How to create effective banner ads?

Banner ads completely changed the face of advertising. Marketers were compelled to change their whole way of thinking and create new designs that would fit the criteria of limited space, visibility and size. Subsequent studies have shown that their efforts paid off; if the right approach to banner ads was deployed, users were actually clicking on them. The past tense is deliberate here: by 2006 it became apparent that Internet users were experiencing “banner blindness” and banner ads were no longer as popular – or successful as they once were. Not to be beaten, advertisers are giving their banner ads more thought and the emphasis is on making the ad more relevant to the page it is on, and making it simple rather than its earlier screaming, all colors blazing predecessors.

To create successful banner ads, you must do your research. If you do not know who or what your competition is, you cannot hope to be successful. Trawl popular Websites that are relevant to your industry and examine all the banner ads that are on display. Take a close look at the banner ads that you like and those that you don’t, so you can see what you thinks works and what doesn’t.

Make sure that the banner ads you want to promote your business or services are short and simple. Banner ads are displayed amongst large amounts of other information and so are competing for attention. The fact that banner ads get a limited display means that the information on them must grab attention by being brief. It has been proven that banner ads that comply with the simplicity rule are the more successful ones; the ones that are busy with information and visuals are the ones with fewer clicks and the ones people are most likely to forget.

When you create banner ads, remember that old adage – less is more. People can’t be bothered reading lots of information in a tiny font trying to work out what it is you are selling. Large fonts and fewer words make more impact.

Make sure you keep file size low, and 45 to 70 kilobytes is typically a good size for banner ads. Even if the site you want to display on has no limitations as to size, it is good to have a fast loading ad.

Think about the colors you want to have in your banner ads and make sure they fit in with the background colors of the site you are going to display on, rather than having one universal color that can clash. The message may be the same, but if it doesn’t look right it won’t matter what it says because nobody will click.

There is little point in having great banner ads if the Website they lead to is pitiful because people will immediately navigate away from it. Banner ads are only as good as the sales they create.

Check that you have researched your target audience properly and that your amazing banner ads are not being wasted on the wrong people. With some research you will find that banner ads are an effective way of leading your customers to your site, and their dollars to your bank account.