Banner Advertising in Web Site Promotion

Banner advertising has a low response rate as a rule, often not yeilding more than 2 visitors per thousand banner impressions, so what are banners good for and how can you get the most out of banner ads?

Well, despite the relatively poor value of banners for driving traffic, and despite banners being a good way to burn cash for little direct result, banner adverts can indeed be worthwhile for certain businesses to consider and to use.

For while the direct response rate to banners is less than 1%, the top research shows that a banner advertising campaign can raise brand awareness by 5 or 6%.  If you are building a brand name on the internet then banner ads are highly effective.

It should not really surprise anyone that banners do not tend to generate high click-thru ratios.  A banner is generally appearing on a page someone is interested in (else why are they there) offering a very brief invitation to the unknown.

Banner ads are so commonplace that they become almost invisible, about as noticeable as the menubar on your browser.

Even when they are noticed we are likely to finish whatever we are doing and reading before even thinking of checking out a banner.

Even when we do look at a banner, the screen space is small, and it is a very limited advertising space.

However, the branding effect, the way a name from a banner ad can slip into our consciousness, that works well still, although it generally takes good design and a handful of exposures for a banner ad to work its full magic.

So, if you want to try banner advertising, select a banner that maximises the brand-building and brand-awareness generating aspects right from the start. Avoid annoying banners, such as distracting animations, to avoid associating your brand with annoyance.

Select where your banner will appear not only by the volume of your target audience that will see it there, but also to enhance your reputation by association with who is carrying your banner.

Aim to make your message give a lasting impression in the memory of those who read it. You are not going to get huge volumes of click traffic on a banner anyway, so instead maximise the real benefit of letting your audience know you are out there and active.