Want to boost ad revenue on parked pages? Try using fewer ads.
By way of legendary domain investor Frank Schilling’s blog, I came across a story about Google showing fewer ads on its search results pages. Google is showing fewer ads on its search pages because it has found that showing fewer ads boosts click through rates.
Schilling points out that he’s seen the same affect on his domains — showing fewer ads ultimately results in more clicks.
I’m a big believer in the Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. When you give someone too many choices they end up making no choice at all. For example, say you stop by a sample booth in your grocery store and there are a few flavors of ice cream to taste. You taste them and like a flavor, and decide to buy one container. But what if you stopped by that booth and there were twenty flavors to taste? Fewer people will end up buying an ice cream, even though there are probably many flavors that are appealing.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed buying something as simple as toothpaste (do you want cavity protection? how about whitening? both? paste or gel? tube or pump? ultimate platinum version?) then you know about the Paradox of Choice.
Apparently this is the case with ads as well. If you see 20 ads on the side of your search results you won’t click on as many as if you see only 5 ads. Domain name owners should experiment with different numbers of ads on their parked pages to find the optimal balance.
AreaCodeFinder.mobi says
That was a very enlightening post. It’s so true too. I’m not surprised that this idea can be brought over to the domain world but it’s quite effective.