We work with our clients to help them get found online. That often means using paid search or media to get their message out. These avenues work very well and are great way to track who’s seeing your ads and the ROI (return on investment).
We’ve seen many different ways that advertising platforms have tried to grab people’s attention online:
- Text ads,
- Banner ads,
- Banners that slide down to take up more space,
- Videos that auto start when you hit a page.
What happens is when a site loads a layover slides across the screen and covers the entire screen. You can even buy a video version. If you were about to click on something as it slides out, you’ll end up clicking on the ad. I get that websites owners want to try and monetize their site, but every time I’m forced to view one of these ads I simply want to leave the site. It definitely DOES NOT make me want to buy the product in the ad.
So far I’ve only seen ads like this from Undertone, but their may be other companies offering such ads. This was seen on weather.com.
My advice to site owners as well as companies looking to market their products, don’t use this format.
For advertisers: I would guess there that these ads end up with a lot of clicks from people that really didn’t want to click on the ad. Plus it is highly likely that you will just be annoying your prospective customers more than anything else.
For site owners: You only have something like 3 seconds for someone to decide if they like your website before they leave. Do you really want that 3 seconds to be controlled by an annoying ad?
It may be creating a “Standout Brand Experience,” but that doesn’t mean it’s a good experience…
