Here are some tips to help you with your banner campaigns.
Include text like "click here" to your banner, making it clear to
the viewer what they are supposed to do.
Use interactive features if they are available. You've seen these
kinds of banners all over the web lately. The FreeLotto banner that
allows you to scrape the tickets is a prime example of a great
interactive banner.
You should change your banners fairly often. After a few
hundred thousand impressions (or less) a banner becomes stale and it's
click-through rate will drop.
Target your banners to the appropriate web sites. If you want
webmasters to visit your site, then choose a banner exchange for
webmasters.
Use animation in a banner to capture the attention of your viewers
and make your banner stand out from the rest of the page.
Research about banners indicates that contents on banners does not
work. So do not include contests on your banners.
Keep the banner size less than 10k if you can, certainly no more
than 15k.
Of course, sex sells. However, do not make your banners pornographic
unless your site is pornographic.
If your banner is for an existing brand, then don't put the brand
name on the banner as people already know about the brand and
thus will not click on the banner. I found this out with banners for
Amazon.Com - the click-through rate was terrible, presumably because
people already knew about Amazon.
And very, very important - track your banners constantly. You need
to know what works and what doesn't, and you need to understand that
this can change on a daily basis.
Remember that banners must grab your visitors attention fast. They
must get a person's attention in a few seconds. This is one reason why
large banners are ineffective - people don't wait for them to load, much
less look at them.
Additional Information
Banner Sizes Here are
the standard sizes for the various banners. This is a general
agreement among advertisers.
Banner Tips This page
includes some tips to help you with your banner campaigns.
