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09/01/2001 Archived Entry: "1-September-2001 -- Designing Web Ads Using Click-Through Data"

Designing Web Ads Using Click-Through Data (Jakob Nielsen) -- "Search engine ads are one type of Web advertising that can actually work. To create the best ads, do quick experiments and redesign ads based on usability principles for online writing. Doing so helped us increase ad click-through by 55% to 310%." (Comments: Good article. I find it interesting that Jakob has recently spent more time talking about marketing and advertising. I've been trying to get usability people to think more about these topics. Maybe Jakob secretly reads WebWord for inspiration. Ha!)

Replies: 2 comments

Jakob Nielsen writes: "I'm usually opposed to the strategy of simply throwing a design at the wall to see if it sticks. For interaction design projects, it is much better to test a prototype design with a few users before implementing and launching the full design.

Ads are different for several reasons:"

We've often agreed (see our articles) with Jakob Nielsen but NOT this time.

From the the perspective of an engineer this is understandable. However, this is an engineer that people actually listen to outside of his discipline. That's what makes this advice about marketing so dangerous. Writing effective ad copy is both a science and an art.

Take anything Jakob Nielsen writes outside of his area of expertise, usability, with a grain of salt.

Posted by Jeffrey Eisenberg @ 09/03/2001 01:53 PM EST

I think you're just on to what everyone is one to: the move towards marketing in usabilty is kind of everywhere. It just makes sense in the stage where we are now... (Same with the interest in ethnography, which is less pronounced but still there on the weblogs and mailing lists...)

It's like the invention of photography: it got invented simultaneously in different countries, just because the time was ripe...

Posted by Peter @ 09/02/2001 05:45 AM EST

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