Out of favor for a while, I think for a variety of reasons, one very good one being that many display ads are just plain ugly - hard to look at now that we have become used to seeing the neat little text boxes offered by Google Adwords. But then, design is my business so I’m inclined toward visual bias (if it’s not elegant or in some way visually pleasing, I don’t want to see it!) Some day I’ll write a book on all that - meanwhile let’s examine Yahoo’s motives for reinstating display ads!
Apparently the most important reason to consider display ads is that they reach users at a different point in the sales cycle than search does. When a user types a request in a search box, he is initiating the process with something firmly in mind. According to the Yahoo! blog post on the announcement, “Getting in front of someone with display ads when they’re in an open mindset can influence whether people search for you or not when they are ready to buy.” That is assuming that people are NOT ready to buy when they search. Logically, the opposite should be true. if someone takes the time and effort to search for it, he’s ready to buy it! But that’s my logic, not Yahoo’s.
A 2008 Specific Media study found that people who saw a display ad for a product were 155 percent more likely to search for that product than those who didn’t. Those results provide support for both my reasoning and that of Yahoo, the difference being that the suggestion or “placing the product firmly in mind” comes from the display ad, rather than from some need or desire on the part of the searcher. In reality, there is probably a bit of truth in both.
Other enticements include over 700 templates to upload your existing ad, or build another, and a minimum daily charge of around $30 as well as a partnership with AdReady. “AdReady’s partnership with Yahoo! will provide advertisers with direct access to high value advertising inventory from the largest provider of display advertising in the world,” said Aaron Finn, President and CEO, AdReady. “With Yahoo! My Display Ads, we hope to make display as easy, effective and accessible as search.”
Only time will tell! Mranwhile you need a list!
