by: Dick Stroud
These images are taken from Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, August 20, 2007. They demonstrate the fact that users almost never look at anything that looks like an advertisement. I implore you to read the article.
I recently taught a course where one of the delegates had a web site festooned with ads that were all links related to the company’s own business but put onto the site to “look like ads”.
I pointed out as clearly and politely as I could that the first things she should do when back in the office is to get the things removed but I would take a large wager that they are still there in 6 months time.
For ages Nielsen has pointed out the way that people scan and ignore ads. My bet is this is especially true of the 50-plus. So why do people ignore, one of the few, but well researched, truths of the Web. I guess they think they look pretty – add a bit of colour to the home page. Ahh.
Original Post: http://www.20plus30.com/blog/2007/09/web-users-ignore-things-that-look-like.html
