Leader: Don't let 'clicks' cloud online advertising

The good news for web-based businesses is that, according to recent research, online ad revenues are set to boom for the next few years in Europe, with a growth rate of 10.2 per cent predicted for this year.

But it seems many websites and advertisers are still focusing on one-dimensional tactics, with a seemingly blind slavishness to 'clickthrough' figures. We're not disputing that average clickthrough rates are at an all time low but to measure an advertising campaign's effectiveness purely on the number of people who click on an ad just doesn't make sense.

Businesses are forgetting about the wider branding picture. Just because you turn over pages and pages of adverts in your favourite magazines and newspapers doesn't mean they don't have any positive effect. A well designed advert will cause someone to pause over it just that little bit longer and allow it to register in their subconscious.

The same approach should apply to the web and now the latest eye movement tracking technology shows where people look on a website and how they view ads. It shows that pop-ups are still an annoyance for most users but also that ads placed within the middle of pages and in between text are the most effective in terms of how much attention people pay attention to them.

Clever, well-designed and well-placed online ads can have just as much effect as traditional print-based campaigns but companies need to think about it as part of their overall, integrated branding strategy and come up with innovative and interesting designs.