Posted by Adam T. Sutton in Website Design Tips	June 8, 2007

Floaters can double conversion rates on your website

By Adam T. Sutton, Managing Editor, Mequoda Group, LCC

Remember the Wild West days of the Web?

Just under 10 years ago everyone had Napster, was scared to death of the Y2K bug and could not visit a website without seeing two or three pop-up ads.

You might wonder, why were there so many pop-ups? They were incredibly annoying.

The answer is that pop-ups worked. They increased conversion rates and made online businesses more money.

Eventually their annoyance factor caused software developers to create a way to block pop-ups and the public was safe once again—until now.

The pop-up, like a bad virus, is back in mutated form and you can use it to start boosting your conversion rates today.

This new variety are called "floaters" and they are embedded in a website's source code, making them, so far, impossible to block.

Better Homes and Gardens was the first publisher we discovered using floaters. Visit their site and you'll notice a floater urging you to subscribe to their magazine. HR Daily Advisor also has one for their free report and email newsletter.

If you're thinking that this is a recurring usability nightmare, don't worry. The codes for floaters are designed to recognize users who have subscribed and spare them from having to see the floater again.

This provides all the benefits of a pop-up's high conversion rate without the negative effects on the users' experience with your website.

Using floaters can double or triple conversion rates for email newsletter and subscription sign-ups on your website. Design, implement and start testing yours today.

Floaters are a part of an effective media website design, but there are dozens of other elements. Factors like usability, organization, landing pages and others have to be considered.

Watch our Designing Media Websites Video Seminar to learn how to create a website that your users will always remember when they need your products.