Affiliate Earn Money - Are Banner Ads Still an Effective Form of Internet Advertising?

Since that time banner ads have taken over the internet in a variety of forms. 1994 in the form of an ad for ATandT, the first banner ad appeared on http://www.hotwired.com (now http://www.wired.com) back in October 27th. Banner ads are the pioneers of internet marketing.

The real purpose behind banner ads is to get someone to click on it and jump to your website, or anything else you like, address, although banner ads can be used to advertise your phone number. The same banner ad can be used on most websites without having to reconfigure the size and layout, due to the widespread acceptance of this size. However the accepted standard is 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels high, banner ads can come in any size you want. A banner ad is a graphical promotion used on websites as a form of advertisement.

By combining below-average ad rates and above-average response rates, with a good banner design and placement it is still possible to achieve a good return on investment, but. The average click-through rate hovers somewhere around 0.5% range for banner ads. The same can be said of banner ad prices, although click-through rates have gone consistently downward. Saying they don't work worth a darn, others swear at them, some people swear by them. There is a great deal of controversy about the effectiveness of banners.

Or pay per action (PPA), pay per click (PPC), 000 impressions (CPM), banner ads are sold in any one of three ways: cost per 1.

Most places though don't do this for the simple reason that it means less money in their pocket. And only charge one click per computer per day, however some ad providers track IP address. One of the drawbacks to PPC banner advertising is that one person may click on an ad more than once and you get charged for each click. But can be much more effective because people actually take some kind of action by clicking though to your site, buying a PPC banner is usually more expensive than the CPM basis.

Do the math with me: Banner ads can be quite expensive, even though it may not seem like much. While targeted sites may get CPM rates of $30 - $50 or more, banner ads to reach general audiences are typically priced at $1 to $10 CPM. Most CPM banner sites rotate the banners throughout the site (Run of Site - ROS) and throughout the page. Or hidden in a bottom corner, depending upon their placement on the webpage and you typically (not always) pay the same whether the banner is displayed prominently at the top of the page, the effectiveness of cost per impression banners can vary quite a bit.

Especially when they originate from a banner ad, some websites don't even manage to convert 2% of visitors into customers. That means for every transaction you do you need to pay out $100 in advertising fees. ($2 / 2%), then your customer acquisition cost (CAC) is $100, if 2% of the visitors to your site make a purchase. Or $2 per person, then it costs you $10 to get 5 people to your site, if you're paying $10 CPM and the click-through rate is an industry average of 0.5%.

Fourth and even twentieth sale, third, a product with a high markup (like an info product) or have a strong back-end in place so you make money on the second, with below average banner prices and sell either a high-ticket product, you need to combine above average click-through rates, in order for banner ads to be effective.

PPA banners can be very similar to an affiliate program and use the same type of tracking. Having someone sign up for an email list or any other action you want, this can be a product sale. Since you pay only for a desired action, pay per action banners are usually the most expensive.

Banner Exchanges

Most banner swapping programs are free and some might require you to pay a monthly administration fee so they can cover their costs. Some companies have banner swapping programs, just like link swapping.

For a profit, 000 impressions you lose, they sell the extra 2. This is how these sites fund themselves. 000 impressions of your banner on someone else's site in return, but you only get 8, 000 impressions, let's say you need to place a certain banner on your site for a total 10. Your banners being displayed on other sites. Vs, many of the free companies make money by the in-proportionate ratio of banners you display on your site.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this if both sites are of a similar interest and get comparatively the same amount of traffic. If you put mine on yours; i'll put your banner on my site, some banner exchanges are pure and simple.

It's also always a good idea to use your own ad tracker so you can follow the click-throughs to your site and see how many actually lead to a sale. This way you can determine what works best if you're paying per impression. Some sites will track your stats and some will allow you to upload multiple banners so they can be rotated throughout the sites where are placed.

Wording and call to action of your banner is quite important, the design, as with any type of advertising. Until it gets to yours, some of these companies use software that automatically creates your banner untouched by human hands and unseen by human eyes. Make sure it is on target, if you are going to let the banner exchange company design it for you. (or have designed) your own banners, although I suggest you design. Some banner exchange companies will actually design the banner for you as part of their program.

The following are some tips to help generate the highest click-through rate possible: People need a reason to make an impulse decision so you need to give them one. Clicking on a banner is an impulse decision, the surfer's train of thought, interrupt really, since the purpose of a banner is to stop.

But it is often overlooked and can easily double your click-through rates, i know this sounds overly simple. Or some variation thereof, always say "click here" on your banner. - Have a call to action.

Placing the words "click here" into an actual or obvious button on your banner improves response. - Add a button.

Your banner should scream your message. - There's no room for subtlety in banners.

Studies have shown that by changing a statement to a question you can raise your click-through rate by 16%. Particularly when they're used to tease your audience, " Questions work better than statements. - Try posing questions: "Want to save 15% on your car insurance in 15 minutes?

Other people may not get, quite often something that might be funny to you. Make sure it's actually funny and get some others opinions first. - If appropriate use humor.

Stay away from transparent colors either in the foreground or background - they tend to get lost among the colors of most websites so stick with solids. And yellow elicit the most click-throughs, green, blue. Brighter colors attract visitor's eyes. - Use bright primary colors.

The senses are overloaded and/or the file size is too large, don't make them too wild or complicated so the message gets lost. Strategic use of movement grabs attention more effectively than static banners. Moving images and blinking animation attract visitors to your banner. - Use simple animation.

Money is the biggest motivator. Especially if you're giving away money, contests also work well. It will help motivate people to click. - Offer a reward or free gift when someone clicks on your banner.

Most people tend to subconsciously block it out in their mind, after the fourth impression of the same banner. Keep you message consistent and catchy to make your visitors want to read further. Run a series of banners and vary your message. It may take more than one message to tell your story or to go after a particular market. - Run a series of banners.

Use action words that motivate. Write compelling copy. Think billboard advertising - the average person spends six seconds looking at a billboard and you have less than a third of that time on the web. - Keep the copy short.

They can increase click-through rates by a few percentage points when compared with standard typefaces, although they don't have a huge impact. - Use italics if you can.

So targeting based on curiosity can be very effective when you have a general interest product or service, studies show that curious clickers very widely by demographic and other characteristics. A large number of those who click on ads do so because they are curious. - Create curiosity.

Or square banners, skinnier, they're clicked on significantly more than smaller. - Use wide banners or tall skyscraper banners.

10-30kb is typical for a 468 by 60 pixel banner, so it loads quickly; - Make your banner file size is small.

Some Tips on Implementing Banner Ad Campaigns

Profit margins and customer's LOV (lifetime of value), your sites' conversion rate, compared to an average click-through rate of half a percent, consider the banner costs. Determine if you think it would be worth it to participate in a banner ad campaign, first.

Find some websites that complement yours. PPA) and if it's a targeted site or not, cPM, payment types (PPC, banner placement, taking into consideration the cost, determine where and on what sites you want to consider placing your banner ads.

A lot of the time they will give you one simply because you asked. Or even simply ask for a better deal, you can also see if they offer any specials or discounts if you purchase in bulk. Contact the site on which you wish to place your ad and ask if they have a rate card and get info on their payment options.

This usually covers things like: Read the submission guidelines.

- Maximum file size

Swf) Jpg and flash - . , gif. - File types accepted (commonly .

- Accepted banner sizes

- Deadlines for submission and review

How often do they rotate the banners? - How many banners can you submit for rotating campaigns?

- How do they determine where your banner is placed on each page?

- Do you pay for placement or is it random?

CPC (cost per click) and click-through rate for each banner, rOI, this way you can track and determine results like your conversion rate. It's also a good idea to track it yourself, even though the company you are advertising with may do this for you. Keep track of all your banner statistics.

There's tons of other ways to cost effectively market your business online, don't sweat it, if it can't. If it can make you a profit, it may or may not be a financially feasible part of your marketing campaign, depending on all of the key factors mentioned above. Banner advertising can be a key part of your online marketing campaign, all in all.