As funny as it seems, one of my poorly performing sites was getting a click-through rate of less than 1% so I asked myself "ok, what's not working right on this site."
Clearly, the font size was too small. So I upped the font size from size 10 to 14 and whamo, my CTR is hovering between 2-3% - still not great, but much better than before.
Sure the difference could be related to content, or something else, but the only noticeable change I've made is to font size. And the CTR spike happened almost immediately.
My recommendation: if you have a poor CTR, ask yourself what's distracting your readers from taking the ads seriously. In my case, it was a simple matter of helping them not have to squint at the content!
agreed
Ryan, I think I have to agree. Too small a font and the link text will be "invisible" and thus likely reduce CTR. I like to use 10 pt, but 11 is okay, I think. 12 pt, though, sticks out like a sore thumb, unless your blog post body text is also 11 or 12 pt.
I'm moving towards larger fonts too
Maybe I'm getting older or maybe blogging too much, or maybe the voice recognition that allows me to stand back and away from my computer screen is driving this, but I have been relooking at many of my sites and opting for larger fonts on sites where the content or pages change regularly (mostly blogs).
I still keep the font as is on forums, because I think it helps push a discussion along when many responses can be seen and viewed at the same time. A person isn't going to read more than a line at a time, but seeing lots of responses above and below, adds a perception of an ongoing/active conversation and if you make the font too big to see the replies then that's a detraction.
I have not seen a correlation to an increase in font size and click through percentages though. Might help increase number of readers subscribers eventually, but for me its still too early to tell.
very interesting
Brett: never thought of that, re forums. Very interesting conclusion. Makes sense.
I know that since I started blogging over 2 years ago, my eyesight has decreased. I cannot read smaller fonts or low-contrast sites. It might have to do with staring at a computer screen 12+ hours/day, or just age, or both. Sometimes I use the "shift-+" in my browser to increase font, but there are a few blogs where that causes the page to implode and become unreadable. It's a shame because one such site is one of faves, and I now visit only once a week. But it's a strain on my eyes.
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