Who Clicks On Advertisements? The Sad Truth of Online Advertising
February 15th, 2008 // Brandon Hauber
Simple question: do you click on online advertisements? 99% of people asked that question will answer "no". But with so many internet based companies, all of which relying mostly on advertising to generate income, how is it possible to make money online if only 1% of internet users click ads? Who are these people anyway?
When website owners look to setup advertising on their site, they often try to suit the advertising to the core user base of the website. A sad truth of internet advertising is that nobody who likes your site will click on ads. The average demographic of a typical ad clicker is a middle aged female from the Midwest but that stereotype holds less true with different website niches. Regardless of the website content or its core users, the 1% of users who click on ads will most likely to fit into one of the following categories:
The Lost User
These people make up the largest portion of ad clickers. They are not interested in the content of the site and only click on advertisements that they feel are more suited to what they were looking for. This is why many publishers have success with contextual ad services that place ads somewhat related to the sites content such as Google Adsense.
For example, I recently made a post about how it was ironic that an advertisement for a pop-up blocker usually appears in my post about why people shouldn't use ad blockers. While this appears to be a glitch in the ad server, it actually works out well for me because someone searching for certain phrases related to ad blockers might find my post. They eventually realize it's not what they were looking for and then follow the advertisement for an ad blocking download because that's what they were initially looking for.
The Confused User
While a lost user had an intended purpose when they clicked on an ad, a confused user probably didn't even know they were clicking on an ad or leaving the website they were on. Confused users are of course not very computer and/or internet savvy and are considered very low quality for the advertiser. They typically don't purchase anything online and are hard to retain, making them only useful on per click advertisements and not for more lucrative lead based ads or affiliate programs.
What does this mean?
For me, this means that online advertising is still stuck in a 90's way of thinking. Advertising online should be more about getting a brand recognized within its intended market and less about creating obnoxious per click advertising to compete with content. With so many people using ad blockers and even more users becoming blind to online ads, the entire online advertising world depends on the lost and confused to keep it all from crashing down.
[photo by: ChrisL AK]
Comments
WildClips // February 15th, 2008
You may say only 1 %, but it must be way more...I mean how would TV shop shows survive?
No to mention impressions, after all that’s all TV and billboard ads are.
All the best
Scott
Brandon // February 15th, 2008
@wildclips
I added a link in the post to where I got the 1% figure from. Your right though, I'm sure that rate changes based on many different factors.
kmcgra // February 16th, 2008 I enjoyed reading this. Bassed on my own experience I thing the 1% figure is pretty valid. Sometimes it is a little less.
Jordan Pearce // February 16th, 2008 Advertising is mainly for exposure. You have to get yourself out there for months and when users start to recognize you then they will start clicking on ads. Sometimes you even make a sale!
sameer // February 18th, 2008 its interesting to read your article, it give me some information about add markets, I am a student and think that i can earn some money to support my study so i starts to blogging. Basically i read the articles which i like to read and click on there add also for business, but till date i have not get and click on my blog. (^_^)
Matt Packer // February 20th, 2008
I actually click on adverts quite a bit, mostly I do it as a reward for a good blog article or something on that blog that has captured my attention. I feel the owner of the site should get a few cents or however much for their work..
Sometimes I do see an advert for something I am genuinely interested in, mostly those are not Google Adsense ads but actual private advertising paid ads..
Cheers
Matt
Reward Rebel // February 20th, 2008
My blog doesn't exist to earn an income from displaying advertising, but I'd succumbed because everyone else seemed to be doing it. In the last couple of days, I've stripped out all the advertising apart from one column of Adsense (for auld lang syne) and my own promotions.
Perhaps I'll reevaluate this when I have a daily readership in the tens of thousands;-D
Michele // February 29th, 2008
Whether online or off, it's all about knowing your audience. CPC or any other type of advertising has to be purchased and published in places where it will be in front of people who will be driven to action by it.
I typically refuse to click on an ad if the site is total crap. But, if I'm on a site that is useful and the ad appeals to me, I will click.
One of the major problems I see is that most of the ads are poorly written, for stupid e-books, or truly do not match the content (typically because a key word or phrase has 2 or more meanings).
I don't understand the mentality of many web professionals who will not click on an ad because they do not want the publisher to get money for their click. I've seen that comment a number of times on forums. Then these same people complain no one is clicking on their ads. lol
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