Banner advertising is one of
most widely used marketing medium on
Internet. Though banner click-throughs have decreased to less than 1.0% in
past year, it is still possible to achieve reasonably good click-through of 3.0% and above.Below are 10 effective steps that I have successfully used to help my clients boost click-throughs on their banner campaigns.
1. Employ Action Words
Use action words like "FREE" and "Click Here" in your banners.
Offering something "FREE" in your message attracts
reader to click on your banner. Banners with "Click Here" teasers and similar action phrases also increase click-through.
2. Use Short and Punchy Headlines
A short and punchy banner headline makes a difference. Always load your headline with benefit statements - offer solutions to
challenges that your customers face. If you sell diet products, try "Lose 10 pounds in four weeks!". Work on a winning combination of text and graphics in your banner ad.
3. Animated Banners vs. Static Banners
Animated banners usually outperform their static counterparts by more than 100%. Surfers are more likely to notice banners that are animated. Example: If you have
words "Click Here" flashing in your banner, it will perform better than a static version.
4. Adopt Better Designs
Many of us are not graphic artists. We can create simple banners but it is hard to match
work of a professional graphic artist. You should engage a professional banner ad designer to create your banners. Expect to invest $80 per banner.
The standard sizes for banner ads are 400x40 pixels or 468x60 pixels. I recommend that you design a 468x60 banner. With
clutter of graphics on most webpages, a larger banner has a higher chance of getting noticed.
5. Try Trick Banners
These banners resemble Windows dialog boxes, scroll bars, submit buttons or blue-colored underlined hyperlinks. They attract you to click on
dialog boxes and scroll bars - which you are already accustomed to doing with
Windows operating system. If you use trick banners with short and punchy headlines, you can get click-throughs above 10.0%!
6. Reduce Your Banner File Sizes
Reduce your banner file size to less than 15k. The last thing a surfer wants is a slow-loading webpage. Most websites and banner exchanges do not allow excessively large banners.
Create a fast-loading banner right from
start. Optimize your banner file size through your graphic software or an online graphic optimizer.