It has been a great year for local Websites, at least visually. For two years now, Terry and I have been calling for local media sites to clean up their acts. Many have done so. The local media sites look less like a jumble of Legos and more like a consistent, professional display of news and information. Many still have a way to go. Those with the cleanest look have proven that you don’t need a ton of tiles to make money. It’s not the volume of spaces — it’s the quality.

It’s no surprise that a study by the ad company Burst Media finds that people are turned off by cluttered sites. We all know that (even those who have cluttered sites). What the study quantifies nicely is that cluttered sites don’t work at all — not for the advertiser, not for the visitor and not for the publisher. By trying to feed all mouths, everyone goes hungry.

Want a reason to cut back on the number of ads on your site? They kill the site’s effectiveness:

“One out of two (52.4%) respondents has a less favorable opinion of an advertiser when their advertising appears on a web page they perceive as cluttered.”

That’s not much of a pitch, is it? “Advertise on our site, and half the people will like you less!”

75% of those who remain on a site surrounded by clutter (hey, I still need that information, even if I have to dig to get it) aren’t paying attention to the ads. (Add to our pitch “They’ll like you less, but only if they notice you!”)

There’s also very little tolerance for cluttered pages. Almost a third simply leave the page if it’s cluttered. Think of all the work it took to get them there. Now they’re running away, and they’re not recommending you to their friends. (Now our pitch builds: “You don’t have to worry too much about the negative impact of advertising with us, though. Lots of people run away screaming.”)

How do they define clutter? More than half say it’s more than just two ads per page!

I had a playwriting teacher at Trinity College, Arthur Feinsod, who gave me one of the best bits of advice on writing I’d ever heard. Pass it along, if you wish, whenever someone asks you if spelling counts or if design matters.

“Picture you’re in your car and your favorite song comes on the radio. Now imagine there’s static. You may put up with a tiny, tiny bit of static. But if there’s any more static, you will change the channel — even if it’s your favorite song in the world.”

(OK, it was the ‘80s and a) we listened to car radios and b) I fancied myself a playwright. But I think the advice is still good.)

You can bring in money with quality, targeted ads. In 2009, Terry and I are going to be showing clients some great examples of this. We’re already working on some with clients right now. The idea is to identify niches in your community — specific needs, even during troubled economic times — and work within those niches to build sites that benefit everyone. You charge according to the value of the service. And you wipe out the static completely. 

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 10:12 am and is filed under MediaReinvent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.