.
• From the 40% who did view the banner ads, 75% were on a computer and 25% used mobile devices.

Referencing the Infolinks banner ad study, if less than 3% said the ad they saw was relevant to them, there is a dire need for better targeting. Search Engine Marketing does a fantastic job of targeting compared to banner ads by comparison. What Banner Ads need for targeting are less shotgun approaches and better sniper capabilities.

And yet 40% of consumers did remember seeing the banner ads, and some of the other 60% might have subconsciously acknowledged the banner ad. From direct experience, I know that banners can attract new business (mostly indirectly), improve competitive 'mind share', and help build brand presence and awareness.

Banner Ads, along with print advertising, have a place in B-to-B marketing. They need to be put into perspective.... useful for branding, building 'mind-share', and creating favorable conditions for future business conversions. But for targeting and efficiency, as compared to search engine marketing, they are not even close.

But that is not the point. Banner Ads and Print Ads complement Search Engine Marketing. To learn more about the role of print and banner ads for successful B-to-B marketing, please read: In Praise of Print Ads, within limits.

A to Z Lists on Websites Really Work

A-to-Z lists help visitors and search engine bots find what they need in large, complex websites.

Recently I worked on a website development project in Bogotá, Colombia as part of an Americas multinational and multilingual team. We were tasked with training, building and launching multiple company country websites en Español. The Latin America websites project was a great success and worthy of a 'case study' review. I'll share this success in a future blog article, for another day.

But first, I have an important list I want to share with you.... an A-to-Z list.

In Bogotá during some intense training on CMS, content optimization, SEO, visitor usability, and navigation tactics, a eureka moment appeared when we could demonstrate for the new web content-masters the formidable benefits of relevant A-Z lists of linked services and products in a complex website.

It is worth praising, yet again, the virtues of including A-to-Z internal content link lists on your website. A-to-Z list advantages were first brought up in this blog back in 2009, with Back to the Future with Static A-Z Directories.

Like a city map, A-to-Z lists benefit
 visitors as effective road maps
  in large, complex websites.

A-to-Z listings are mini-directories, tables of contents, and indexes. They are also, in effect, mini-site-maps which make finding pages in large websites easier and more logical for humans (customers) and search-engine bots. They do not replace or challenge internal search engines, they complement them.

Make a logical A-to-Z list of webpages focused on similar or identical core markets, products, or service niches, list them A-to-Z (include A-Z subcategories if needed), then link each of them to their source webpage. Add a link to your new A-to-Z page in your appropriate higher-level indexes or navigation menus, as appropriate. Then wait... interesting things, wonderful things, will happen to your website over time.

Do A-Z lists work? From years of pouring over website analytics for multiple long-running websites, data clearly show the advantages of A-Z lists. Here is what I've seen, over and over again:

The main advantage of A-Z lists on Websites is high quality customer involvement. The large majority of visitors to A-Z lists are already in your website searching for answers, solutions, and products. A-Z lists are a popular search method for this activity. A-Z pages are for quality visitors, who are engaged enough to dive in and search for information and services in a logical and linear manner.

Below is top-level analytics data showing visitor activities for one service niche A-to-Z webpage, tracked for five months:

2,600 visits
2,050 unique visits
Landing page entrances:	1.0%
From previous pages in website:	99.0%
To next pages in website:	81.0%
Exits:	19.0%

The exit rate is significantly lower than the website average. Visitors find superior value and utility in the webpage. Landing page entrance rates for other A-Z pages can be higher, this particular example was at the lower range.           

When looking at navigation data in detail, visitors to these pages come from a diverse (but similar 'theme') list of internal webpages. The visitors research and review their options, and then fan out to new webpages in the website which spike their interest. Just like the intelligent behavior shown when people look at table of contents in books, indexes, and other alpha-beta listed data resources. A-Z lists have real, tangible utility.

However, depending upon depth and length, A-Z lists are not set-up for search engine optimization. As SEO landing pages, A-Z pages are usually poor performers, as the very essence of A-to-Z listing means displaying diffuse and dilute keyword phrases. Having dedicated niche webpages for SEO are absolutely required.

But for helping guide visitors and prospective clients to the B-to-B services they want and seek, A-Z list pages serve an important usability role, giving users an alternative way to find the data they want while complementing internal search engines.

The advantages of A-Z service niche directory lists are as manifestly beneficial today as when I first discussed them in 2009.

• Back to the Future with Static A-Z Directories
• CROSS-LINK IT - For Better Sales and Leads

New Google Interactive Infographic: How Search Works

Here is a great review and update on Google's search criteria for ranking quality organic search results, courtesy of Danny Sullivan and Search Engine Land.

You can view the animated and interactive Google infographic in the Google.com "Inside Search" website section: HOW SEARCH WORKS - From algorithms to answers ("The Story").

Google has now searched and indexed over 30 Trillion webpages, which is one of the reasons why Google is the best search engine around and dominates the global search engine market.

Search Marketing Expo – SMX West is this month (March 2012) in San Jose, California.