Methods to Explain Banner Ads to Anyone

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Sometimes, when it comes to advertising, we feel as talented as Don Draper in Mad Men — one of the best (fictional) advertisers in the game. However , advertising has evolved since the sixties, and that’s partly thanks to exactly how expansive the internet has got with commerce.

Banner ads, for example , weren’t around until recently. But for prime advertisement placement, banner ads are the way to go and have cemented their importance in revenue gain for marketers.

So what specifically are banner ads and how do they work? We have a simplified version you may use to explain them to anyone.

Banner ads are placed in high-traffic locations on web pages, producing brand awareness and generating click-throughs, purchases, and qualified prospects. These high-visibility locations range from the front, bottom, or the side of a webpage; places in which the eyes of browsers usually wander.  

A great banner ad grabs the reader’s interest and invites them to find out more about what’s being advertised. These people bright, welcoming, and don’t possess much text, instead making use of images or multimedia to convey a message. Check out this banner ad as an example:

Banner ad for LinkedIn

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LinkedIn’s banner ad was found in the sidebar of a webpage I was browsing. It was huge enough to catch the eye and inviting sufficient to make me linger over the ad.

How Banner Ads Work

Let’s say you’re the publishing outlet. You are able to drive a lot of traffic to your content due to the fact it’s helpful and precious, but you have no way to monetize your efforts. However , your site does have a lot of valuable real estate that will advertisers could capitalize upon.

This makes selling that space an attractive proposition. To achieve that, you can sign up with a screen network. A display network helps you to connect you with advertisers by providing a script that you can add to your website. This software will populate display ads automatically without you having to lift a finger. And you also get paid a “commission” for each click on the ad that comes from your website. Monetization… success!

Now let’s take a look at it from the other side of the coin. Let’s say you aren’t an advertiser. You want to increase more visibility for your brand name, so you want your advertisements to show up on high-trafficked websites that your target buyers visit. You pay the screen network directly (rather than the publishing outlet) for ad placements, and you get to choose the sorts of websites your banner advertisements will display on. In the event that effective, you get low expenses per click, and this turns into real ROI for your company.

A win/win for the publishing outlet and the advertiser!

Are Banner Ads Effective?

Banner ad ads fall into the group of digital advertising, one of the most lucrative ways to generate revenue. In fact , in 2019’s first one fourth, revenue from digital advertisements reached a landmark high of over $28. 4 billion dollars.

Banner ads are profitable because of programmatic advertising, a term that describes just how advertisers place ads. The software program of these programs matches ads with the interests of website browsers.

To illustrate, parenthetically LinkedIn’s ad team wished to use Google AdSense because their display network. Google AdSense would then sell LinkedIn a sidebar space online on a website professionals are more likely to visit, like Investopedia. This ensures more potential for overall revenue gained for LinkedIn.

In order to determine if banner ads will be efficient for you, it’s important to understand how cost is broken down with this method of marketing.

There are two different prices models for banner advertisements:

  • Cost per mille (CPM) – The cost for 1, 000 thoughts (i. e. it has been “seen” 1, 000 times)
  • Cost per click (CPC) – The price for each advertisement click

Pricing structures vary in between each display network, however they typically use an “auction” design system where you bid for your ad placements. In many cases, you can select whether you bid depending on a CPC or CPM model. The former is better intended for conversions while the latter is much better for brand awareness plus visibility.

With this in mind, the better your bid, the easier it will be to satisfy your advertising goals. Most of the time, the display network will help you optimize your budget and time-frame to get the most out of your advertisements.

Now that you have an idea of typical banner ad price tags, you can imagine that ad placement and banner ad size have a big impact on how often your ads are seen and clicked upon. Let’s take a closer look at these two variables below:

Banner Ad Placement

The display network you choose should have transparent information on which sites or posting outlets your ads will appear on. For example , here’s Google’s page on the topic.

Ideally, you want your ads to be placed in front of your ideal audience (rather than just anyone) so that you get the right visitors, which has a higher potential to convert into genuine prospects for your business. With this in mind, you be well-versed in the concentrating on capabilities your display network provides so that you can control this particular effectively.

While advertisers obtain a lot of latitude on which websites they appear on, they may not need a lot of control over where these people appear on that site. On-page ad placement is in the particular hands of the publishing store. However , they do have a economic incentive to place ads in high-value locations. Remember, they will get a “commission” from the screen network. With that banner advertisements perform best when could possibly be:

  • Close to the content
  • Above the fold
  • On the left-hand side

More within an advertiser’s control is the dimension and design of the advertisements they choose to create.

Regular Banner Ads Sizes

Among the major factors on your campaign’s effectiveness is the dimensions you choose for your ad(s). The right dimension and design can have a main effect on the click-through rate and overall effectiveness of your ad. Here are the most common ad sizes chosen by advertisers:

top banner sizes and how common they are

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  • Medium Banner: 300 x 250
  • Leaderboard: 728 x 90
  • Broad Skyscraper: 160 x six hundred
  • Half-page: 300 x six hundred
  • Large Leaderboard: 970 by 90
  • Billboard: 970 x 250
  • Large Rectangle: 336 x 280
  • Skyscraper: 120 x 600
  • Small Square: 200 x 200
  • Sq .: 250 x 250
  • Up and down Banner: 120 x 240
  • Full Banner: 468 x 60
  • Half-Banner: 234 by 60
  • Portrait: 300 by 1050

It’s crucial to know the essential sizes for your banner advertisements — but it’s not your only consideration. In order to make certain your banner ad is effective to audiences, we have some tips to keep in mind while you’re designing yours.

Let’s say you have all the equipment for creating your banner ad in position. While the actual execution from the design is up to you, you need to incorporate these elements within your ad to make sure it’s efficient, and not just something that crowds upward a webpage.

To illustrate steps, let’s use this three hundred x 200 banner ad from Mailchimp on Entrepreneur’s site.

Banner ad for Mailchimp

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one Incorporate a CTA.

A call-to-action (CTA) is what invites prospective buyers into discovering more about your product or service. This is what will get them to click on the ad plus interested in learning more. Mailchimp’s CTA is the blue “Get Started” button at the bottom of their ad.

A bright, prominent CTA points your audience in the right direction, and linking to your product web page is a good way to get clicks on your website.

2 . Include your brand.

If your logo design isn’t visible, how will individuals know what your business is? Mailchimp’s logo is at the bottom from the ad in a clear place. The logo doesn’t have to consider up the entire ad or even interrupt the flow of the rest, it just needs to be recognizable among the rest of the ad’s imagery.

3. Make sure to use keywords.

Using keywords and action items will not only optimize your ad for search engines but has a better chance of browsers interacting with your advertisement because your service sounds right for them. Mailchimp uses words like “award-winning, ” “support, ” and “get started. ”

If I were looking for marketing and advertising tools to make my life simpler, award-winning software that offers support sounds right up my street. If getting started is as simple as clicking a switch, there’s no reason not to at least check it out.

4. Use top quality visuals.

To keep your ad professional, any visual elements, such as images or GIFs, should be high quality. While moving images are a way to keep ads interesting, static pictures are just as effective.

Mailchimp’s imagery is fun and has got the point across. Their logo is also a way to convey imagery, ensuring their brand stays in their audience’s memory.

5. Keep things simple.

A packed ad is nothing but the nuisance to web browsers. A highly effective ad has minimal textual content, one or two images, and a CTA. Mailchimp’s ad is one phrase and includes large textual content.

Some banner ads avoid even have text or pictures at all, just a logo and also a CTA. Though your ad doesn’t need to be that smart, it doesn’t need to have as much info as you may think. If your ad has more than one short sentence, it may be too much.

Best Banner Ad Examples

Let’s take a look at some excellent uses of banner ads and precisely why they’re effective.

1 . Art Barn

This desk ad from Pottery Barn is a good example of how a little goes a long way. Using a showroom picture to highlight the practicality of desks, it gives method to how easily their home furniture could fit into a space.

Banner ad for Pottery Barn

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With the logo design, an engaging call to action, along with a simple design, all five points of an incredible advertising are covered, and it’s efficient. For students browsing Amazon or professionals building their house office, this ad would be an excellent cater to them.

2 . Blue Bloods

CBS’s banner ad for one of their shows posseses an awesome CTA. ” Try 1 Week Free ” entices the target audience to check out their new streaming service, CBS All Accessibility.

Banner ad for Blue Bloods

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Using a show that’s already popular, and having all episodes streaming, pulls in overindulge watchers. This ad furthermore incorporates the show’s logo design and star. It also gives viewers all the information they need with no appearing too crowded.

3 or more. SEMrush

Popular SEO extension SEMrush used the small rectangular banner ad choice, which is not only pocket friendly, but useful for ads that don’t require information to get the point across.

Banner ad for SEMRrush

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In this ad, SEMrush lets you know exactly what their services provides in less than 20 phrases. Keywords “UX, ” “SEO, ” “Time, ” and “Page Speed” are all fantastic here. They’re effective in grabbing the attention of businesses looking to heighten their analytics.

4. Chevy

Providing all the specs of a car on a banner ad isn’t possible without the ad looking too hectic. Chevy chose to play with text in order to keep the information there without having to be overwhelming. Moreover, they select essential information and text to make sure the impact will be as great as it can be.

Banner ad for Chevy

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Chevy furthermore made it a point to incorporate color into the most important words. The particular discount on this car as well as the CTA are both in yellow, bringing the attention straight to those people two elements of the advertisement.

5. The New Yorker

Minimalism goes a very long way, as well as the New Yorker knows this particular.

Banner ad for The New Yorker

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The particular magazine has a promotion taking place that includes a free tote bag with a subscription. Imagery of both products a new subscriber will receive is a good way to use imagery, and the cost here is bolded, meaning it could of importance.

6. AT& T

Good advertising often comes down to how we can compel you take action.

banner ad for at&t

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In AT& T’s situation, what better way to do this than dangle the opportunity to go of value completely free? This piques interest (“What do I have to do to qualify? “) and incentives the user to take the next step.

7. Best Buy

Convenience is also an important idea to keep in mind. How can we create offers while reducing the particular friction our prospective customers encounter when taking advantage of those offers?

banner ad for best buy

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Greatest Buy does this extremely well in this banner ad. They will likely knew that one hurdle to buying a phone online from Best Buy is needing to activate it in store. In this ad, they ensure their audience that this just isn’t necessary, making the inference that “Buying from us will be convenient, so store without worry. ” This is especially timely when people may be positively avoiding hectic holiday purchasing.

8. Coca-Cola

This advertisement shows a partnership among Coca-Cola and an NFL team, positioning the beverage as a great choice upon game day.

banner ad for coca-cola

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There are two things that are particularly striking concerning this ad:

  • The natural use of Coke’s product placement in the picture
  • The offer is not the salesy “Buy Now” but instead an invitation to get several value from Coca’Cola’s internet site

9. Conversica

Here’s another great example of an ad that strays away from the salesy.

conversica google display ad

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By providing something of value (research on sales capacity), Conversica is positioning the conversation around how they can help. This particular puts the focus on the potential buyer’s needs rather than “me me me” type of selling.

10. Dale Carnegie Training

This particular ad does really well with the small horizontal format.

dale carnegie training google display ad

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In addition , the ad capitalizes on the existing brand recognition of Dale Carnegie to make a compelling declaration that essentially boils down to “Learn from the Best in the Business. inch

11. E*TRADE

The vibrant color in this ad will go well with its bold statement.

etrade google display ad

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With the copywriting on this ad, E*TRADE is reducing friction by asserting this idea: “If you open an account with us, you’ll get something (up to $600) with no risk ($0 commissions). ” As a result, that $600 figure seems like the sweet deal.

12. Instapage

This banner ad’s guru lies in its simplicity.

instapage banner ad

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Instapage makes a bold claim, which piques interest, then deposits that the user must click to get validation for why that bold claim is true. In addition , they do it in couple of words, which allows for clean, bold typography and example.

13. Lendingtree

In some cases, like the one below, a advertising can even include animation plus interactivity.

lendingtree banner ad

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Lendingtree uses this for their advantage by incorporating a slider that the user can use to calculate a mortgage amount. The button then guides these to complete the next step by clicking on the ad and likely to their website. There’s a clear utility in this ad, which is why it could so impressive.

14. Popeyes

Banner blindness, or the concept that people simply don’t discover ads anymore, is a real concern. However , the way to get around that is with eye-catching design.

banner ad for popeyes

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Popeyes does this well with different warm and cool shades combined with big, bold typography. Placing the food in the center draws the eye and allows the image speak for alone as well.

15. Shutterfly

Individuals love coupons, and this advertisement capitalizes on it.

shutterfly banner ad

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The simple exchange of doing holiday shopping while spending less doing it is a simple information… but extremely effective.

You’ve probably interacted with a ton of banner ad ads with minimal understanding of them. The truth is that they’re a great asset to boosting visits to your site and growing your audience. Not that will complicated, right?

With the correct advertising plan combined with stellar ad design and copy, you’ll be well on your way to generating ROI for your business with display advertising.

Editor’s note: This post was initially published in October 2019 and has been updated just for comprehensiveness.

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