Bad Design = Higher CTR?

I'm noticing on sites that I visit, the uglier and worse the design is the more I click the ads.

The slick "web 2.0" layed out sites, I barely notice the ads or even look at them...

just food for thought.

 

maybe because it's so ugly you're looking for a way out?

 

maybe but even if you look through the posts, some people on DP have hideous sites, but make a lot of money off of a relatively low number of visitors.

 

It's because you won't want to stay there anymore and find way to get out.

 

SVZ, an example? i want to make one site as ugly as that and see how much it makes.

 

Like you, I'm thinking there might be something in this. Hard to say.

 

I don't think it's the ugly design...it's more of the right placement of the ads. Who knows though

 

Yea there are some damn ugly sites that kick ass...just look at craigslist. I agree with the "trying to get out" idea but there are some major players out there with hideous sites.

 

It not to do with the site being ugly per se. More to do with the fact that this kind of site has virtually no content so the user click the link that he or she thinks is most likely to bring content he/she wants.

I posted a thread called "how to improve CTR" and it discussed this issue.

Good luck
Notting

 

I agree that if a site is badly designed then you might not wish to stick around and one way out is to click the ads.

 

Maybe sites with bad design make ads more prominent. Maybe sites with bad design have better information for users. Some of the biggest hitters on the web are not renowned for their site design. Many of them keep things simple.

 

I don't think people click on the ads until they have at least read a good portion of the page they are on and have become interested.

 

from my experience, I have to agree. I keep on changing the way my pages look, and the last one was down right awful...but my ctr was what I belive to be above average. I have changed it bc I want to continiously improve, but the old layout still did better. I have been playin with the idea of just putting the old layout up again.

 

i think when something is so tacky in the face of so many 'beautiful' sites, it tends to be etched into memory. Then the desparation to escape from the hell that is the tacky site pushes many to click on the ads

 

i don't think so..remember most internet users aren't even aware which links are ads and which are not.