Banner Advertising :: How To Get The "Clicks"

Banner advertising is a great way for any company, whether big or small, to make money and promote themselves. The trick or the science to banner advertising is trying to get someone to click on the banner. Of course you can approach this from many different angles. Probably the best viewpoint(s) to consider is what the target demographic is and what you would do yourself.

When approaching my first ad campaign I was simply concerned with getting the code into the sites and not so much concerned with placement nor which banners to run on the site. In retrospect that probably wasn't the best approach. After going back to each of the sites and analyzing them I gained a new focus on my banner advertising. First you need to figure out your demographic for the site and run banners that appeal to the possible consumer. Second you need to find a place to place the banners that catches the viewers attention but at the same time does not annoy them. Once this is done you sit and wait and see your results, if you don't get the results you need then try again. Eventually you will find out what works and what doesn't.

Now when choosing your banners you might want to consider using either rich media (DHTML) or at least animated .gif's. I find myself a lot more inclined to click on a banner if there is animation and/or appealing to the eye. Static banners seem to fall short in the area of CTR's (Click Through Ratio), and can sometimes be confused with being an part of the site design.

Ultimately you need to put yourself in the seat of the viewer and do what you think they will like. Not what you think "looks cool." Hit the demographic, have eye candy banners and you will more than likely get your results.