Comments on: Butt ugly Adsense ads make more money

By: Rohit Sinha

Rohit Sinha — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:47:19 +0000

Great to know you will be trying this out, Jonathan, but do remember to do a few tests first, to find the combination that works best for you.

By: Jonathan Steele

Jonathan Steele — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:07:09 +0000

Wow, who would have though.

I remember reading once about how ugly sites outperform beautiful sites. Why should it not also work with advertising too.

Will be trying this soon.

By: Rohit Sinha

Rohit Sinha — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:11:38 +0000

MaryAnn, knowing what I know after the results/CTRs of my image ads, I would try out quite a few more color combinations till I came across a winner.

By: MaryAnn The Business Plan Gal

MaryAnn The Business Plan Gal — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:03:13 +0000

OK. First round of testing is in. On my site, it is a dud. My CTR chopped in half instantly. My people didn’t like the yellow background, and they didn’t like the grey background, and they didn’t even like green urls in the AdSense ads. The mostly standard formatting with blue underlined urls seems to work best.

Now, my site visitors are (a) more educated than most, and (b) more female than most. So I draw two conclusions:

1. Smart, educated women don’t like to be manipulated, or

2. The regular blue underlined urls are “different” enough on my site to stand out.

Take your pick. It might be some of both.

By: Diane Massad

Diane Massad — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:44:22 +0000

Your thoughts and disclosures based on experience are very eye-opening. Just as I am ramping up my launch and structuring my site..the veil of manipulations that are a part of this process, drape the project. Thank though for the honesty.

By: Rohit Sinha

Rohit Sinha — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:19:34 +0000

Hi all, sorry for the late response, but I have created a new post with a few examples, which you can see here:

http://www.sbi-mall.com/blog/examples-of-ugly-adsense-ads/

MaryAnn, thanks for telling people about this little blog of mine.

Cheers everyone, I am glad you found this idea thought provoking, and now let’s get some testing done to really find out if it works.

By: Examples of ugly Adsense ads « The SBI Mall

Examples of ugly Adsense ads « The SBI Mall — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:14:04 +0000

[...] About « Butt ugly Adsense ads make more money [...]

By: Ilene

Ilene — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:33:52 +0000

Hmmm, it almost makes sense. I have “colorized” my adsense ads to blend right in…not stand out too much. As a web designer that would “sloppy, poorly put together, amateur”. But wait, if the ones that blend so beautifully aren’t making very much $$ then wouldn’t it seem logical that ones that “stand out”, even if it is because they’re ugly, would create more attention and hence, more profits?
I’m willing to test it, but would like some examples to get some ideas.

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:01:12 +0000

I’m sure i knew this subconciously but have been trying to ignore it – i’m really not into ugly! But I guess I’ll give it a try. Thanks

By: Ronnie Kellner

Ronnie Kellner — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:42:32 +0000

this is fabulous information, and I so believe this is true without even testing! I hate testing and so, I haven’t made that much money from my adsense so far, but now I feel motivated to try new things, I was under the impression that they (adsense) have to blend in to the web page – maybe to lull the reader into thinking that is part of the content…. anyway, I am so going to test your theory Rohit. Great Post!and thanks MaryAnn the business plan gal for directing me to Rohit’s post