When the Internet first began and people really became used to using websites and the WWW, banner advertising and affiliate banner marketing really became one of the first forms of lead and sale generation the Internet had seen. Although we think it is fair to say that banner advertising is not really as effective as it once was, there are ways to make sure that your banner is a successful as it possibly can be.
A good banner is a banner that leads people to click onto it, but then also offers some kind of conversion when they land on your website. A misleading banner will send you loads of traffic, but once they see what your offering will only bounce off and never come to you again.
The key message is to make sure your banner is effective but at the same time make sure your banner offers an introduction into exactly what you are trying to offer.
Below, we look at some top tips to make sure your banner advertising is a success.
Keep It Simple – Simple works, there really is no doubt about that. You can have fancy gimmicks or controversial messages, but most of the really successful adverts over the past few years have been the quick and simple ones and banner advertising tends to be no different. Google AdSense banners work because they are simple – headline, message, url – that is all you see and there is much sense in doing this.
Use Easy To Read Colours – Bright colours generally annoy people and although you might think they are a great eye catcher, if the person can not read the banner then there is little point. Try to make sure the colours you use are readable and still stand out, avoid colours that clash and also make sure the banners you design fit into the general scheme of the website.
Keep The Message Short – As we mention below, you have literally seconds to make sure the person viewing your banner makes up their mind to click onto it, so you have to make sure your advert delivers its message immediately, you do not have time to go into massive detail.
Avoid Quick Animation – If your banner runs through about 6 different frames before it reaches your key message, then you are either going to have to run them really quickly or hope that someone lands on the last frame when they hit the page. You literally have split seconds to make that person click onto the banner especially if it is located at the top of a website, so if you animation is really quick then the person is going to miss the message immediately.
Ask A Question – A catchy banner is a banner that makes someone think “I want to click on that” or “I want to know the answer to that”. You can ask some really leading questions with a banner, want to save money, want to lose weight etc, which means that you have ten seconds to ask a question so make sure you ask a question that really leads to people needing an answer.
Try To Be A Bit Different – Some of the most successful banners have been the simplest and plainest you will ever see, but in recent times some of the most clicked upon banners have been the ones that have really done something different. We have seen banners that look like games or banners that really are quirky and funny, because there are always occasions in any advertising where taking a risk can really pay dividends.
