Banner ads have been a rudimentary form of internet advertising for decades now. And yet, they’re still a fantastic way for companies to advertise. These ads are meant to be placed on other websites to help draw traffic and raise awareness.
Resources like Google Ads make it easy for businesses to use banner ads to help draw in more traffic and encourage awareness of their products, services, and overall brand. But are banners suitable for all types of companies? How are they best used to gain an optimal result?
What Does A Banner Ad Look Like?
Banner ads are vertical and horizontal ads that fit within the margins of the top or side of a website. They invite viewers to visit the website and learn more about what a company has to offer.
Often, they include minimal text but will make use of eye-catching images to help convey a message and feeling in order to encourage the viewer to click. These ads should be bright and welcoming, and they should grab the reader’s attention.
Banner ads can be static or animated, though business owners do need to be careful to ensure any animated banners follow best practices so they don’t drive traffic away inadvertently.
Banner ads generally include the company logo, the value of a product or service, a visual element to catch the viewer’s eye, and a call to action to get them to click instead of scrolling away. All of these are used together to create a banner ad that captures the viewer’s attention and drives them to learn more.
When And Where Are Banner Ads Used?
Banner ads can be used when a business wants to advertise a new promotion, when they’re launching a new advertising campaign, or whenever the business wants to drive more traffic to their website. Each of these situations might call for a different banner ad to be created, so it’s better for businesses to have multiple ads they can pick from if they won’t be creating a new one for each campaign.
When a banner ad is created, it’s then placed in high-traffic areas of websites. Being in a high-traffic or high-visibility area encourages more people to click on the ad. There is a trend right now where people tend to automatically block out advertisements online because they’re so used to seeing them.
However, when the right banner ad is created, and it’s placed in one of these high-visibility areas—typically the front, bottom, or side of a website—the viewer is more likely to see it and click on it.
How To Get A Viewer To Click The Ad
Banner ads are different from other types of visual advertising done online, so they do need to be treated differently to get more viewers to click. Creators of banner ads will generally make sure the ad fits in with any page on which it may be posted.
By effectively showcasing the design and the visual elements, the viewer will be more likely to click the ad and visit the website.
Unlike other types of marketing that may have a text or video to get viewers interested, banner ads focus on the image. The message is generally done through the visual parts of the banner ad instead of the text.
With the location on the website, effective messaging done the right way, and the overall appearance of the ad, banner ads are designed from the beginning to get more views and more clicks.
What Makes A Good Banner Ad?
Like any other type of advertisement, banner ads can be effective or ineffective. It’s crucial for business owners who want to get started with banner ads to know what makes a banner add impactful, so they can avoid making one that falls flat and doesn’t bring in as many views.
To create a good banner ad, make sure you consider the following:
- The Target Audience – Know who will be interested in visiting the website, so the banner can be created with their interests and sensibilities in mind. By finding a target audience and tailoring the banner ad to it, the most prospective viewers are far more likely to click on it and visit the website.
- The Font – It’s fine to play around with fonts to help convey the right message, but the font does need to be easily readable. Unusual fonts may be eye-catching, but viewers aren’t going to attempt to read it—they’ll just move onto something different.
- The Photos or Images – The image is the main focus of any banner ad – it’s what is going to capture the viewer’s attention and get them to read the text on the ad. Any photos or images used for the banner ad should be carefully selected to ensure they convey the right message.
- The Colors – Branding is crucial for banner ads, just like any other type of advertisement. Always use brand colors to create the ad, so viewers recognize the color, logo, and other components and know what company created the ad.
- The Layout – Banner ads don’t offer a lot of space, so the busier they are, the less likely it is they’ll catch the attention of a viewer. Keep the layout in mind while creating the banner ad so everything has its own space. An effective layout will ensure the ad doesn’t end up feeling crowded or busy or stark and uninteresting.
What Makes A Bad Banner Ad?
There are certain mistakes that are made frequently by banner ad designers, especially if the designer is a business owner who doesn’t have much experience creating ads. When a banner ad is being created, make sure to avoid the following mistakes.
- Too Much Going On – One of the biggest mistakes made is trying to fit too much into a small ad. Know the banner ad sizes before starting the design and make sure everything will fit without the design looking too crowded. If this happens, go back and see what can be removed to make the ad look clear and only includes the most essential information.
- The Wrong Colors – Sticking with brand colors is key to choosing the right colors for a banner ad. When random colors are chosen, they may clash, which gives the wrong impression to viewers.
- Ignoring the Target Audience – Knowing the target audience, as mentioned, is an important part of creating a good banner ad. If the target audience is ignored, the banner ad won’t get many clicks at all. Instead, get a clear idea of who the target audience is and create the banner ad for them.
- Too Broad of a Target Audience – While a narrower target audience might seem limiting, it’s actually better than one that’s too broad. For example, a makeup company won’t gain as much return if they simply advertise to all women. Instead, they will get better results if they advertise to the women of a specific demographic who wish to gain certain benefits, such as older professionals looking for easy application or younger women looking for something new and trendy.
- Unclear Message – Keep the message simple and clear. If the message isn’t clear, viewers won’t know why they should click on the banner ad and will easily look past it. With a clear and simple message, they’ll be more likely to click and view the website.
- Poor Graphics – Quality graphics are a requirement. Poor graphics can give the impression that the business just doesn’t care about their customers and viewers won’t notice the ad or won’t be interested in clicking on it.
Why Should This Type of Advertising be Used?
Today’s internet users are used to banner ads, so they can tend to just gloss over them and ignore them. This doesn’t mean they’re a poor option for advertising. In fact, when the banner ad is done correctly, it has a much higher chance of grabbing the viewer’s attention, even if they would normally glance over an ad on the website. Banner ads also have a ton of other benefits.
They can help create and maintain brand awareness, so viewers are more likely to recognize the company in the future.
These ads are also incredibly versatile, so they can be adjusted and used in many different places online to bring in more visitors to a website. They can appear in many different locations, reaching out to more potential customers, and can be adjusted to various target audiences to pull in as many viewers as possible.
When done right, they can be a very effective marketing campaign that is easily tracked and adjusted as needed.
Business owners who want to start using banner ads have a lot of options available to them. There are apps available to help with ad designs, and this can be an inexpensive way to get started.
Many companies make it easy to create and publish banner ads, so this is something you can do on your own. If you’d like a more polished look, however—one that’s going to help bring in more traffic to your website—it may be better to work with a professional service.
The professional service offers experience, which usually goes a long way for creating an amazing banner ad and publishing them so they have the most reach.
