NFIB

Banner or Bummer? Part I
04/ 15/ 2002


Banner ads are an indispensable part of an overall marketing plan to promote your Web site, but if not designed and used properly, they can eat up your marketing budget with little practical result. In today's and next week's Workshops, Jeffrey Moses discusses some practical pointers to help make your banner ads successful.

Banner ads are onscreen advertisements that contain some message pertaining to your Web site. They provide viewers an area onscreen to click and be transferred directly to a designated page on your site.

Unfortunately, the click through rate (the percentage of viewers that actually click on a banner and are transferred to another site), is somewhat small. Estimates place standard click through rates at anywhere from 0.5% to 2.0% or slightly more. Because click through rates are low, it's important to maximize your return on investment when placing banner ads.

Other than registration with search engines, banner ads are probably the most fundamental advertising vehicle on the Internet. As with any type of advertising, a combination of key factors determines the cost efficiency of Internet banner ads:

1. Size and placement vs. cost,

2. Effectiveness of message,

3. Speed at which the banner ad downloads.

Banner ads come in specific sizes, each of which you've probably seen a thousand times while on the web:

Full banner (486x60 pixels) -- these usually download first when a new site is brought up. They are often at the top of the page.

Full banner w/ vertical navigation bar (392x72)

Half banner (234x60)

Vertical banner, usually running along the side of a page (120x240)

Square, often called a square button (12x125)

Button one, a smaller banner ad placed above another smaller banner ad (120x90)

Button two, a smaller banner placed below a button one (120x60)

Micro, usually fitted in below a column of text (88x31)

Web sites that offer banner ad placement will price their space according to size and the popularity of the particular page on which the banner will appear (based on the number of viewer visits). It's vitally important to place your banner ad so that it reaches the most targeted market possible. This will ensure you the highest number of click throughs for your money.

Usually, most visitors to a site will see the home page, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the home page offers you the best value for placement of your banner ad. Why? Because specific secondary pages of the site may attract viewers who are more likely to be very interested in the service or product you provide. These are the people who will linger, and who ultimately will end up purchasing products or services advertised on the page.

For instance, say you have a bike and boat rental service at a popular lake vacation spot. You design a web site, then decide to advertise the site using a banner ad on a large web site hosted by your local tourist development council (TDC). The home page of the TDC may not be the most cost-effective page for your banner, because many of the site's viewers may be more interested in hiking in the mountains or trying their luck at the local casinos. They may not be interested in vacationing at your lake. In such cases, you'll be paying a large placement fee because of the high traffic on the home page, but it won't be targeted traffic. If there's a particular page on the site that is specifically designed to feature all the different activities and businesses around your lake then that's the perfect page for your banner. The cost of placement will be considerably less than for the home page, because fewer people will visit it. However, those viewers will be highly targeted, and as a result will be more likely to click through to your site.

The effectiveness of your message will be instrumental in determining how many viewers actually click on your banner. In general, keep your message direct and simple. Remember, web viewers are often moving quickly, looking for something that catches their interest. Try to pinpoint a specific need that viewers have.
For instance, if you're designing a banner for your bike and boat service, as in the example above, you might design your banner to read: Best Bike And Boat Rental On The Lake.

Or:

Are You Looking Forward To Great Fishing? Acme Bike And Boat Rental. As you see, the trick is to keep the wording simple and direct, and highly targeted to potential customers.

In next week's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses continues this discussion by helping you make sure that your banner downloads quickly enough to keep the attention of viewers. Also discussed are alternate types of banner ads to increase your click through rate.

workshops.technology.thur
9.14.00

Small Business Sound Off
Does this story hit home?  Share your story with us