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How to improve Viewability with a Sticky Ad

Christina McMenemy
Updated

If you’re not running a sticky unit in your sidebar/right rail yet, maybe it’s time to start.

 

One way to improve an ad unit’s viewability is to make sure it remains on the screen. (If you’re unsure what “viewability” is, be sure to check out our FAQ about viewability first!) For WordPress users who routinely have posts that are longer than their sidebars, one method is to place an ad in the final widget of the sidebar and then prevent that widget – sometimes called a fixed or “sticky” widget – from scrolling off the page as the reader scrolls down.  For Collective members on Blogger or Squarespace, we can now add in an injected ad that's sticky. This keeps the ad on the page longer, improving its viewability while keeping the ad in the sidebar where it won’t bother readers.

 

For WordPress sites using Infuse:

 

Effective 2/1/2023 - We used to have sticky ad controls in the Infuse dashboard. But because we use these fields for other elements on your site, they're now back in our dashboard.  If you were wondering where this went, now you know!  Contact the support team to make sure we have everything properly configured.

 

 

In the Widgets tab, either add a new SHE Media widget, or edit an existing one (we recommend that this be the last ad in your sidebar)! You'll now see a checkbox to turn it into a Sticky Ad

 

infuse_sticky_ad_-_02.png

Check that box, and click Update/Save. It'll now be a sticky ad!

 

For Wordpress Sites using Q2W3 Fixed Widget:

For sites using the Classic Widgets or who haven't updated to the latest version of WordPress:

 

Here’s how to add this feature to your sidebar:

  1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins – Add New.

  2. Search for “Q2W3 Fixed Widget” and then install and activate the plugin.

  3. Go to Appearance – Widgets and make sure you have an ad tag installed in a Custom HTML or Text widget in the last spot in your sidebar.

  4. If you do not, drag a custom HTML widget to the last spot in your sidebar. Return to the SHE Media portal (under Settings >> Site & Ads >> Your Ad Code to copy one of our manual ad tags. We recommend that you find the size ad that fits best. A 300x600 has the most earning potential. But if you don't have enough room in your sidebar (say if you have a floating navigation that follows), pick a 300x250.

  5. Open the last widget with the ad tag in it, and check the “Fixed widget” checkbox. Save your changes.

  6. If you have a caching plugin, clear your cache. When you view your site now, the final ad widget should remain on the screen as you scroll down beyond the end of the sidebar.

     

If you need to make changes to how the fixed widget appears on the screen, you can do so in the Appearance – Fixed Widget Options screen.

 

For example, if you have a subscription bar that remains at the top of the screen as readers scroll down, you might increase the “Margin Top” so the widget stops before it reaches the top of the screen. Or if the widget covers your footer content when scrolling down, you can set a “Margin Bottom” or identify a “Stop ID” by entering an HTML tag ID for your footer. (This needs to be an id="" not a class="")

 

For sites who have updated to the latest version of WordPress, we are still testing compatibility. But you can download the Classic Widgets plugin from Wordpress itself, and it'll give you the original widget interface, and be much easier to work with.

 

For everyone else:

Simply let our team know that you're interested in a sticky ad.  We'll create an injection for a placement at the bottom of your sidebar, and make sure that it plays well with your theme and stops before your footer.

 

What can be adjusted:

These are the settings that exist in our dashboard that let us make adjustments to how the ad appears.

Offset from top - this is the amount of pixels you want between the floating ad and the top of the screen. If you have a floating navigation bar, you want to set this for the size of your navigation bar and add on at least 5-10 pixels for padding.

 

Stop Element Selector - if you want the ad to stop scrolling when it reaches another part of your site (like the footer), this is the field where you'd put the selector that identifies where it should stop.

 

 

 

Have questions about this? Let us know at support@shemedia.com We can help you find the Stop ID or help you find a way to create one.

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