An Anatomy
of Anchors

[3] Bankrate Official home page.2004. <http://www.bankrate.com/brm/default.asp> (efferent)

Text Menu




This site won a 2003 Webby Business Award for sales lead generation/ increased sales. The judges cited a high increase in the click-through rate: "Total revenue is 31% higher than the third quarter of 2002, which is comprised of a 9% increase in graphic ad revenue, a 57% increase in hyperlink (rate table listings) revenue, and a 38% increase in print publishing and licensing revenue. [117] " (IDEO [24], PeopleSoft [53], brandchannel [5], and Kidbuilding [31] also won 2003 Webby Awards.)

It is beyond the scope of this paper to determine reasons for the popularity and usefulness of these anchors, but as the click-through rate is high, something must be enticing readers to trigger the anchors.

Like Adaptive Path [1], Bankrate has a multiple melange of anchor styles, from a drop-down menu to icons to text links to linked titles to popup banner type links.

Front page--shows a carnival array of styles to get readers
Screenshot used by permission.

Maybe it is the friendly people and smiling faces that draws readers in. These faces serve as icons and to reassure that there are humans behind the number. Compare these faces with the faces that light up as readers pass over the anchors in Adaptive Path [1] .

friendly people I'd trust with MY money???
Screenshot used by permission.

Or maybe it is enticing copy. Note that like Earthtrends [12], Bankrate uses entire text lines as an anchor. Like other magazines and newspapers such as A List Apart [2], BBC [4], and USA TODAY [65] each text anchor is a headline designed to entice readers:


Screenshot used by permission.

 

Icons


Screenshot used by permission.

Note that Bankrate, like USA TODAY [65], uses common icons to lead to certain categories. This may be an aid to readers, but unlike FirstGov's [18] and BBC's [4] icon usage, is aimed at adults rather than children.

Subject Categories

 


Screenshot used by permission.		 The anchors are categorized for reader convenience, both in the example above and more clearly here. The reader can determine if she wants good stuff or to calculate her finances. Unlike USA TODAY [65] (which uses bright colors to separate menu categories), the menu categories are merely separated by a slight color change. The color change at BBC [4] is similar, but more subtle. The subject anchor clusters throughout the site are segregated in color bands, similar to IDEO [24]. Compare the static subjects here with the dynamic backgrounds of Earthtrends [12]. None of these categorizations truly qualify as a taxonomy of anchors as envisioned by the Nanards [98], [118], Bernstein [69], and others as they do not classify the destinations in terms of link or anchor types, but by content.