Banner advertising is still one of the most popular and widespread forms of advertising on the Internet, almost every website has some form of Banner advertising on it. Even though the days of super high click thru rates are gone, You can still get good value out of a well crafted Banner Ad campaign.

Our experience in running a shopping directory site (www.fastlook.com.au) has taught us a few things about getting the best out of Banner Ads. The most important being that one Banner Ad, displayed in one location for a short period of time is not going to work too well. Plan a campaign over several months and measure the success or failure of each avenue you use. When you find one that works, do it again !!

All Internet Marketing comes down to a set of numbers which will be unique to your advertising campaign and it's running conditions. With Banner Advertising there are basic several elements that will help to determine the success of your campaign.

File Size
If the file size of your banner is too large it will take a few seconds to download and you could potentially miss the visitor because they have scrolled down the page past your banner ad before it displays or click on something and left the site altogether. This means that they will not even see you Banner Ad!!! Not too many people click on a unloaded image :) So make sure your file stays below 15K.

Call to Action
One of the best ways to increase the click through rate of a Banner Ad is to include a "call to action". This can be as simple as text that reads "click here"

Animation
The whole idea of a Banner Ad is to attract attention of website visitors. Using a small amount animation can help do this. I say small as a  general rule because too much is just plain annoying to the web site visitor. 

Good Ad Copy
Animation and pictures will attract a web site visitors attention but they won't click unless the text gets people wanting to check out your product. Remember good ad copy is about benefits, not features of your product or service. Keep it short and concise. Use words that have been proven to attract people such as 'free', 'proven' and 'secret'.

Using Fake Screen Elements
I have noticed a 3 to 4 fold increase in the click through rate of Banner Ads that contain elements found on the computer screen like scroll bars, buttons, open and close boxes etc etc.

Tip to help you make a Banner Ad like this:
Simply open a web page or application and press 'print screen', paste the image into your paint shop program or whatever,  then crop the image around the button or scroll bar area Then just paste it into your Banner Ad..

Targeting Your Banner Ad
It is critically important to put your Banner Ad in front of the correct audience. It makes no sense to have your "Model Cars" Banner Ad display on a web site that is all about Deep Purple Music. So do a bit of research and find a web site that would attract the kind of customers that you are looking for.

Our Banner Advertising Campaigns:
Like more help? We can put together a range of Banner Ads and a campaign to get you great results. Contact US today