A great website depends on many factors, such as user-friendly content, appealing layout and design, and a seamless user experience.
At Venatus, we aim to collaborate with you to create an advertising layout that complements your content and enhances the user experience by displaying relevant ads. A well-designed ad layout is crucial for developing a successful monetization strategy. When designing your website, consider factors such as page speed, ad density, monetization opportunities, and overall UX/UI.
Ad placements optimizations:
Desktop
- Ads placed 'above-the-fold' (ATF) will have higher CPM but they can be impacted by Viewability. Ensure ATF ads load faster and async with your website content. Ensure your Ad Management setup is fast, fluid, and in compliance with Core Web Vitals (CWV) guidelines.
- Below-the-fold (BTF) placements are very good with viewability and they provide incremental revenue opportunities. If you have great content and scroll depth on your content pages, implement ads within the content as well as on the Right rail. A good rule of thumb is 3 ads per viewport. But only one in-content.
- Implement sticky ads where possible. These ads have a higher viewability and can generate incremental revenues through an optimized refresh.
- Video ads have emerged as the future of advertising. In some cases, publishers can harness the potential of video ads without the need to create video content themselves. Even websites primarily focused on text-based content can seamlessly incorporate video ads and capitalize on their revenue potential. However, video ads that run in between video content are more aligned to compliance guidelines. In any case, the crucial aspect lies in the effective implementation of these ads (that's where our expert team comes in 😉). When it comes to serving video ads, publishers have two primary options to explore and leverage:
- Instream: This is our preferred video placement as Google has previously clamped down on the monetization of outstream players. These placements are streamed before, during, or after a video that the viewer has already started to watch.
- Outstream: In some scenarios, publishers are able to monetize with outstream players which show video ads outside of video content, usually shown in the bottom right of a page. These ads do not require existing video content to run in-between.
- Venatus offers Direct Sold takeover and video ad solutions. These are high-impact ads and will generate incremental revenue for you. And, your users will love them, they will interact with them and your engagement metrics will fly.
Mobile
Optimizing mobile layouts can be complicated. The viewports are small and placement opportunities are limited. But as we know, most users are scrolling through the internet while on-the-go. So, there are some optimization strategies to consider:
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- Mobile leaderboard ads or 'top ads', are usually shown above or below the header image on your content pages. These placements can have larger ad sizes (336x280, 300x250) but remember, users are here to view the content and not the ad. So, ensure the content is still visible first.
- Video ads on mobile, yield high advertiser demand and can drive extremely effective monetization results when viewability is maximized.
- Sticky ads on mobile operate in a similar way to desktop sticky placements. They are highly viewable ad placements that are backed by a lot of demand.
- Pushdown
- Footer
- In-content ads on mobile are a very good way to monetize your content. Viewports are narrow which means that content will be 3-4 scrolls deep and even more. A good strategy is 1 in-content ad per viewport. We suggest utilizing standard ad sizes although the publisher should experiment with skyscrapers (600 pixels tall) on placements at the very end. It's a good way to run a larger ad size with higher CPMs. The trick with this ad unit is lazy loading.
- Venatus Direct has some amazing ad products for Mobile takeover and video ads. Engaging and high-yield opportunities.
Things to avoid
- Don't let ads push site content below the fold:
- One ad is recommended above the fold (usually it's a 970x250 billboard on the top of the page)
- There should be a 50/50 ads/content ratio
2. Don't place ads on unmoderated user-generated content: (comment sections, forums etc.)
As a publisher, you are responsible for ensuring that all user-generated content on your site or app complies with all applicable programme policies.
User-generated content can be problematic for monetizing. The problem is that advertisers might not want to see their ads positioned next to vulgar, racist or abusive content.
3. Too many ads
Ads should not take up more than 50% of the page and the units should be easily distinguishable from the rest of the content.
4. Menu overlapping the ads
Don’t place drop-down menus, or applications near ads because they might lead to accidental clicks
5. Ads placed too close to the content
It's important that visitors to your site are not misled in any way and are able to easily distinguish content from ads.
- Keep at least 20-25px padding around ads so it won’t touch content or any active buttons
- Make sure ads are clearly separated from the content
6. Ad not fitting the page
Make sure ads are never cut because it's against Google regulations. All ads should fit full width on the screens.
You create quality content that your users enjoy. Similarly, it's vital to enhance the ad experience for your audience by testing various ad placements, types, and sizes to achieve the best setup.
Every website and user is unique, and we recognize the challenges that come with monetization. Our Onboarding and Publisher support team is dedicated to collaborating with you on ad layout, whether it's during onboarding, optimization, or website redesign.
If you are already working with us, speak to your Publisher Support team for ad layout suggestions and optimization opportunities.
If you would like to work with us or would like our team to review the ad opportunities on your site, please reach out to us at market@venatus.com.