Sideads
December 13, 2005
Sidenotes can be used to put relevant ads next to your content. Instead of interrupting your writing with an ad or a next page, put something beside it. Because sideads appear mixed in with the content, and because ads are selected contextually, they’re more relevant than ads shown at the top or bottom of the page.
To make a sidead, use the sidenote technique to wrap the ad’s <script> tags with <div class="sidenote">. Put the <div>s in between paragraphs, and be careful that the ads don’t overlap when you put them around short paragraphs.
A lot of content is split over several pages to keep ad views up. This has nothing to do with usability, people know how to scroll. I think tiny and hard-to-click “next page” links are harder to use than scroll bars or scroll wheels. Sideads can help publishers keep content to one page, and their users reading until the end.