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Article by Martin Avis

We hear it all the time: “Banners don’t work anymore!”But did ‘banners’ ever really work in the first place?The latest published figures seem to suggest that theaverage click-thru-rate (CTR) for a banner ad on theInternet is between 0.15% and 0.3%. That is 1.5 to 3per thousand.Why is that such a surprise? Can you remember the lasttime you clicked on a banner ad? I certainly can’t.Yet businesses are still putting banners up. Are theyjust kidding themselves?In the same way that big businesses will buy endless TVspots or radio ads to get their name better known, sotoo are banner ads used as a branding medium. Thesecampaigns, where response is only a secondary aim,bring the average CTRs down considerably.In the offline advertising world, Direct Responseadvertising is thriving. Ads that solicit a measurableaction – call this number, fill this coupon, visit thisweb site – are growing as a percentage of the total.The reason is simple. Every measurable response letsthe advertiser learn more about the mix of media on hisschedule. Newspaper A pulls more calls than newspaper B- then lets drop ‘A’ from the plan and try out ‘C’.This constant learning and refining should be practicedonline as well, but how many do it? The overall CTR isfurther damaged by too many banners being bought on thewrong sites, and staying there too long.An advantage that offline media planners have is thesheer volume of research into the audiences of everyadvertising medium you can think of. So before a singledollar is spent, they know that their ads will be seenby the most appropriate people.Not so online. Yet. In a large number of cases, bannerads are bought and sold in bulk. For every perfect siteyou buy, several others may be included in ‘thepackage’. This arbitrary approach will decline if sitesare forced to audit both the size and composition oftheir audiences before advertisers will buy from them.Making a successful banner campaign depends on fourfactors:1. Ensuring that the audience of the site you advertiseon is as closely matched as possible to your own. Notjust in terms of age and socio-demographics, but alsoin attitude. Wastage is useless, and expensive.2. Advertising on popular sites that people are likelyto have bookmarked. One of the reasons many peopleresist clicking on banners is because they know theywill be taken away from the site they are viewing tosomeplace they may not want to be. Highly bookmarkedsites are easy to find again.3. Getting the right price. Until recently, most sitesselling banners insisted on a cost-per-thousandimpressions policy. The advertiser pays every time aviewer has an opportunity to click the banner whetheror not that opportunity is taken. This is becomingoutdated, thankfully, as a more appropriate payment-by-results model is growing in popularity.4. Getting the creative right. This is not easy. Havingspent many years working in advertising agencies, I cantell you that the few creative people really understandthe Internet. They end up creating online versions ofbillboard advertising. Since the majority of billboardads are about branding and image, not direct response,the difficulty is clear.I recently ran a banner campaign for a web site whichshowed up-to-the-minute financial data on budget day.Banners were tactically placed on news and currentaffairs sites, using clear, unambiguous copy. Noflashing lights or animations, just a simple, appealingmessage. The click-thru rates were between 5% and 8%.The server was overwhelmed.Recently, I have seen reports that banners that aredesigned specifically for the site they appear on – sothat they blend in and look like part of the site -have achieved click-thru rates of over 10%.In summary, here is my top ten pointers for making yourbanners work well above the average:Audience——–1. Aim at the right people2. Be relevant. Make sure your main offer is ‘in tune’with what the site’s viewers are thinking about.Research——–3. Keep testing. Instantly drop any banner that isn’tpulling.4. Know how much you can pay. If you are averaging per click and one in fifty buy from you, then you hadbetter make more than 0 profit on each sale, or youwill go bust.5. Before you spend any money on a site, talk to otheradvertisers. If they say that their response stunk,(and their ad seems reasonably okay), bear this in mindwhen you negotiate price.Design——6. Make your banner intriguing. If they don’t care,they won’t click.7. Tell them what’s in it for them. If you show orimply a really great benefit that they will gain fromyour site, they are more likely to click to see more.8. Consider disguising your banner. If you make it looklike part of the site, more people may have theconfidence to click it.Price—–9. Don’t buy cost-per-thousand impressions unless youreally have to – and the price is low enough.10. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. Never take thefirst price offered. Always ask for (and expect) adiscount on the price, or a bonus on top of what youare buying.Achieving valuable CTR’s can be done, but not byblindly following the sheep. Successful advertisers dothings a little differently.

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Article by Anil Pandey

Have you wondered why some people get their ads clicked like crazy and why others just keep on sending out ads but nobody clicks on them?

The first category people are the real earners, but the second category people are left high and dry- with a big hole in their pockets! The reality behind this is that the people getting the most clicks are those who know how to deal with a customer. They know what the customer wants and place their ads accordingly. That is how their ads get clicked and they earn handsome amounts. Another often overlooked fact is that they are also people just like you and me. YOU can also become like one of them if you follow these simple, but vital, tips:

1. Use reverse psychology on your banner ads. Youcould tell people not to click on your banner ad. Forexample “Don’t Click Here If You Are ComfortableWith Your Looks”

2. Make your banner ad words as attractive aspossible. Use words like ultimate, powerful, sizzling,hot, etc. Your words should relate and highlightyour total offer.

3. Offer a discount offer on your banner ad. Peopleare always looking for good deals. You could offera percentage discount, dollar discount, buy one getone free discount, etc.

4. Use a testimonial on your banner ad. This’ll givepeople proof they aren’t wasting their time clickingon your banner ad. The testimonial should includeenough information so they understand the offer.

5. You could have a famous and respectable personon your banner ad representing your product, website or service. People will click because they’ll trustthem over you.

6. Use a strong guarantee on your banner ad. Youcould include the guarantee as a headline for youroffer. It could read double or triple your money backguarantee, lifetime your money back guarantee, etc.

7. Tell people to click on your banner ad. Newbiesto the internet may net even know they can click onbanners. Just having the phrase “click here” on yourbanner will increase your clickthroughs.

8. You could advertise a trial or sample offer. Thiswill tell people there is no risk or obligation if theyclick on your banner ad and try out your product orservice.

9. Tell people the major benefit of your product, website or service on your banner ad. It could be benefitslike make money, lose weight, increase energy, savemoney, save time, etc.

10. You could advertise a free offer on your bannerad. People love free stuff. The freebie should relateto your target audience. If the freebie is attractiveto them they will click.

There are scores of sites and programs on the net, which claim to make you rich overnight, some even claim to make you “,000 in 30 days”. But the point is, are such types of income really possible for the average person with nil or negligible knowledge, who may or may not be able to different between concepts like reciprocal backlinks and one-way links, or any other advanced and sophisticated approach. Would you like to know about a program, which is totally Honest in its claims. Read more at Review of Honest Income Program….

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Article by Scott Lindsay

Large companies that have impressive advertising budgets are doing very well with animated or video directed banner ads on some of the most visited websites on the Internet. The content is creative and professional.

Many people may think of banner ads as a rectangular box with a static and stationary company logo with a clickable link. Some may remember early animated banner ads that appeared to be a game, but no matter where you clicked it took you to a business website or flashing banners that tell you that you are the 10,000th customer and a winner of some valuable prize.

Today’s banner ads are impressive and high profile. With the advent of AdSense and other Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising methods it was thought the use of banner ads was no longer something that business owners should engage in.

I think the truth is many business owners understood the value of visually appealing advertising. They could design creative ads for newsprint or television so why not the Internet. Had the notion of creativity been relegated to the fewest words with the most keyword specific target?

In the end the business owners helped reestablish banner ads with a whole new look.

Is it possible for small business owners to find success in banner advertising? Well, chances are pretty good you will not be able to successfully compete for the same ad space big business owners occupy. That being said you can look for a trusted forum that is geared toward the industry you serve. Most of these forum owners can supply an attractive price for banner advertising.

It is possible you don’t have a background in graphic design. You have two options. The first is to hire a graphic designer who can assist you in creating one or more banner ads. The second idea is to utilize the website logobogo.com. This site is filled with graphic designers who can provide logos at no cost.

What’s the catch?

The designers on this website are at various stages in their skill level. The designers accept a donation if you choose to provide one. The most professional among the ranks at this website provide design work to add material to their portfolio and to solicit additional work beyond the original free graphic work. Just make sure you ask the designer for the exact banner ad size you need (check with the site you plan on advertising with).

Most of these artists will provide one free graphic per customer and if you would like the same designer to work on additional material you may want to consider hiring them.

You do have options that include banner advertising. I’ve supplied a few ideas on ways you can go about developing a banner ad and I’ve also given you one primary location for banner ad placement. If I were to suggest another location it may likely be with an online magazine that deals with your industry.

Marketing is all about advertising. In an online environment advertising can be about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) or banner ads to name a few.

Explore your options and do your best to develop a plan that includes affordable ways to get your message to the buying public.

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Article by Deepak Kamboj

While surfing through Internet one is common in most of the websites is flashing of jazzy banner advertising. Petite and pretty formation of these graphical ads surely turn our heads and our mouse to click upon them. So what are these rectangular piece of ads empowered with to create stimulating effects on its fragment of viewers? Biggies in online businesses bet on these to bring them potential traffic to their traffic. Small players invest on these ads to make a big impression that camouflage their size of business to stand next to bigger competitors. Some site owners simply boast off their latest promotional offer by roping through these crowd pulling ad forms.

As per expert designers of banner ads, share of planning, putting efforts and investment of time involved in banner ads contradict small size of them considerably. To get the banner ad pull heavy and heavier traffic, designers put in great and greater attempts in selection of contents, images, designing tools, experimenting on effectiveness by adding or altering components of banner ads and conducting researches on placement of these ads on publishers etc. As a well composed banner creates huge impacts on surfers, likewise positioning of the banner at the publishers’ sites equally potent in bringing traffic. After all, it the that site that acts as the source of traffic for a banner ad. Therefore, an array of factors work behind success of a banner –

1.A catchy headline2.Keep the prim and simple3.Limit file size as much as possible to get easily loaded4.An animated or flash banner is 25% more effective than static banners. 5.Place the banner at a site that do not pose as competitor 6.Discard sites that act as ‘banner farm’ by clustering too many banners7.Select the sites that complement the products your site is dealing with. 8.Sites attracting sheer number of Internet users to it is able to drive potential traffic to your site.

With passing of time, banner advertising happens to the advertising tool most of the advertising company and advertisers want to incorporate to their array of advertising campaigns to make sure they can successfully perform task of branding, multiply traffic of visitors and generating sales and profits.

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