Theory: A picture of a cute gal is the best form of advertising any day of the week…
Long ago, when I started blogging (which was actually only less than 12 months ago), I had an interesting thought. If I created three advertisements, one with my blog title, one with a targeted theme and one with a cute female, which would get clicked the most.
So yesterday being my bored little self off from work at the moment due to sickness I decided to put this idea into practice. Here are the three ads:
Now please note, each of the images I used here I obtained from iStockPhoto (which provides royalty free photos starting from $1) so please do not re-use them as I have purchased a license for each.
Now, upon putting these three ads on a single site using Project Wonderful I found the following:
- Out of roughly 100000 visits to the site I advertised on, the first and second ads only got 4 clicks each.
- Out of roughly 150000 visit to the same site the third ad got a whopping 66 clicks through.
- Theory proven, a cute chick is a better ad any day.
Now this is no hard evidence of course, but it was nice to put a theory into practice. I am not in the habit of tricking people and to those that clicked on a cute gal expecting something better… I apologise but this is something that I really did want to try.
What are your thoughts on this? I am curious to get your input on my boredom driven theory tester.
Stuart
13 Comments
Interesting results… It’s true, sex sells. You should try the same experiment and include a photo of a good looking guy as well, could be interesting to compare the results between the guy and girl photos.
LOL does that mean I have to go looking for a photo of a decent looking guy in a bikini *grins*.
*waves hello to Erin*
Stu
That only goes to prove that there are more male bloggers than female. I seldom click on widgets with a bikini-clad girl. But I could be wrong.
c gonzales’s last blog post..Guess What
Interesting results. I’ve seen some pretty good results using something similar. but its just a pun on the name of the site. But i do get some messages from people saying that they are refusing the ad - and I just say ok…
Matt Ellsworth’s last blog post..Google Will Not Kill the Agency Star, Says Publicis CEO
Hi c gonzales,
This is true, something I had not considered originally, LOL but it was still fun to do.
And Matt, it is interesting isnt it. I have had to be really careful I have had some ad’s put up that were downright cheeky (like trying to mimick the Entrecard box) and I got rid of them quick smart.
Stuart
Boy, that makes me want to put my photo on of when I was a young hot chick. But I never did have any sexy shots taken so that probably wouldn’t work. I’ve got one in a hot leather jacket though.
The problem is that they would get to the site and see what I look like now. I really hate looking older.
Leisa Watkins’s last blog post..Healing Your Soul After Sin
Heya Leisa,
Do share the photo *hehe* (of the leather jacket I mean).
And we all have to grow older at some point. (I know I cant talk, I am only 22, perhaps come back and see me in 20 years and my attitude will have changed hehe).
But most of all, so long as you are young at heart… that is what counts the most.
Stu
One problem, though. Unless all you care about is the amount of people coming over (in case you’re trying to impress the AdSense Robots, which is legitimate, don’t get me wrong), you have to assume the four geeks who found your site were happier than the 66 horny dudes, who probably hit the Back button as soon as they got here, no? Someone on a quest for boobies will not stick around decoys until he found said boobies.
Hi PITS,
That is very true, actually the quality of the visitors was not part of the original theory but you are correct. The 4 geeks were probably a lot happier.
I am not normally one for misleading like that… but what can I say… I was *really* bored.
Stuart
Geez, I really should have know earlier… Will test that out soon, too.
Marcus Hochstadt’s last blog post..“Don’t Worry, I’ll Do That Tomorrow”
Hi Marcus,
I would be really interested to hear your results if you do so.
Cheers
Stuart
Quite frankly, when I see a girl in a bikini I just switch off.I certainly will not buy anything that uses sex to sell. But then, I’m an old feminist
ozwebhub’s last blog post..Social networking sites to which you should belong
Sure, they’ll *CLICK* on the t&a to see where it leads, do the same experiement again and see if the t&a actually gets you more conversions, whatever you define as a conversion.