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Banner Advertising Downfall?
By: Jim Conley II, MerchantSeek.com

Are banner advertisements really losing their effectiveness? In
some ways, yes they are. No doubt you're probably one of the
many people who tune out banner advertisements, myself
included. Though I do have to admit that there are times I do
find some intriguing ones that I click on. Which ones are those
and why? That's what this article will focus on. While the
standard 468x60 banner may be losing effectiveness there are
ways you can design your banners to make them more likely to
be clicked.

Lets look at some of the reasons why standard banners are
ineffective and how we can improve them.

1. Too large in size and take too much time to load
2. Design and layout are unprofessional
3. Banner too cluttered with text
4. Not reaching the right target audience

Banner Size

I'm not talking about the pixel height and width of the banner.
I'm talking about the size in kb (kilobytes). Animated banners
are a great way to attract attention, but too much animation will
cause your banner size to skyrocket. Many times people
develop these great looking banner ads to start off with, then
they realize the size is much too big so they squeeze it through
a graphic optimizer program. While these programs can be
good, if you use it too much it will make your banner look like
it was run over by a herd of elephants from Africa. There goes
your professional image right out the window. Static banners
(non-animated) should be in the ballpark of 7kb in size while
animated should be no more than 12kb. Be sure to check with
the site you wish to advertise on as to banner size limits and if
animation is allowed. The smaller in size the quicker the
download. When developing an animated banner watch out for
the number of frames your banner is, too. The more frames the
larger in size your banner will be.

Design & Layout

The way you design your banner is so important. The more
you make your banner look less like a banner the more
effective it will become. Lose the standard boxy looking
banner and make one that looks like it is a part of the website
you are advertising on. First go to a few sites you want to
advertise on and look at the layout and design of the site. Mark
down their background color (usually white), what fonts they
use, and font color too (usually black).

Once you have this information handy open up your graphics
development software. I use Paint Shop Pro from Jasc
Software. You can try it FREE for 30-days by just going to
http://www.jasc.com/download_4.asp They also offer
Animation Shop which you can use to make your animated
banners. I would encourage you to purchase Paint Shop Pro as
it is a very effective graphics designing program and you also
get a copy of Animation Shop for free.

A good way to encourage people to click your banner is to
make it appear interactive. To do this make your banner look
like a form by using text boxes, radio buttons, pull-down
menus, etc. Now, in order to do this you will need to do a
screenshot of a form on a webpage. You no doubt have at least
one form on your site. Making a screenshot is easy, just go to a
page that contains a form, scroll down to the fields you'd like to
include in your banner and hit the "Print Screen" button on
your keyboard. Once you do this go back to the graphics program
and hold down Ctrl+P (to paste) or go to "Edit" and click
"Paste." The form screenshot will now be in front of you.
Now grab your cropping tool and cut out around the different
form fields you want to use and paste them on your banner.
Then you can erase the wording in the fields (if there is any)
and place your own text in. Don't forget to include the submit
button. I won't go in to any more detail than that. Just be
creative! Also remember to make the background of your
banner the same color as the background of the site you want to
advertise on. This way your banner will blend into the site and
appear as though it is actually a part of the site.

Your Ad Text

Just like when writing an e-zine advertisement or your website
sales copy, when you're making an ad banner you need to give
a reason why people should click to your site. Saying things
like, "We're #1!" or "We're The Best!" is not going to cut it.
People tune out these kinds of ads. Don't tell people you're this
and you're that, instead show them WHY you are the best. You
have a limited amount of space, don't try to squeeze everything
in. When you do this you lose effectiveness. Banner ads are
just like highway billboards. People are in a hurry and are not
going to stop and read all the mumbo jumbo you crammed in
your ad. People scan. Design your ad to be scanned rather
than read. If at all possible include the word FREE in bright
red letters. Both the color red and the word "free" will catch
people's eye. It's also been proven that people click on more
ads that include the words "Click Here." Newbie Internet users
are not familiar with the basic functions we are used to, this is
why you have to lead them by the hand.

Let's say you're a web hosting company. Some of the
statements you might want to include are:

* 99.9% Uptime Guaranteed
* Ultra-fast T-3 servers
* Unlimited Bandwidth
* Try us RISK-FREE for 30 Days

Pick out the highlights of your product offerings and include
them on your banners. Make use of basic graphics to grab
attention and make your point. The ticket here is to be as
creative as possible. Don't try to squeeze all your ideas in one
banner, spread them out over several.

Target Your Market Window

This may seem obvious, but it's very important to only
advertise your banners on sites that compliment yours. You
need to position yourself in front of people who are going to be
interested in what you have to offer. Meet people at the point
of their needs, don't expect them to come looking for you. Put
yourself in their path.

I often see banner ad networks offering both targeted and run-
of-network ad campaigns. While the run-of-network
campaigns are always cheaper they are also less effective. If
you choose one of these types of networks shoot for targeted
advertising. It costs more, but is much more effective.

When inquiring with a website ask them for a copy of their
current media kit so you can get an idea of pricing,
demographics, etc. Something you might find confusing in a
media kit is the use of the term CPM. For example, they may
post:

468x60 banner ad - $35/CPM Minimum: 10,000 impressions

This means it will cost you $35 for every 1,000 showings of
your banner, or commonly called, banner impressions. Some
places have a minimum so be sure to calculate that in. For this
example 10,000 impressions at $35 would cost $350.

Though standard banner advertising may be losing its
effectiveness there are still ways of teaching this "old dog" new
tricks to make it more effective than ever before. If you follow
the tips I've given and mix in a little creativity you are well on
your way to developing a very effective banner advertising
campaign for your website.

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Jim Conley II is the CEO/Founder of MerchantSeek. MerchantSeek allows merchants from around the world to search FREE for a Merchant Account Provider that best fits their businesses needs and budget. Visit us at http://www.merchantseek.com/