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More Effective Banners
1) Choose Pleasing Colors
Banners that are easy on the eyes are more likely to be effective than ads that are difficult to look at. Use colors that are pleasing to look at. Use the Netscape compatible color palette so you can know how your colors will look on different monitors through the Internet. Brighter colors are more effective than subtle colors, though a mix of both can be effective.
2) State Who You Are or What You Offer
There is nothing worse for surfers than to see a banner and have to click on
it just to see what it is about, (or worse yet, not have any desire to click)
and then feel disappointed because it wasn't something that interested them.
You may increase your click-through performance this way but you won't increase
the effectiveness of your campaign, because surfers who feel betrayed or
disappointed will not buy from you or return to your site.
State who you are. Most advertisers do this by placing a version of their
logo, as well as including a tagline or short description on their banner.
This also builds name recognition. Your name, logo or tagline should
communicate something about what you do or offer. It's also wise to state
who you are, then clearly state what you offer. A surfer who sees a banner that says
"Free Crafts Catalog" will not likely be disappointed when they click,
go to your site and see an offer for a free crafts catalog. However, saying
"Free Catalog" might make them feel betrayed.
Keep it simple and don't over-clutter your banner with too much text or
too many graphics.
3) Match Your Message to Your Audience
In designing your name or offer and the colors on your banner, you need to match the overall look and feel to your audience. If you are targeting mothers, then having a banner which looks cool for hip single twenty-something women will not match your target audience. The young women may click on your banner and mothers may not.
4) Call to Action
Research shows that banners that include the words, "click here" are more effective than banners that do not. Be obvious and include a call to action.
5) A Word on Animation
Research is showing that animated banners are more effective than
non-animated banners, keep in mind some
Keep your animation simple and to as few frames in your animated
sequence as possible. Some advertisers minimize this problem by having
their banners go through one animation cycle and then stop (versus a
looping animation that keeps going). Motion animation is more
intriquing than blinking animation.
We do not feel an animated banner is required for an effective campaign.
We have seen some very fast-loading, non-animated banners which have been
wonderfully designed to draw the user in work as effectively as some of
the best animated banners. Static banners will be clear to a larger segment
of the surfing population than animated.
6) Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Advertising or promoting your site is not necessarily all about how many
impressions and click-throughs you can drive through a campaign. This is
a common goal but very short-sighted.
If Advertiser A has produced 60,000 impressions, 1200 click-throughs, and
no sales and Advertiser B has produced 50 impressions, 20 click-throughs,
and 10 sales, then its obvious which advertiser had a more successful
campaign.
If Advertiser A wants to build traffic to their website and they
receive 250,000 impressions, 5000 click-throughs and no repeat traffic and
Advertiser B receives only 10,000 impressions, 1000 click-throughs and
80% of that traffic become repeat, regular traffic- then Advertiser B
has done a more effective job of growing their traffic.
The Internet is a fast-paced, rollercoaster type of environment. Keep
your eye on the prize!
Animated Banner Resources
Effective Banners
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