Here’s a cool thing that I bumped into this morning as I waded through my RSS feeds: Google is apparently experimenting with scollable AdSense ad blocks on some sites. As shown here, if your site is part of the experiment, your AdSense block will include small scroll triangles on the bottom:
I think this is very cool, but what I’d also like to see Google experiment with is a multi-page visual metaphor, where there’d be a small curled edge on one corner of the ad block, a region that if clicked would bring up a second page of ads related to the theme and subject of the page. Here’s my quick mockup:
What do you think? Would one of these be more likely than the other to cause readers to check out additional ads in the AdSense ad block?
As I say on the Blogoscoped blog, “Now given how AdWords works, the second page / scrolled ads would be less valuable for us as publishers, but still, a $0.03 click is worth more than a $0.00 non-click!”
Credit to both blogoscoped and problogger for the early scoop on this test!
I personally am getting tired of Google Ads. It seems like they are becoming more and more irrelevant, and hardly worth using anymore. However, I do think the relevant, targeted, non-intrusive model works, but perhaps more so in the real world as I wrote about here:
http://www.ideatrending.com/2007/12/14/ad-supported-napkins/
A good next step for Google would be to create an exlusive high quality ad network. The same idea as adsense, but more exclusive for both publishers and advertisers. Advertisers can directly bid for ads on high traffic sites in the exclusive Google Ad network, and the sites will be able to handpick the ads they want to display. Thus, much more relevant, targeted and effective ads.
I think the exlusivity is the key, since now when I use Adwords I don’t know where my ads will show up. I would much rather contact site owners directly and purchase ad space from them, but I also would like the convienience and tracking I get from Adwords.
Anyway, just a thought I had after reading your post. I do think that the additional of the ‘scrolling feature’ is a good step, and I also like your idea of pages too.
Google Adsense – flagship of contextual advertising! Really the best webmaster program for earning money..