Optimizing Ad Banners with YieldBuild
2.06.2010 | My Thoughts
If your website serves ads and your banner clicks help pay for groceries, then you owe it to yourself to optimize your banners for maximize click-throughs. For the past two years we’ve been doing this manually – changing placement, playing with colors, and even testing text-only ads vs. graphic and text-ads for maximum CTR.
Our last major discovery was that ugly text-ads actually garner many more clicks and a much better CTR than the image/text ad combo – almost 100% better in fact. However, after our latest website redesign, it seems like what we had learned was reset. So back to square one again…
Two months ago, our agency introduced us to YieldBuild and said because we ADORE testing, it was something we should look into. I must admit, while the scientist in me was intrigued, the service looked shady. Unfortunately, scouring the webmaster forums did not reveal much information – at least not many positive ones. My main concern was I did not want our ad accounts banned as a result of using this service and I was reassured by the agency that no permanent damage would be done. So while we were reluctant… we moved forward.
So far so good.
We’ve been working with YieldBuild for the past two months and I am proud to say that our tests have yielded positive results. We are seeing about a 30-50% lift in daily revenue and the results have been pretty consistent. What I like about the service is that they mix new colors and ad sizes into existing placements with combinations I had not previously thought of. While some of the placements may not make visual sense, I can’t deny its results. Below are the colors they are currently testing for me on EasyAutoSales.com – it certainly contains a lot more variety than my two original palette choices.
In addition to Google AdSense, YieldBuild also works with ValueClick, Chitika, Yahoo! and Advertising.com. However, if these ancillary networks did not work for you before, it seems like no amount of magic algorithms will change that. Your mileage may vary – and if they do, PLEASE let us know below.
Overall, we are very happy with this service. At the time of our usage, it’s still free to use though I have no idea what their future plans are. If you run ads on your website, I would definitely recommend you give them a shot to see if they can boost your bottom line.
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