Google appears to have a love/hate relationship with my site that changes at the end of each month.

In Jacob Neilsen’s recent ‘banner blindness‘ usability report, he highlights that users view web pages in an F shape and that ‘plain text, faces and cleavage’ are much more successful at attracting eyeballs than banners.

I use a combination of banner, skyscraper, micro bar and text on my pages to get the message across.

I use the banner as a tool for a legitimate call to action. As I run a discount code site, I may attract visitors who have already visited the merchants site or are intending to anyway. So in my 4* steps to use a code, I include ‘click the promotional banner’ so that my affiliate link is tracked.

Some merchants and DavidZHark don’t approve of these sales but then it’s not as if I am framing the merchants site or opening another new window just so I can ensure a cookie is served.

The banner also reinforces the merchants brand and I can also show that the creatives and text used also serve to create new customers for merchants.

Looking through some recent Webgains sales statistics, I can show that I can create sales for other related merchants by using micro banners.

At the foot of my merchant pages I include a series of 88×31 pixel sized creatives for related merchants. Each of these badges is its own php file which I include with a bit of descriptive text, such as “Tightsplease 5% Off Code Exclusive.”

On 16th August a user was viewing the BeCheeky page and spotted the advert for Tightsplease on the same page. Within two minutes they then clicked on the 468×60 pixel size banner for Tightsplease and made a £17.99 purchase.

More recently a visitor of the Healthy and Essential page saw an advert for Silverwellbeing, which had no accompanying promotional text and within five minutes spent £35.

So banners can work if they’re used as part of the content and they can be used to cross sell related merchants.

* As a trained journalist I have been told to write four instead of 4 but Jacob’s report on eye tracking data says numerals are better for catching the user eye for online readers. I’m not sure it’s a style I can get used to.

Tesco are 125th in my chart of top merchant earnings this August. So for me, having no Tesco codes on Shop Codes, is not really an issue financially, following the announcement we can’t publish them. Though I may need to explain to close friends why I’ve not included them.

As running a code site is my number one project today, I am concerned about the policies introduced from this and other major High Street brands from May 2007 about ‘code’ sites publishing codes. If Mothercare and Tesco have issues with codes, then other merchants are certainly following their concerns. Two are below.

I engage with merchants every other week about Exclusive codes and I discuss the issues …

- My exclusive code was used but not via your site
- You’re only delivering existing customers

I can disprove the latter with my clickthrough analytics, easily. In fact Webgains statistics also include referrer history.

Whilst code issues occur, I also agree to have a substantially reduced commission, so my visitors can have the discount instead. Where is that mentioned in all the anti-affiliate blog posts (1) (2) being posted this week?

There’s lots to address with promotional codes and it’s good to have an open debate so we can be clear on the official and unofficial rules that we should work to.

My site isn’t going away and the 13p commission made from Tesco this month is appreciated. Maybe. After all. Every little helps.

Merchants with discount codes expiring 31st August may be missing a trick. A quick glance at my Shop Codes site shows 42 merchants codes are expiring on the last day of the month but only one the day before.

Don’t you know if you’re more creative with your expiry dates you’ll receive more exposure? Many code sites, including my own promote highest the codes that are expiring soon. These are often popular as customers love to bag a bargain before it disappears.

My statistics show that I sometimes generate more sales for a merchant where the code is about to expire. The reasoning is simple, those merchants are promoted above the fold on the home page and across the site. I typically will put a merchant in this slot up to three days before the promotion is to end.

So, if you want say free three days promotion over-and-above what you’re getting already then just stop making your code expire the last day of the month.

My newer site Voucher Diary will concentrate on expiring codes so it will pay even more to stand out and not have a code expire on the same day as 40 other merchants do. I’m not currently updating that site much but as it’s returning on page one on Google SERPs I’m under pressure to start populating it quickly.

The dates below list the number of merchants with codes expiring on that date.

• 14/08 (2)
• 15/08 (5)
• 16/08 (1)
• 17/08 (1)
• 19/08 (1)
• 20/08 (3)
• 21/08 (1)
• 22/08 (1)
• 23/08 (1)
• 24/08 (1)
• 25/08 (1)
• 28/08 (1)
• 29/08 (3)
• 30/08 (1)
• 31/08 (42)

Now, who wants to have their code expire 27th August instead?

Please note that I wouldn’t want you to take this to the extreme and do what Waterstone’s do and that is have a code that is valid from 2pm for only 24 hours. I don’t work to those time frames yet.