DISQUS

John · 1 year ago

One of our most successful sites ever is also the ugliest, it's so ugly in fact that we don't admit to owning it - but we can't bring ourselves to change it because it just works!

It doesn't run Adsense so it's not just clicking, people buy from ugly sites too.

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Rarst · 1 year ago

I guess ugly urges people to do something. And online there aren't lots of something options except clicking. :)

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Mobilejgames · 1 year ago

Ah, thats a bad news. I just wanted to make my site simpler and neat so that people will like it. But if keeping it ugly pays more, then its difficuilt to decide which one, :)

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Ken · 1 year ago

I've often wondered about this when looking at articles on profit from ads. They are always short term tests. They generally show that techniques that make the adds more prominent or annoying do increase revenue but they don't measure the likelihood of a reader returning. If you always used the results of these tests to drive your decision making you could over time drive away much of your custom.

When I subscribed to Connected Internet's RSS feed it had a lot less adds. I haven't unsubscribed but I doubt I would actually subscribe anymore. Of course I'm not a good customer because I don't remember ever clicking on an add here.

Maybe revenue is maximised by annoying readers and the lost traffic is worth it. Most likely there is a balance and you need to measure long term trends as well to find the optimum annoyance.

Rarst · 1 year ago

@Ken
As far as I understand lots of sites target ads not on regular readers but on those that come from search. Searchers couldn't care less about becoming readers they want quick answer and to jump further.
That's why some type of sites require hundreds of thousands visitors to become profitable and some bring money with relatively small traffic.
I think every good site can be profitable but not every profitable site can be good.

Read Rarst's latest blog post....Computer you won’t dream about>>>

Keiron · 1 year ago

I know people who specifically design the ugliest looking sites they can so that people will click on the ads and they can generate adsense revenue!

Free Gifts · 1 year ago

Ive never really had any success with adsence, the most I ever had was $2 in one day, and my site was really ugly.

kidlet · 1 year ago

I wonder if any of it can be explained by the fact that frequent visitors become familiar with the placement of certain types of content such that it becomes visible to them.

When you change that layout, and in particular 'ugly it up' such that it becomes even more prominent perhaps it draws the eyes of those users. I wonder if over time that uptick would level off to the click rate you're currently used to as people get used to those placements.

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duty · 1 year ago

Content is king..dont take me wrong but that what drags your readers and what interests them most

Jon · 1 year ago

That's interesting. Did you notice if your Average Page Views or Time On Site decreased during the "ugly" period? I wonder if the short-term gain would translate into a long-term advantage?

Cheers, Jon

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Me · 1 year ago

Interesting. I use adsense but I don't want to make my site ugly to make adsense work.

get a ps3 · 1 year ago

Wow, that is really interesting.  I never thought the uglier a site looks, the more ad you can get clicked.  I guess it really depends on how they are placed throughout the page and if they are noticed by the viewer.

PS3 · 1 year ago

I've always struggled to balance the potential adsense income with loss of focus on the main issues on the site (which make me more!)

Catherine · 1 year ago

I still struggled to promote my wordpress blog. I will take your advice to see how effective it work for my site.

James · 12 months ago

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Great article, thanks for the advice will definitely look at it for my next project.
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Tiny W · 4 days ago

Does this mean i have to make my site uglier than it is? Crikey, i have some work on my hands!

Great blog post, thanks.