Banner Advertising

You don’t need to be a creative or marketing mastermind to get the most from your Banner Ads. The main goal is to grasp your target viewer’s attention. Below are a few simple tricks to increase the click through rate and overall effectiveness of your Banner Ads:

COLOR

Use bright colors, such as yellow, green and blue. They have a higher click through rate (CTR) than black and white Banners. Since red creates anger, use it carefully and sparingly.

AD COPY

This is the wording of your Advertisement. Think of what to write on your Banner Ad in order to rouse your customer’s curiosity.

Emphasize the benefits rather than the features of your products or service.

Make a proposal that either makes your customer’s life easier or genuinely captures their interests.

APPROPRIATE GRAPHICS & TEXT

Sure, sex sells on Banner Ads. But will it sell your office supplies? Unlikely.

You need to relate your design to your industry, especially if you’re paying on a performance basis (per click).

Using a bikini babe will get you clicks, but won’t attain the volume of sales you’d like. Once someone clicks on your sexually enticing Banner and finds themselves on your gardening website, they won’t be pleased and they’ll leave the page in a hurry.
It’s a waste of money, reputation and definitely not effective Banner Advertising.

BRAND BUILDING

If the goal of your campaign is to create awareness of your brand, then you need to include your logo and brand name. These should be displayed prominently.

CALL TO ACTION

Tell your customer what to do. Tell them to “sign up now” or to “buy now”. These phrases significantly increase click through rates.

The purpose of the Ad text is to make them click or call. The landing page should reiterate the offer and justify why it’s a good deal.

Visitors to a page browse the top half, without scrolling, for an average of 10 seconds. They should see your call to action within this time. If you have animations in your Banner, the command should appear from 2-3 seconds, preferably in the last frame but within the browsing period.

PRETEND TOOLS

Use fake interactive tools such as images containing scroll bars, selection boxes, submit buttons and text links. These create the sense that the visitor remains on the same website when they click the image on the Banner Ad.

The false impression images generate high click throughs. Don’t use this method if you’re trying to build brand awareness. Some people feel deceived by such tactics. They should only really be used to get traffic.

Effective Banner Advertising varies among different types of businesses and the intention behind the campaign. Remember to regularly test the effectiveness through your site’s analytics. To properly test which features work, only change one aspect at a time.