the Web Chef's e-Bytes

POST # 300 - Advertising Banner Blindness

This is my 300th posting on the Web Chef's e-Bytes.  I'm proud to be able to contribute to the conversation on the trends, techniques and statistics behind the continuing growth of the digital world.

I came across an interesting posting at usability expert Jakob Nielsen's Useit.com site that discusses research findings on what he calls "banner blindness".  His research using eyetracking has found that banner ads are ignored regardless of the viewers engagement and whether they are doing "quick scanning (the most common level of engagement), partial reading or thorough reading".  As he says "users almost never look at anything that looks like an advertisement whether or not it's actually an ad",  He has a couple of interesting video clips where eyetracking of viewers on the Money.com site are showcased.   

In the review article, he states that there are 4 ways that ad content can get attention, although he doesn't necessarily advocate using them:

1. Plain text
2. Faces
3. Cleavage or other sexual body parts
4. Looking like the surrounding content

This is an itnteresting study that with wider release and acceptance by advertisers could have a significant impact for publishers, advertising agencies and ad networks. 

Watch for my article on the resurrgence of online advertising that will be released soon on Wisconsin Technology Network.

Paul Gibler
the Web Chef
ConnectingDots

P.S. If you are looking for a presenter on the latest trends in online advertising give me a call or drop me a line.

Usability Check List & Testing Guidelines

The Blog Herald reports on NotUsable's very usable check list for web site design.

The check list breaks down the questions to ask into the following categories:

• Technical
• Images
• Content
• Navigation
• Structure
• Forms
• Multimedia
• Extra Features

Judging by the 85 comments on the list readers have found it to be a useful set of guidelines.

Usability Testing Research
Frank Spillers at Usability Lab Rental has an interesting posting compiling research and their perspectives on how many users should be tested for usability tests.  He refers to research from Jakob Nielsen - 5 people, Laurie Faulkner - 15 people and their own - at least 8 in his analysis.

Usability and Brand Loyalty

Frank Spillers at Demystifying Usability, has an excellent post about the Usability Poster, a visual representation of key factors in building a positive user experience.  The poster references the elements in the user experience that have a significant impact on your brand.  The article provides links to resources and research associated with each element of the user experience. 

The poster is based on research supporting the factors that he defines as "elements that contribute to a positive user experience - Loyalty, Trust,  Perceived Credibility, Profitability, Intent to Return, Intent to Purchase, User Satisfaction and Word of Mouth". 

Among the links to research studies provided that I found particularly interesting, was one to work compiled by Stanford University's B.J. Fogg - "Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility." A Research Summary from the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab.  This resource provides a list of 10 guidelines for boosting web credibility that is similar to points that I make during many of my presentations on enhancing your brand through your web site strategy..

All of the information in this posting ties in nicely with a quote that I like to reference and elaborate on about the user experience -

"Whether their web site visit results in a brand building or brand eroding opportunity depends on your visitor's experience on your site"

Winning on the Web: The Executive Pocket Guide to Smarter Marketing

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Why not hire Paul Gibler, the Web Chef, for a third party strategic review or audit of your site.

Paul evaluates sites based on a methodology of looking at the 7 C's - content, commerce, community, creative, collaboration, customer service, connectivity.