| "You have just
five seconds." Your Web site must move surfing consumers to your next page within
this time frame or . . . Click! They will move themselves -- to a different Web site. So Little Time, So Much to Do
Your first response might be to improve the
attention-grabbing quality of your Web site -- perhaps something more colorful, more
creative, something that utilizes all of cyberspace’s bells and whistles.The creative
types in your in-house advertising department or in your advertising agency may come to
the rescue with a dynamic, visually appealing advertisement that incorporates the latest
technology.
But wait! An ad that employs the latest
technological advances actually may magnify your problem, not solve it. An ad that works
well on an agency or company computer may not have the same impact on a home computer.
Remember that many online consumers are not using the latest, fastest equipment and may
not have high-speed access to the Internet. If a dynamite ad takes them forever to
download, Click! They’ll probably surf to another Web site where they don’t have
to wait forever to obtain information.
Slow downloads aren’t the only problem,
however. Sometimes an ad can cause a Web surfer’s browser to crash. Do you think that
person will return to your site? Not likely!
On the other hand, a technologically simple ad
that provides information quickly and succinctly may encourage consumers to click-through
to the next page -- and become customers.
"How You Gonna Keep ‘Em?"
To keep Web surfers at your site, use software
that delivers ads that stay within the capacities of the consumers’ hardware. Of
course, this assumes that everyone connected with your organization agrees on what types
of ads can be delivered to certain equipment within the allotted five seconds.
If the advertising industry accepted universal
standards, advertisers could devote their time to creating outstanding ad content, rather
than spending time and money on the technological aspects of online advertising. The
voluntary acceptance of such standards also might help alleviate any movement toward
government-mandated ones.
A major problem in establishing industry-wide
guidelines is that Web technology changes so quickly. Advertisers may question whether it
is worthwhile to follow guidelines that soon may be outdated. Nevertheless, at least one
standard-bearer is attracting a considerable following.
A FAST Answer
FAST (Future
of Advertising Stakeholders) formed in 1998 with several goals, including the
establishment of voluntary, uniform measurement standards and ad model guidelines. FAST
counts among its members online publishers, research companies, media and advertising
agencies, technology companies, and advertisers.
A European counterpart, Future of European Advertising Stakeholders, has
organized since, and issued its own voluntary guidelines, similar to those published in
North America, but with a few modifications to fit the European context.
FAST’s guidelines, issued in March 1999
include principles for Interactive Standard Advertising Units (ISAUs) and their use.
In a press release, FAST Chairman Rich LeFurgy
said, "The consumer is the most important part of this equation, and we have kept
that fact top-of-mind, focusing on the user rather than the technology, in devising these
consumer-friendly guidelines."
Some of FAST’s principles for ISAUs:
- Minimal negative impact on the performance of a
user’s system
- Display of a default unit if a user’s system
cannot handle the ad in an enhanced format
- No competition between the downloading of ads
above 10 to 12K and the downloading of content
The 5-Second Rule
FAST’s goal sets an advertisement’s
optimum loading time at 5 to 6 seconds. Because the file-loading rate depends on the speed
of the connection, a table was devised to make file size correspond to bandwidth in order
to load in 5 to 6 seconds.
A sample of these rates:
- 12K file @ 28.8 Kbps
- 24K file @ 56 Kbps
- 288K file @ 1.5 Mbps
A Model Ad
FAST also lists five ad models:
- Banners
- Banners + Daughter Windows
- Pop-Ups
- Transitional Pop-Ups
- Interstitials
Each of these categories is divided into
subcategories with guidelines for each type. Banners, for example, include:
- Basic banner
- Animated banner
- Streaming banner
- Streaming audio banner
The Verdict
"I have already found the guidelines
incredibly useful when building a new site," said Gareth Jones, chairman of Fast
Europe’s Ad models group and sales manager for FT.com, in a press release.
"Developers, testing and QA staff find the guidelines ideal for telling them what
they need to build and support if they have no experience of online advertising. I have
sent the guidelines to clients, agencies, and publishers in Europe, and the reaction has
always been the same. 'This is just what we have been looking for -- something that
provides a high level of technical detail for our clients to work with.’"
Because the guidelines are voluntary, changes
are not occurring overnight. You might want to consider them, however, as you ponder your
next online ads. Do you, your Web publisher, and your advertising agency agree on standard
guidelines for display and loading of your ads? If so, your increased efficiency will help
all of you realize savings and please your customers. |
