To be most effective, banners need to be placed on high traffic sites that target visitors most likely to want your type of product or service.

Animated banners do produce higher click-through rates than non-animated banners. At least, that has been my experience. The two sites I have listed below offer free animated banners. They are both easy to use.

Animation Online http://www.animationonline.com

AdDesigner http://addesigner.com/cgi-bin/samples.pl

Don't make banner ads your only marketing effort, but only one part of your overall marketing plan.

7. Introduce yourself in your ad copy. Haven't you ever read an ad copy and wondered half way through it who is selling product? It's a big turn off.

8. Start your ad with a story. It draws people right into your ad and they forget they're being sold to. You could start with "Once upon a time..."

9. Use less than five points in your ad copy. If you start revealing too many topics, your readers might get confused and quit reading.

10. Make your target audience's experience reading your ad positive. You could educate them or tell a joke to make them laugh.