Are Web Banners Bad?

Banner ads are like any other ads: the bad ads get no response. There are many commercials that go on television and never make the money back that is put into them. The problem is not that banner ads do not work. The problem is that many banner ads are ineffective.

(PRWEB) January 23, 2005 -- Are Web Banners Bad?

The quick answer is no. According to an article in the Web Developer's Journal, web banners are a "proven success story."

Banner ads are like any other ads: the bad ads get no response. There are many commercials that go on television and never make the money back that is put into them. The problem is not that banner ads do not work. The problem is that many banner ads are ineffective.

The first thing to do before advertising is make sure you have a web banner that will encourage people to gain interest in your product. Once you have a banner that gets the attention of internet users, it is time for a little research.

Make sure the web sites you will advertise on get at least 10 000 unique visitors a month. Otherwise, you might have the same users viewing your ads over and over. Most likely you will be paying for impressions (each time the banner loads). There is not much of an average when it comes this, but more prestigious sites tend to charge more money per impression. If you are paying per click, that is fine too. Do not pay a monthly fee unless it is inexpensive and you are advertising on a very popular site. If you are paying by impression, try to get a site that charges less than $35 for 1000 impressions. Basically, you should be paying less than $0.04 per impression.

If you are using CPM (impression advertising), make sure the site has some type of ad control. Most good ad programs will allow you to limit your daily impressions, what countries you advertise to, and how many times one person can view your ad. Some programs will even allow you to limit what time of day or what days the ads should be shown. This is all very important, since you do not want your impressions to go to waste. Without ad control, one person could reload the page 1000 times, and you would lose your $35.

In the realm of banner advertising, we need to remember the banner exchange. Although some banner exchanges have been criticized, others are highly effective. Never go for a banner exchange program that costs money. They should all be free. Use banner exchanges that are 1:1. This means that for each time you show someone's banner on your site, your banner is shown on someone's site. There is a great 1:1 free banner exchange at http://www.eventsquarterly.com/ad/swap/index.php - highly effective. Many other banner exchanges are ineffective because they are 2:1 or cost money to join. You do not want to pay money into something that you are not 100% sure of, and a 2:1 exchange means that you show banners twice on your web site, and you get your banner shown only once in return.

Do not shy away from banner advertising. Use it wisely, and do your research. Ask the people who you want to advertise with a lot of questions. If they do not answer your questions or point you to a web page to read, do not advertise with them. Experience shows that businesses that have poor customer service do not care about you or your banners. You want to make sure you find a site that deals with your advertising as you would.

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