In 2005, CNET undertook a series of landmark online-advertising-effectiveness studies with Starch Communications to identify the best approaches to online advertising. CNET made the research public, offering presentations throughout the country and on its website.

How effective is digital advertising today? As lead analyst for those studies, I’ll be blunt: Many digital advertisers make the same mistakes that the least effective advertisers made five years ago. The medium isn’t to blame. The problems are due to creative efforts that do not suit the medium and the refusal to employ research tools that can identify creative problems and how to fix them.

Here are seven mistakes that, research tells us, afflict so many digital ads today.

1. They are too complex.
To digital advertisers: Most people aren’t as interested in your products and services as you are; avoid the details. To interest them, attract their eye with uncluttered visual displays and concise, to-the-point headlines and body copy. In short: Keep it simple.

More >