Saw this post about eye tracking on Seth Godin‘s blog and thought it was an interesting read. In case you hadn't seen it, I wanted to share it with you.
Seth Godin always has an eye on things, so if you aren't familiar with him, this is a great introduction. It's actually a summary. He is referencing a study on another site – but I'm bringing you to his blog, because he summarizes it well.
Then, you can use the link he provides to the more in depth version, if you want it.
The biggest surprise, which my friends at Goozmo and I were recently talking about was this:
Text ads were viewed mostly intently of all types tested. Like we said earlier, the average Internet user generally doesn’t waste much time looking at things that immediately appear to be ads. That’s why text ads perform so much better. They aren’t distracting and blend in with the rest of the content on the page, making them less visually irritating to the reader and ultimately more successful.
The ones my clients are probably used to hearing me say were included (which I take as a good sign):
- Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation. (eye fixation=good)
- Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones.
- White space is good.
- Lists hold reader attention longer. (see, you are reading a list right now)
Hope you check out what else Seth has to say, while you are on his site.
He has some great books, too. His new one just came out: Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
And here is one of his critically acclaimed audiobooks:
