Ad Click Through Rates
I have recently added banner advertising to several of my sites. On some of these sites I use a simple php script to randomly rotate the banners so that the content appears to be dynamic. I have attempted to select the advertisers that will be of interest to the visitors of a particular site.
There is an advantage to niche sites in that you know the targeted audience. You can select advertisers that have products that will appeal to most of the visitors to that site. Adsense does a good job of matching the ads to the content on a page, but my click through rate still hovers around 1% for the Google ads. I think that these ads are easy to ignore since they are so prevalent around the web. Good banners appear to catch the eye and provide better click through rates. There have been one or two days when my click through rate on the banner ads has exceeded 30% according to the statistics on my affiliate network data page.
The advantage with Google ads is that they are pay-per-click. The website owner makes a small amount for each click on an ad. The banner ads are mostly pay-per-action so a click does not necessarily result in even a small increment of income. The person that clicks on the banner must complete some specified action in order for the site owner to get paid. The action can be filling out a form or joining a program, in which case there is usually a flat rate offered for the action. The action can also be making a purchase from the merchant. For purchases the offer is usually for a percentage commission.
Most pay per action programs do not require an immediate action on the part of the visitor. If the required action takes place within a time frame set up in the individual agreement then the incentive will be paid. These time frames can vary from immediate to infinite. The potential income from pay per action programs is much greater than pay per click.
Tags: Click through rates, PPA, PPC