Position Absolute

Publicity in web developer and designer inspiration websites is certainly becoming more common. With Javascript plug-ins libraries like ajaxian.com and devsnippets.com becoming more popular than ever and new tools like buyandsellads.com, there is now more options than just adSense to add publicity on websites.

There is certainly some money to make there.

As I wanted to know how to handle ads for Position Absolute, I did a little research on 10 popular sites. I primary looked at the homepage above the fold section (940px), but also looked into articles pages, to see if ads where added in the articles themselves. Please remember that stats here are good approximations and not exact facts, the estimate impressions and prices always fluctuates.

So how much space are ads taking in these websites?

One thing I can say is that I’m not fond of ads in article pages. It takes too much space. For example if you look at the Smashing Magazine’s article page, you have a big box right at article beginning that takes a lot of space in the above the fold screen. There is one ad in particular where I could barely see the article, I had to scroll down to see some text.

10 sites average results :

Overall pixel estate taken by ads : 26%
Overall numbers of banners on the sidebar: 8
1 banner in the article section ? 7 on 10 sites
1 banner in the header ? 6 on 10 sites

Sidebar banner price/month comparison

Estimate impression/month comparison

Pixel estate taken by ads in % comparison (on above the fold)

10 popular sites

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine has became a very popular site over the years, the publicity is very prominent on this site. Basically you have a list of articles and everything else is advertising.

On the homepage you have an average of 10 banners on the page. You have Smashing Jobs’ ads which are cool for web designers.There an another source of revenue for them, as people who advertise jobs pay for it. Like a big box when you are in the first paragraph of an article and a banner at the end of an article.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 30%
Publicity on the sidebar: Yes
Publicity in the article section: Yes
Publicity in the header: No (no header)
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): Not available
Estimate Impressions/month: Not available

Noupe

Noupe news for designers and web developers on all subjects of design, ranging from; CSS, Ajax, Javascript, web design, graphics, typography, advertising & much more. On the sidebar we have 8 small banners, 3 big banners and 10 mini banners. We also have 1 ad at the top of each article.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 41%
Publicity on the sidebar: Yes
Publicity in the article section: Yes
Publicity in the header: Yes
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): $350.00
Estimate Impressions/month: 1,685,000

PSDTUTS

PSDTUTS is part of the Envato network, it’s a Blog/Photoshop site made to house and showcase Photoshop tutorials. On the homepage we got approximately 15 sidebar banners, 1 header banner, and one banner advertising there premium membership. No article ads.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 30%
Publicity on the sidebar: Yes
Publicity in the article section: no
Publicity in the header: Yes
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): $1,500.00
Estimate Impressions/month: 12,040,000

Ajaxrain.com

Ajaxrain is a collection of javascript snippets. On the homepage we got approximately 8 sidebar banners, 10 or so mini square banners and 1 header banner.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 24%
Publicity on the sidebar: Yes
Publicity in the article section: no
Publicity in the header: Yes
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): $100.00
Estimate Impressions/month: 180,000

Devsnippets

Devsnippets is a collection of javascript snippets. On the hompage we got approximately 6 sidebar banners.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 19%
Publicity on the sidebar: Yes
Publicity in the article section: no
Publicity in the header: no
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): $125.00
Estimate Impressions/month: 160,000

CSS Globe

CSS Globe is a community powered news network. On the hompage we got approximately 8 sidebar banners and 1 article header ad.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 16%
Publicity on the sidebar: yes
Publicity in the article section: yes
Publicity in the header: no
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): not available
Unique visitors/month: 200,000

David Walsh’s Blog

David Walsh is a web programmer blogger. On the homepage we got 6 sidebar banners and 1 header banner.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 19%
Publicity on the sidebar: yes
Publicity in the article section: yes
Publicity in the header: yes
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): $60.00
Estimate Impressions/month: 285,000

CSS Tricks

Css Trick is a blog started by Chris Coyier. We have 12 side banners on the sidebar that’s it.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 30%
Publicity on the sidebar: yes
Publicity in the article section: yes
Publicity in the header: no
Sidebar banner price (125 x 125): not available
Impression/month: not available

Web Resources Depot

Web Resources Depot is a community news website, meaning most of the news are suggested by the community. Here we have an half and half space, half content and half sidebar. We have 9 small banners and 2 long banners on the sidebar. It also has 1 banner in the header and 1 banner in the article.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 27%
Publicity on the sidebar: yes
Publicity in the article section: yes
Publicity in the header: yes
Sidebar banners monthly price (125 x 125): $275
Unique visitors/month: 324,062

UX Booth

UX Booth is a group that writes about User Experience, and offers free Website Usability Reviews that all designers and developers can benefit from. They have 6 small banners, 1 big banner and 10 mini banners on the sidebar.

Overall pixel estate took by ads : 23%
Publicity on the sidebar: yes
Publicity in the article section: yes
Publicity in the header: yes
Sidebar banner monthly price (125 x 125): $100
Impression/month: 110,000